Natural or Synthetic Perfumes?
We’ve been asking people whether they prefer natural or synthetic perfumes, and not surprisingly people have been saying they prefer natural scents. What may come as a surprise to you though, is just which scents are natural and which are synthetic.
Just about every perfume you see in high street perfume shops contains scents made in a laboratory. Many contain aldehydes, organic chemicals (like alcohols and vinegars) synthesized in France. Floral orchid scents are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragrant compounds found in various orchids.
Synthetics are much more consistent that natural aromatics, and give a much more pure and promounced note than naturals, which are softer and more subtle. For example calone has a fresh metallic marine scent that is used in many contemporary perfumes. Calvin Kleins CK One, Ralph Lauren’s Polo and Davidoff’s Cool Water are all powered by Dihydromercenol. Angel’s secret is ethyl maltol.
Should we mind that perfumnes contain chemicals made in a lab? Not at all,
- they smell cleaner, brigher and better.
- they are less likely to give you an allergic reaction. Natural sandalwood contains hundreds of compunds. Sandalore, a synthetic molecule that smells like sandalwood is exactly one molecule, reducing many times the chance of a bad reaction.
- they’re not cheap – some synthetics cost much more than natural ingredients to extract.
- synthetics are eco-friendly – no one is chopping down trees or plants to extract the fragrance
The perfume or after-shave you may be wearing now probably contains synthetic chemicals, it only smells that good because of them, and for that you should be grateful to the men in the labs who manufactured such wonderful scents.
Davidoff Cool Water Woman Gift Set
£60.00
Davidoff
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