Since the terms natural perfume and natural fragrance are not regulated, it's a good idea to read labels and do a little brand recognition to verify the company's natural values and statements. On the label, look for plant-based essential oils and natural carrier oils, such as coconut, jojoba and olive. 100% natural perfumes and colognes in small batches handmade by perfumer Wit, designed by West. There are a few reasons to understand concentration is important.
First, perfumes with a higher concentration, such as a perfume or an eau de parfum, tend to last longer than those with a lower concentration, such as an eau de cologne or an eau fraiche. However, it's important to note that while concentration can help you understand perfume in terms of its potency, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's long-lasting and lasts for hours and hours. For example, an eau de parfum that belongs to the family of fresh and citrus fragrances will not last as long as a perfume that belongs to the Cyprus family (or other perfumes such as amber or fougère). This is because fresh citrus perfumes usually include citrus ingredients such as bergamot, lemon, orange or grapefruit, and lighter flowers such as mimosa, jasmine, violet or lily of the valley, and lighter woody notes such as sandalwood. On the contrary, Cyprus perfumes tend to be warm, dry and are almost always based on a rich, woody chord that contains notes of bergamot, oak moss, patchouli and labdanum and, due to the ingredients used in the composition, they tend to last longer than a citrus perfume.
Second, the price usually varies depending on the concentration. In general, the lower the concentration, the lower the price of perfume. Some perfume houses have the same fragrance in multiple concentrations, while others have specific fragrances that only come in one type of concentration (the Wit & West Cologne collection includes our line of 100% natural perfumes in an eau de cologne concentration that are light, herbal, citrus, floral and gender neutral, ideal for any person). Third, concentration can help determine how much perfume you should apply.
For example, you may not need or want to apply a perfume or eau de parfum as generously or as frequently as a perfume in a concentration of eau de cologne or eau de toilette. The amount you want to apply may also vary depending on your personal preferences and whether you use several sprays or just one. So what exactly is a natural perfume? In general, the experience with a 100% natural perfume is very different from that of conventional perfumes, both because of the ingredients used and because of the experience of using the perfumes. Let's start with the ingredients.
If you see that a perfume is marketed as 100% natural, that means that the ingredients used in the perfume are composed of 100% natural botanical or plant-derived ingredients. These ingredients include organic and wild-origin essential oils, CO2 extracts, absolute products and isolated products of natural origin. Simply put, natural perfumes are formulated with aromatic compounds distilled or extracted from citrus fruits, plants, flowers, spices, wood, bark, leaves and resins (learn more about natural perfumes and their ingredients in the Wit & West FAQs, as well as in our blog post, What is natural perfume??). However, it is important to note that there is no regulated standard for the term “natural”.
If it's important to you and you want to know if a brand's ingredients are really 100% natural, the best thing you can do is to contact them to confirm it. Why does this matter? The short answer is that it depends on personal preferences. Some people like natural perfumes because of the nuances and beauty that come from natural ingredients, others like that they tend to be used closer to the skin and don't overwhelm, others like them for other reasons, such as style preferences of life. At Wit & West Perfumes we see natural ingredients and their use in our perfumers' palettes as an artistic choice and we love the ingredients.
We think of it as a musical genre; natural perfumery as a genre or style of perfumery. For example, some perfumes that don't necessarily have a similar experience in natural perfumery would be those that fall into the category of aquatic or ocean perfumes. This is because the aromatic substances used to achieve an aquatic or oceanic effect are not found in nature (ingredients such as calona, hydroxycitronellal, etc.). Although there are some natural ingredients that can produce a similar effect and that could be considered fresh and similar to those from the ocean, they are limited to products such as absolute seaweed, ambergris (which is obtained from sperm whale and is very difficult to find in modern perfumes due to the cost and problems related to obtaining it in a sustainable and ethical way) or some natural isolates such as melon (but none of them smell the same as the synthetic ingredients used to create melonal).
effect that we normally expect in perfumery). Another example is the one found in nature, but often the natural ingredient is only a small part of what people like and think smells according to the description of the perfume. Some people have told me that they love sandalwood scents and, although I also love sandalwood, 100% natural sandalwood oil is very soft and gets along very well with a minimum of silage (for example, in this case, what people usually mean when they say they love sandalwood perfumes is that they love the combination of synthetic chemicals with the scent of sandalwood and other synthetic ingredients such as musk).In natural perfumery, what you'll find is that if a perfume has sandalwood oil (a base note), it will also have other heart and top notes. This means that perfume isn't necessarily going to be the linear sandalwood-centered scent you'd expect or look for.
