WHY NATURAL IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER

We know, you did not expect to hear this from us. And while it is true that we try to use natural ingredients where possible, in some cases they just don’t make sense – specifically with our fragrances. Many customers ask us whether our fragrances are natural and the answer is no. While this can be off-putting to some,we are committed to being fully transparent about the reasons behind our decision. We hope you’ll read on and learn more

EVERYTHING IS A CHEMICAL

Currently, it is super trendy for brands and companies to claim that their products are completely natural and contain no chemicals. But this is flat-out deceptive and, essentially, a lie because everything is a chemical. This includes the air you are breathing, the water you drink and, subsequently, the cells in your own body. Chemicals are not the enemy; they are part of everything that surrounds us. They can be naturally occurring or synthetic but they are always there.

AS IT SHOULD BE

One of the corner stones of our brand is the slogan ‘as it should be’. Our aim is to create scents that are either as close to their natural inspiration as possible or multi-faceted and layered for more abstract fragrances. This simply cannot be achieved with exclusively natural fragrance.

Firstly, the use of some natural essential oils is either banned or severely limited (more on this later) and secondly, some scents simply cannot be obtained from an essential oil (think leather). Often, the essential oil does not at all smell like the raw material either. We therefore decided early on to mix and match our fragrances, using both essential oils and synthetic fragrance, to be able to create beautiful and evocative fragrances that are just as they should be.

NATURAL IS NOT ALWAYS HEALTHIER

This is probably the most controversial point as in today’s society we are led to believe that because something is natural it is automatically good for us. Nature has provided us with many things that are toxic, have strong potential to cause allergic reactions and irritation, are carcinogenic and should overall be avoided. Essential oils are no exception to this. This is why some of them have been banned from use in fragranced products or the amount that can be used in the products is restricted.

Enter synthetic fragrance: when a substance is synthesised, all the useful compounds can be replicated while the potentially harmful ones, for example known allergens, are simply left out. Of course, this is not to say that synthetic fragrances do not come with the potential to be harmful. They can also cause irritation and allergies in individuals that are generally prone to them. But if they are high quality fragrances produced in a responsible manner in a controlled environment their allergy potential can be significantly less than that of their natural counterpart.

THE SUSTAINABILITY ASPECT

If the source product for a natural fragrance is not, or cannot be, commercially farmed, wild harvesting becomes a serious issue. Some plants used for essential oils are endangered species, not helped by the fact that overharvesting these plants is a common practice. The more rare the raw material becomes, the more sought after it is and the more prices rise – and so the cycle continues.

It is possible to obtain ethically sound and sustainable essential oil but in some cases the use of synthetic fragrance is the more sensible alternative.

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There we have it. While we believe that there is a place for natural fragrance and we use essential oil in the vast majority of our fragrances, there are specific instances in which the use of synthetic fragrance is beneficial, for reasons as listed above. Synthetic does not have to equal badly made or cheap; in fact, the synthetic fragrances we use are extremely high quality! Overall, there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ natural ingredients, just as there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ synthetic ingredients. The important thing is to decide when it makes sense to use which.