Clean Living; DIY Rose Water

I was wandering around my yard barefoot cutting wild flowers for the millions of mason jars and antique glass bottles around our house when I came across a bunch of wild rose bushes on the edge of the woods. This gave me a flashback to discovering the Cosmetics "dirty dozen" or "toxic twelve" a list of ingredients in all of our store bought beauty products that have really unfortunate side effects. I have always been a faithful proactiv three step user, swearing by the first two steps, a benzoyl peroxide face wash and the toner. Reading the labels I was grossed out that so many of the ingredients fell on the list of bad ingredients. This and being inspired by Kinsey's clean living series inspired me to check so many of my products (I suggest you do the same!) and to make some changes to my routine. Alright, so looking at the roses gave me an idea, and the idea was to make Rose Water. I knew that Rose Water is commonly used as a natural toner so I decided why not start here and replace my proactiv toner with rose water! I've never been a huge rose fan (if someone got me a dozen red roses for v-day I think I'd end the relationshop right then and there), but something about wild roses has always been so mysterious to me... the beautiful flower with the strongest sweet scent yet with sharp thorns all up the stem. So I picked a basket of the roses and made some! Here is how you make your own Rose Water;

^little heart shaped petal^

Supplies;

Roses, go for wild if you can, but if you are getting store bought, make sure they are organic.

Medium Sized Pot with Lid

Water (I used about 3 cups)

Jar or other container with lid

How To; 

Pull the petals off of your roses. I am not sure exactly how many I used, maybe around 20.
If you are using typical store bought, you will probably only need a dozen. 

Rinse the petals quickly to get any contaminants off. 

Put the petals in a pot and put just enough water in to cover them. I used about three cups. 

Put a cover on your pot (if you don't have a cover, using a plate works just fine). 

Put the pot on the stove on medium high heat and let simmer. 

Let the petals stew until they have lost all of their color and start to deteriorate a little bit.

Spoon the petals out then run the remaining water through a strainer and into your container.

I use my rose water in place of my old toner. Just put some on a cotton ball. After I apply my eye makeup right before I apply my face lotion and face makeup. To catch any eye shadow fall and to tone my skin. I also use it immediately when I get out of the shower. Rose Water lasts about two week refrigerated. 

I am loving my Rose Water, I am going to be making more clean living products (lotion, face scrub, dry shampoo, lip balm, makeup remover, you name it!) So be sure to check back or follow on Bloglovin' for more! If you have any natural beauty product recipes or tips that you love please let me know in the comments! 

xo, Stay Infinite