Wit & West Perfumes is a 100% natural botanical perfumery based in Colorado that focuses on rare natural ingredients and unique scents for those who don't want to smell like everyone else. Our perfumes are completely handmade in small batches using only the best whole botanicals and of high quality, 100% natural and ingredients of natural origin. If you are interested in trying some of our perfumes and colognes, check out the individual samples and our sample sets, check out our samples on our website by visiting the Wit & West sample page. Perfume marketing focuses on the individual notes (real or illusory) that make up a fragrance and that capture our attention when we buy a perfume.
After all, alcohol is nothing more than the boring carrier of these incredible aromatic molecules; although on the next point, we have a lot to say about alcohol. Today's aromatic oils represent between 2 and 30 percent of a fragrance, depending on whether it's a cologne for splashing (lowest percentage), a high-end eau de parfum (8-15%) or even a perfume extract (up to 30%). Most eau de toilette products contain between 4 and 8% of aromatic oils. You might think that, given the potentially low percentage of real aromatic oils, it won't matter if they're not all natural.
After all, each one will be used in minimal quantities. However, while the carrier alcohol evaporates, the aromatic molecules remain in our skin and are released at different rates, from citrus top notes first to heavier base notes at the end. It is true that the time it stays on our skin varies depending on the oils, but if we spray the fragrance repeatedly day after day, even at low doses, we must take into account our body's prolonged exposure to these powerful chemicals. Depending on the extraction method, so-called natural aromatic oils may contain elements such as solvent residues, heavy metal catalysts, etc., elements that may not match the concept of “natural” which is meant by “natural”.
You'll need to research what type of “natural” fragrance your chosen fragrance brand adheres to. Do you interpret that nature includes natural isolates, which are individual molecules derived from nature but are not present in nature in isolation?Does the fragrance house work with natural products, but does it deviate to use synthetic recreations that mimic scents that were previously of animal origin, such as civet, ambergris, castoreum or musk? These oils play a special role and place in perfumery because of their aromatic and fixing properties (ability to make an aroma last), but obviously today, for ethical and conservation reasons, we would be outraged if they were used in their truly natural state. Would you accept aromatic oils produced with CO2, which produce quality oils at lower temperatures than with distillation? Or do you prefer to use those that are extracted exclusively by distillation and cold pressing? Following in the footsteps of aromatic oils, comes the alcohol base that is used as a carrier of your natural fragrance. Like aromatic oils, alcohol isn't all it seems.
In general, fragrance houses use specific denatured alcohol (making it unsuitable for drinking) with an alcohol content of 95 to 96%. Ideally, a natural perfumer should use 99.5% pure grain cosmetic grade ethyl alcohol. There are many variants of denatured ethanol; some are less of a toxicological concern. Once again, the only way to know what's in your perfume is to ask the fragrance house.
The INCI (International Nomenclature Code for Cosmetic Ingredients) is the only clear way to know with certainty what the alcoholic part of a fragrance contains and, once again, only a few perfumery brands they'll tell you. The most scrupulous natural brands should have no problem giving you the information. With the above information, you'll be better able to work out when it comes to buying a natural perfume if it's worth the price you're paying. Knowing the ingredients it contains will help you understand the prices.
Usually, natural perfumery ingredients cost more than synthetic ones, although this is not always the case. Some synthetic products require many steps to produce and are the result of years of laboratory research. Just like the perennial search for quality natural products. For example, this year a cyclone hit Madagascar, which is one of the main producers of quality vanilla.
