When it comes to natural perfume, myths and facts can often get muddled up. You may have heard a lot of rumours questioning how natural perfumes can really work and whether it's just the same as using aromatherapy essential oils. To help clear up any confusion, we recently spoke to Beautyheaven about some common questions when it comes to natural fragrances.
What are natural fragrances?
Natural fragrances are compositions of raw ingredients, we explain this further to Beautyheaven: “To enable them to be classified as natural, we need to use natural ingredients and essential oils are a perfect formula. In my opinion, essential oils are the best ingredient to create a fragrance that is powerful enough to emit a scent. There are a lot of natural ingredients that are used in the beauty industry, however, to get the best scent from these ingredients they usually need to be formulated into an oil that allows for maximum impact and a fragrance that you can smell. The go-to essential oils are usually lavender, bergamot and orange oil. “Natural fragrances sometimes also consist of things like exudates (resins, extracts and concentrates) which help with the formula, shelf life and efficacy.”
Why should you consider a natural fragrance?
“Natural fragrances not only smell great but also have the extra benefit of helping you feel great too. Given that natural fragrances are made from plant based ingredients like flowers and essential oils and are free from hidden nasties, they are a great option!”
What should you do if you’re considering swapping some or all of your perfumes to natural ones?
“There are some great online sites that sell only natural beauty products and they can be a great resource to understand if they’ll work for you. Also look out for websites with customer reviews because it can help you understand the products better”.
Myths and facts
MYTH: Natural fragrances don’t work
“This is the biggest misconception about natural perfume. Spoiler alert: they do work. Unfortunately, the word ‘natural’ often has a bad stigma attached to it in that people often think you need chemicals for something to do its job. However, that isn’t true. With a lot of research and testing we’ve been able to create formulas that do smell great and work wonderfully on their own or even work well with other fragrances.”
FACT: Natural fragrances don’t last as long as non-natural fragrances
It’s sad but true. Unfortunately, natural fragrances don’t last as long as non-natural fragrances. However, they are a great option if you’re looking for something fresh and different. Melissa Allen Mood Essentials™ travel sized fragrances are fantastic to carry around in a handbag or put in a pocket so they can be sprayed whenever a person feels like a boost.”
MYTH: Natural, organic, chemical-free and non-toxic fragrances are basically the same things
They’re not the same. So depending on what kind of fragrance you’re after, it’s important you do your research. Consumers often get confused with package labelling and it’s no wonder as there is so much information out there. To put it a little simply, natural fragrances are compositions of raw ingredients such as essential oils, along with exudates such as resins, extracts and concentrates. Organic fragrances are made up of 100% naturally sourced ingredients that are extracted without any chemical intervention. Non-toxic fragrances are ones that [are] void of any chemicals but may still contain other ingredients that render them not natural or organic and chemical-free are just that (similar to non-toxic).”
MYTH: Natural perfumes are ingestible
Do. Not. Ingest. Natural. Perfume. The other myth might be that because it’s natural that you can ingest it – which also isn’t true! Yes, some essential oils are made to ingest (and you would have to research the ones that can be ingested) however essential oils in fragrance are not!