Roughly a thousand years ago, the Persian physician Avicenna, or Ibn Sina, is commonly credited with working out how to steam-distil rose petals into rose oil and rose water. That is the claim as Wikipedia reports it: a scholar, a still, a mountain of petals. Every rose cream on a counter today is a late descendant of that still.

Lancôme has been in the flower business from the start. Guillaume d'Ornano and Armand Petitjean founded it in 1935 as a fragrance house, named after the Château de Lancosme in the Brenne region, and Petitjean launched the repair cream Nutrix a year later. The rose has been the house flower ever since, and the Absolue line is where it does the most work. I like a brand that has a point of view about one plant, and I think Lancôme Absolue Soft Cream is the best place to see it, even if you have to ask for it by its new name, Absolue Longevity Soft Cream.

The trick is to read the current label, not the old one. The brand calls the new version its first topical PDRN cream, with Absolue Perpetual Rose extract, Pro-Xylane and a PDRN it describes as derived from rose fragments, and it says the texture turns from cream to a thin, serum-like lotion as you press it in. It also comes refillable, which I find the quietly interesting part: you keep the gold jar and buy the capsule. The older formula, for the record, was a different recipe, with shea butter and meadowfoam seed oil in it.

Around it sits the rest of the first grid. The Revitalizing Eye Cream is the small jar I would add if the soft cream already works for you, and Absolue The Serum goes underneath for people who like layers. The Rich Cream is for dry skin in winter, and the L'Extrait Elixir Cream is the full ritual.

Skin tells you what it wants at the two ends of the day, so pay attention to how it feels at 7 a.m. and again at 10 p.m. A face that is tight by evening wants a richer cream. A face that shines by noon wants a serum and something light on top.

Outside Absolue, Lancôme runs a few clear lanes. The Rénergie H.P.N. 300-Peptide Cream is the firming lane, and the Rénergie H.C.F. Triple Serum sits beside it for people who would rather layer than commit to one jar. The Rénergie Lift Multi-Action Night Cream is the night version of the same idea. Advanced Génifique is the brand's radiance serum, and the Génifique Ultimate Eye Cream follows it for dark circles and puffiness. Clarifique Pro-Solution is the one aimed at dark spots, and I would look at it first if brightening is the goal, not plumping.

The Tonique Confort Hydrating Facial Toner is the quiet piece of this family. A toner applied on damp skin makes every cream after it feel more comfortable, and it is the easiest way to get a richer formula to sit well in dry weather. The Rénergie H.C.F. Triple Eye Serum is the light option if an eye cream feels heavy on you.

A pairing I like: a serum from this grid under the Absolue cream from the last one, so that two different textures work in the same routine without either one fighting for the top layer.

What I would skip: adding a new active and a new cream in the same week. If your skin reacts, you will not know which one did it.

Wet your fingertips, not the jar. A dry finger pulls cream out in a clump, and a clean, slightly damp one lets you warm it and press it in, which is how these thick formulas are meant to go on.

If you are comparing Lancôme with its neighbours, this grid is the shelf to look at. La Mer's Moisturizing Fresh Cream is the comparison most people will make first, and Augustinus Bader's The Cream is the one I see on the most bathroom shelves, because it is a single jar that asks you for no routine at all. Sisley-Paris Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream stays in the rose world, which makes it the closest cousin to the Absolue jars.

Dior's Capture Soft Creme and Guerlain's Abeille Royale Honey Treatment Night Cream come from two other Paris houses, and the honey one is the night cream of the pair. Shiseido's Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Cream Enriched is the pick if you already like Japanese skincare. Dr. Barbara Sturm's Face Cream Rich and SK-II's Ultimate Revival Cream with Glycerin and Niacinamide round it out, and the SK-II name at least tells you exactly what is in the jar.

What I would skip: buying a second luxury cream while the first jar is still half full. Skin does not keep score of logos, and a steady routine with one jar beats a rotation of five.

Smell a rose product before you buy it, and then smell it again after ten minutes on your skin. Rose can turn sweet, green or powdery depending on the maker, and a scent you like in the bottle can be different on you.

Rose is where this whole story started, so the last grid goes back to the source. Chantecaille's Rose de Mai Face Oil and Sisley-Paris Black Rose Precious Face Oil are the two oils, and I would press either one over a cream at night so it seals in what is underneath. Santa Maria Novella's Acqua Di Rose Rosewater is the old-school pick, and Tammy Fender's Bulgarian Rose Water is the one to try if you want to taste what a still can do.

From fresh there are three: the Rose Face Mask, the Rose Hydration Pore-Minimizing Mist and the Rose & Squalane Deep Hydration Oil-Infused Serum. They are the friendly end of this grid, easy to try and easy to use up. Monastery's Rose Cleansing Oil is what I would use to take everything off at night before the cream goes on.

Spritz a rose water over bare skin, then press the soft cream on while the skin is still damp, and you get the same flower at two strengths.

What I would skip: a rose oil right before makeup if your skin runs oily in the morning.

For most people, the soft cream is enough of a story on its own, and I would start with the current Absolue Longevity Soft Cream in the smaller size, use it twice a day for a couple of months, and only then decide if the eye cream or the serum belongs next to it. The brand's own numbers come from a consumer study of 50 women over eight weeks, which is a small room, so treat them as a brand claim and let your own skin be the real test.

I would keep a rose water on the shelf as the small luxury, and let the oil come in on nights when the skin feels dry. Avicenna had a still and a lot of patience. You have a jar, a refill and a mirror that will tell you the truth in about eight weeks. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Eye Cream, Sorted by What You Want It to Do and Lancôme Foundation.