Hello natural beauties and scent lovers everywhere. What is botanical perfumery and why is it different to natural perfume? Let the beauty and scent of nature take you on a little holiday from synthetic additives, and help you reveal your destiny on your evolutionary journey.

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lone jasmine flower

What is Botanical Perfume?

Botanical perfume is a perfume made only from ingredients that have been distilled or extracted from plants. This can include essential oils, CO2 extractions, absolutes, extracts, infused waters, cold pressed oils and butters and probably a few others I’ll think of once I’ve published this!

Is it a Natural Perfume?

Yes – all natural!

pretty wild violet

So What is a Natural Perfume?

A natural perfume may contain any botanical ingredients, but may also contain nature identical scents that have been synthesized. This means that it may have some essential oils in it but may also contain other compounds eg civet. Civet is a prized scent of perfumers and “noses” since the dawn of fragrance creation, as it has an obvious musky animal scent to it. According to Frangrantica

“African civet lives in savannahs and forests of South and central Africa, while Indian civet lives in Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam. These animals produce odorous secretion with purpose of marking their territory. Diluted, after some time, the odor of civet secretion, which normally is strong and repulsive, becomes pleasant with animalistic-musk nuance. For the purpose of collecting this secretion, animals are kept in cages. Luckily, this scent is nowadays mainly synthetic.”

So civetone is a compound created for perfumers who want the scent, but cannot get it naturally – thank goodness!. In this day I feel we should not be enslaving and torturing animals for our own pleasure. Cruelty free is the only way to go.

So for some people, as it is almost nature identical, the perfume is still referred to as “natural’. This is the same for many compounds.

Is it a Natural Perfume?

Is “natural perfume” a natural perfume? It really depends on what your opinion is. I say it is not, others say it is. The world will not end if we disagree.

Juniper berries at the spice market

Chemicals

At this time on earth all our matter is made of chemical structures. We couldn’t exist without these buildings blocks of nature. We are made of chemical structures and so is our environment.

To me, a botanical perfumer (first range almost ready to be released), and an Aromatherapist, I have only ever worked with botanical extracts. There is an unspoken beauty, softness and warmth to essential oils and their friends that is simply not there with synthesized compounds. It doesn’t matter if every single bond within the synthetic compound is exactly the same as in the essential oil – to me there is something missing.

As I state in my book “Revelation! reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils”:

Perfumes                     vs              Essential Oils            

Syntheti:                                       Natural:

created in a lab                           created by nature 

                                                      (with a little help)

Thin/weak                                     Round/fortified

Contractive                                   Expansive

Temporary                                     Enduring  

Subjective/personal                     Objective/universal

Ornamental                                   Therapeutic

One dimensional                           Multi dimensional
 

Suzanne R Banks               

This is my opinion. Others disagree. However when a client asks if “perfume X” is natural and it has synthetic compounds in it, I say no.

There is room for everyone. Create what you like, and where what you like.

Conventional Perfumes

Conventional perfumes are mostly synthetic. They are cheap to make and in my opinion smell awful. Often brands are owned by big companies who put most of the purchase price of the perfume back into marketing. The actual scent is not very valuable. Profit is the driving factor. Most of the world still loves this. I do not. These perfumes radiate outwards in a brash unforgiving nature, so you may be preceded by your scent as you walk into a room. This is not subtle, nor does it have any therapeutic benefit to the wearer or the ones who are subjected to it.

Artisan Perfume

An artisan perfumer will often make small batches and buy small amounts of raw ingredients. This makes it much more expensive to produce the perfumes.  Whether your perfume is “natural” or “botanical”, please support creative talent. By helping each other and sharing money between ourselves and by-passing big business, hopefully we can create a more inclusive, supportive world.

Pure botanical perfumes are designed for the intimate us of the wearer – for the soul, the mind and the energy. Botanical perfumes tend to be softer, more personal, and reach within; to be combined with your intention and feelings for the day, to give a result that is exponentially supportive and beneficial to YOU. You are the most important part of your botanical perfume. Like the double torus energy field in quantum physics, you draw the scent into you, mix it with your self, and then radiate this unique essence to the world. It will be different every time you use your perfume.

Rose is the Queen of oils

Thank you lovely readers. What is your opinion on “natural” and “botanical” perfumes?