Therefore, the price of fragrances that use vanilla will skyrocket as that ingredient is reduced. Before paying for what you think are natural products, check the brand to see if they really use a high percentage of natural products to guarantee the price. Likewise, if you find that natural perfumes are offered at a very low price, do your homework. A few cheap essential oils in an alcohol base are not a truly creative, specialized and natural perfume.
Also keep in mind that a large part of the price of a perfume on the shelves will be related to the packaging and the brand. Some specialized natural perfumeries sell directly to the consumer online, so they manage to take advantage of marketing and branding costs to a certain extent by relying on social networks. However, the other side of the coin is that small natural perfumeries don't have the economies of scale of mass-produced, predominantly synthetic brands, so they may still find that money is disproportionately spent on packaging and production, as well as delivery. The cost of a fragrance is also determined by creativity. How much are you willing to pay for a natural fragrance with a good brand story? The price is in the user's eye.
The natural perfumer forcibly confronts the whims of nature. As I mentioned before, the harvest may fail due to adverse weather conditions, which limit supplies and raise prices. From year to year, the natural perfumer cannot guarantee exactly the same aromatic profile of any individual scent ingredient he obtains. Even if you buy from the same supplier in the same country, weather conditions will influence the final aroma of that ingredient.
The most incredible companies in the natural products industry, such as Aftel, recognize that the variation in supplies from season to season is both a challenge and a blessing for natural perfumery. This aspect is what makes natural products so attractive, yet frustrating. While you may know that Bulgarian rose damask has a different odor profile than the Moroccan one, the scent will again vary, like grape harvests, from year to year. When you buy natural perfumes and buy a favorite fragrance again to buy it again, keep in mind that it may not smell like one hundred percent.
Once again, this point closely follows the previous one. I would say that there is no need to debate between natural and synthetic or why the perfumer chooses one over the other. The two genres of perfumery require different skills, and there is no fairer route than another. However, keep in mind that some argue that natural perfumery is limited in terms of what can achieve.
If you discard thousands of years of natural perfumery, from its use in ancient rituals to its clear rebirth today, and only compare it to the scents created during the last 130 years of using synthetic products in perfumery, you may be right to assume that. Synthetic products have opened up a fantasy kingdom in perfumery, which does not need natural botanical ingredients to achieve its goal. Therefore, the bottom line is not to see natural products as limiting, nor simply a few essential oils roughly converted to an alcoholic base. The best natural perfumers who are at the peak of their profession will feel challenged, but none would consider that their options are limited.
At Olentium, we use mixed techniques and most of our fragrances are between 50 and 75% natural. Read our green philosophy and FAQs to find out why. Today's natural aromatic oils represent between 2% and 30% of a fragrance, depending on whether it's a high-end eau de parfum, a spray cologne or even a perfume extract. The second main critical refrain is that natural perfumers, to overcome this problem, opt for strong base notes with a tough hand, using resins, oils, balms, ambergris, tobacco, leather or heavier spice notes to set the fragrance and make it last. As many niche natural product brands are born on the kitchen table and the self-taught founding perfumers came to their calling thanks to an incredible variety of previous careers.
You'll discover their scents when you discover the person behind them. In short, it's important to be open to new possibilities when trying a natural perfume and not expect to find exactly the same experience that you would find with a conventional perfume composed mainly of synthetic ingredients (this applies both to the olfactory experience and to longevity, since both will not be the same when you wear a natural perfume). Bureaucracy can make it almost impossible for a new or independent brand of natural perfumes to get hold of it. Peony is a trending flower both in photography and in perfumery right now, but there is no such thing as a peony essential oil or any other extract for the natural perfumer.
Wit & West Perfumes is a 100% natural botanical perfumery that focuses on rare natural ingredients and unique scents for those who don't want to smell like everyone else. After analyzing aromatic oils, you must take into account the alcohol base that is used as a carrier of the natural fragrance.
