Win Cosmetics a la Carte's amazing Rose Dew – seven to be won (each worth £58)
This year, this amazing, heaven-scented moisturiser/primer celebrates its 25th birthday – a lovely excuse, we think, for a prize draw, with seven winners having the chance to win this truly special product…
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Ta-dah! Can you hear us chorusing ‘Happy Birthday’, as you read this? Because we are thrilled to be joining with Cosmetics à la Carte – the proudly British beauty brand, whose studio on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road is such a favourite destination of ours – to celebrate 25 years of Cosmetics à la Carte’s Rose Dew, a true beauty classic that has earned its place on countless dressing tables (including ours).
Created by cosmetic scientist and brand founder Lynne Sanders, this featherlight moisturiser also doubles as a make-up primer. Her brief was personal: something cooling and hydrating for her own skin, without the greasiness or congestion that richer creams could bring. A ‘big drink of water’, as she likes to describe it. (Making it perfect all year round, but as the central heating kicks in, especially welcome in the coming months.) NB If you’d like, scroll down for an in-depth interview with Lynne about why and how she created this product.
With a blissful serum-gel texture, Rose Dew combines hyaluronic acid for hydration with witch hazel and precious Rose Otto, which provides its natural rose scent, an ingredient derived from thousands and thousands of rose petals. The result leaves skin feeling smooth and looking dewy, rather than sticky, while creating the ideal base for foundation and for the rest of your make-up.
Still made by hand in the brand’s own English laboratories, Rose Dew is marking this magnificent beauty milestone with beautiful new packaging. But its appeal remains perfectly and admirably simple: comfortable hydration and skin prep in one easy step. Love, love, love!
Fancy discovering this quietly enduring British beauty classic for yourself? Enter your details below for your chance to win one of seven prizes. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for you. Good luck! And meanwhile, do check out this – and all of Cosmetics à la Carte’s fabulousness – at their website, cosmeticsalacarte.com, and their Insta: @cosmeticsalacarte.
PS You might also like to read a recent piece about the time two delighted Beauty Bible readers went along to Cosmetics à la Carte’s studio for a makeover, here.
THIS PRIZE DRAW WILL CLOSE ON WEDNESDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2026
Cosmetics a la Carte
Thank you for entering Beauty Bible’s Prize Draw and good luck!
NB Winners are chosen via a random number generator and there is no cash alternative to this prize. Prize draws are open to residents of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Rose Dew at 25: The making of a quiet British classic
A Q&A with Lynne Sanders, Cosmetic Scientist and Founder of Cosmetics à la Carte
Why did you create Rose Dew?
I was using a very light moisturiser which didn’t cause breakouts in my (then younger) skin. However, the company was bought, the products reformulated, renamed and crucially, the fragrance changed. I thought, ‘Why don’t I make my own?’ and that was the beginning of the process of making Rose Dew!
What do you love most about it?
Aside from the heavenly natural scent of Rose Otto, I love how it firms, cools and hydrates without leading to greasiness, clagginess or congestion. Using Rose Dew is like giving your skin a big drink of water.
What was your creative process?
I started with an idea of texture and smell, and the ingredients followed on from that. With Rose Dew, it had to be light, non-greasy, and work as a makeup primer as well as a moisturiser. At the time there were some wonderful new ingredients coming on the market, which I wanted to use. Specifically, polymers which smoothed and minimised fine lines by creating an imperceptible and comfortable film on the skin that also optically scatters light. Also, new plant-derived emulsifiers which were better at creating a gel texture to hold moisture on the skin.
Finally, hyaluronic acid was really breaking out on the beauty scene, and I loved what it did for hydration. As well as new ingredients I have always loved to honour the wisdom of beauty traditions, and in Rose Dew that was firstly Rose Otto, the most premium rose extract that’s steam-distilled the traditional way from thousands of rose petals and costs about £5,000 per kilo. This imparts a heavenly natural scent without resorting to artificial fragrance. It’s not just nice, it’s been proven to calm your nervous system.
The second nod to tradition is witch hazel. Long used in folk medicine to heal minor wounds, witch hazel is a wonderful toner and pore minimizer. It helps Rose Dew gently firm and tighten skin that might be sagging a little.
Who did you create Rose Dew for?
Honestly, I created it for me, and hoped others would agree. Since it was launched, it’s consistently been our biggest best-seller and makeup artist favourite apart from Bespoke Foundation, so I suppose I was right!
Has the formula changed over time?
We removed the main cyclic volatile silicone Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) in line with EU legislation. The evidence became incontrovertible that it bioaccumulates and persists in the environment without breaking down, and generally isn’t very good for us, the air or the water supply.
How have beauty habits changed in the 25 years since it was launched?
25 years ago, people were much more interested in a matte skin. Now we have gone the other way and have passed ‘peak glow’. The gel texture of Rose Dew creates a dewy (but not sticky) finish that suits both tastes.
It was more usual at the turn of the millennium for women to be proud of not knowing anything about makeup and skincare, and many even needed persuading to wash their face every night. Now, access to skincare and makeup has exploded through internet tutorials and people are a lot more informed.
But that is also a double-edged sword. Back then, ageing wasn’t this great bogeyman, it was just a natural process. I think young people and teenagers are worrying too much about age prevention now. It adds huge pressure. Life is for living.
Why do you think Rose Dew is still relevant and loved now, instead of becoming outdated?
I believe that its freshness and dewiness are timeless and have stayed desirable throughout the ebb and flow of makeup trends over the last 25 years. These features are also still quite unique on the market. Many creams are ultra-rich, in the hope that oils will revitalise skin, but these can feel heavy and tacky. . . I’m not a rich cream person – I still get congestion even 20 years after the menopause!