This $15 Rose Oil Is The Skin Care World's Next Cult Product — Here's My Honest Review

As far as skin care goes, I’ll take an oil over a cream any day. That has as much to do with my skin type — combination, erring toward dry; usually dehydrated; not particularly prone to breakouts — as it does my preference for a very dewy complexion, ideally achieved via a curation of glow-promoting skin care and minimal makeup. If you can’t see your reflection in a few, tastefully appointed parts of my face (and also my hair, neck, collarbones, shoulders, knees…), then I am simply not wearing enough oil.

So when Provence Beauty’s Rose Multi-Use Oil crossed my desk, borne on the hype winds, I was excited to find out if it could aid in my borderline-obsessive pursuit of the glazed doughnut look — and soften rough knuckles, seal some frayed cuticles, and smooth and hydrate my bleached hair.

What Amazon Reviewers Have To Say About This “Miracle” Oil Blend

With over 10,000 reviews on Amazon, Provence Beauty’s Rose Multi-Use Oil has all the trappings of an impending cult favorite. One shopper on the site raved that it “leaves my skin feeling super velvety and moisturized,” and another claimed that it’s promoted faster, stronger nail growth following “a nightmare experience at a nail salon.” The most incredible review I came across, however, was this one: “I tried for a month now [and] my friends [think] I got Botox on my forehead, but nope this is the only thing I put on my face.” I was, skeptical but intrigued.

Botox-replacement or not, shoppers certainly appreciate the workhorse-iness of this multipurpose oil, a true one-and-done moisturizer for everything on your body that needs moisturizing. Also notable: It costs $15 and contains actual dried rose petals (or peony, if you prefer).

A Closer Look At The Formula

Verbatim, the ingredients list includes: vegetable-derived caprylic/capric triglycerides, rose petal flowers, fragrance/ parfum, apricot kernel oil, sweet almond oil, and tocopherol (vitamin E). There’s nothing groundbreaking about the formula, though I was pleased by its simplicity. Those ingredients show up constantly in skin- and body care products for a reason: The oils in question are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and omega fatty acids — the holy trinity of skin-, nail-, and hair care — and, according to the brand, the vegan formula can work such wonders as encouraging hair growth, firming and rejuvenating skin, and bolstering your skin barrier for long-term hydration and clarity.

The oils in here are on the heavier side, and the formula reads more closely to a massage or body oil than a face oil. (Lighter-weight oils, like marula, carrot seed, rosehip, and jojoba, tend to feel better on my face, and I can also be sensitive to synthetic fragrances in facial products.)

My First Impressions

At 4 ounces, this bottle is more generously sized than the 1- or 2-ounce oils on my top shelf, which makes its $15 price tag ever more impressive. It’s very possible that the preservative-free product will expire before I can even finish it.

Most striking, however, are the dried rose petals gently floating in the glass bottle. They probably don’t do much in the way of performance, but it’s a luxurious touch; one that makes me feel, alternately, like a silken-robed screen siren primping at her vanity, and a witch administering a magical healing elixir whenever I wield the product’s long, elegant eyedropper.

Also striking: The fragrance! The fragrance is, as they say, doing the most. It comes courtesy of the aforementioned parfum, and though it’s not unnatural per se, it is strong; the scent leans powdery. Not a bad thing, but certainly a matter of preference. If you’re a fan of traditional floral perfumes, you’ll probably like the scent.

The scent mellows out once you work it into your skin or hair, but it lingers. I ran a few drops through my hair at around eight in the morning, and I kept catching whiffs of it straight through to the following morning — it even left my pillowcase faintly floral-scented. It also outlasted my perfume by a long shot.

How Does Provence Beauty’s Multi-Use Oil Stack Up Against Other Oil Blends?

I tested Provence Beauty’s oil as a body oil first, and I was genuinely impressed by how quickly it sank into my skin. It spreads so much easier than the absurdly expensive luxury body oil I’ve been working through, but it makes my post-shower skin feel just as plush and far less greasy.

Since it absorbs so quickly, it performs well as a nail and cuticle oil, too. I kept the bottle at my desk for mid-day touch-ups, and I never smudged my phone screen or keyboard when I got back to work. Plus, a single drop instantly melted away a specifically annoying, flaky patch of skin on my knuckle that has literally defied every other cream I’ve tried. That alone is enough to make me a believer.

Despite its noteworthy powers of absorption, as a face oil, it felt heavier and more fragranced on my skin than I’d prefer. Plus, it didn’t do much to visibly brighten my complexion or temper redness — two things I look for in my skin care products — nor, on the glazed-doughnut front, did it achieve quite the glowiness I crave.

Hands down, I saw the best results when I used the oil as a hair product, thereby thwarting my plans to blow $40 on the luxury hair oil that’s been sitting in my shopping cart for a week. Just four or five drops completely eliminated unwanted frizz — and generally kept my hair from getting too “floofy,” for lack of a more precise term — with longer-lasting effects than almost any other frizz-fighting product in my arsenal. It has some hold to it, too. The oil lightly defined my natural waves, and kept them that way all day, somehow without weighing down my fine hair. And my hair felt ridiculously soft for days, right up until my next shampoo. (Though my hair is on the drier side, so if you have an oily scalp or hair, you may have a different experience.)

And at last, I discovered the sexy, glossy sheen that I expect (and deserve!!) from an oil. With a few more drops, I can probably achieve a Megan Fox-worthy wet look, and I don’t even need to put lube in my hair to do it.

Would I Recommend This Product?

In short? Yes! Whether you apply it straight-up or cocktailed with other products, the versatility of a simple, all-natural oil blend knows no bounds; and at just $15, that oil blend might as well be Provence Beauty’s. This is a particularly compelling choice for those drawn to romantic, lush fragrances; and, more generally, who want to inject some glamour (at a refreshingly unglamorous price point) into their daily body-care routines. You’ll find myriad uses for the stuff.