Everybody wants to smell good hence the demand for fragrance. However, with the rise of healthy living, many consumers search for natural products to maintain excellent health while meeting their needs.
When it comes to fragrance, the list is endless in what they can do, from making soaps, skincare, haircare, and even products depending on the age and gender. Even with this demand, most people don’t know what they mean when they ask for fragrances or products with scents.
The love for great scent originates from as early as the Egyptian ancients in 2000 B.C when they used natural plant extracts on their bodies. Since then, the infatuation of fragrance is rapidly rising in the market for perfumes and fragrances. It has a projection of $51 by the end of 2022.
So, let’s indulge and learn more about fragrance oils. Read on.
Different Types of Fragrance
To understand more about fragrance, you have to discern the different types that exist for better comparison. Commonly, there are three types of fragrances, namely;
- Natural fragrance oils
- Synthetic fragrance oils
- Essential oils
Natural Fragrance Oils
The production of natural fragrance oils happens in a laboratory but only with the use of botanical products. This means that the output involves isolating a natural scent element from a complex aroma like a rose or orange. Such an individual scent in another name is an isolate, which is more realistic than synthetic since it originates from a plant with a smell.
Therefore, natural fragrance oils are blends of specific isolates to create what the manufacturer desires. For instance, there are products for beauty inspired by Creed Aventus, famous for using natural fragrance oils for health benefits and creating an impressive statement.
Going natural is a crucial influence on most products, so natural fragrance oils are a significant hit in the market. Besides that, see the pros and cons of using natural fragrance oils.
Pros
- They are a product of purely natural ingredients. The push for natural flavors did not start with the perfumes but with the food industry demanding natural food products instead of the synthetic counterparts. With this vibe, the fragrance industry adapted to making natural fragrance oils for their consumers. Therefore, consumers who want better and healthy skincare perceive natural fragrance oils as more beneficial and safer.
- A variety of options is available. Nowadays, there are various scents in the natural fragrance oils skincare thanks to the isolates. These isolates are extremely valuable when a particular aroma is necessary to create its profile without using anything synthetic. Better yet, it is possible to combine the unique scent profiles of the isolates to form a different variation of natural fragrance oils.
- There’s consistency in the natural fragrance oils. Unlike the essential oils, where different factors like climatic changes can influence the aroma and quality, the lab’s natural fragrance oils have a controlled and balanced uniformity. This way, consumers will not sense any change in the quality of the products every time they buy.
- The natural fragrance oils’ cost is well-priced since the isolates from different essential oils can form scent profiles. This makes even those expensive scents readily available and affordable.
- Also, they are durable and intense. Creating a scent involves using anchoring isolates that enable the fragrance to last longer while still being strong all through.
Cons
- The isolates are not potent enough. Naturally, there’s no way a small section will work better than the fundamental component. Even though the specific isolates tend to be more therapeutic, it is also worth noting that the entire oil naturally available is more beneficial if you remove nothing from it.
- There’s no transparency in the manufacture hence the products. Most of the products termed ‘natural’ are the opposite hence adverse reactions to individuals. Besides, those that don’t make the fragrance don’t know what’s in the blend. Similarly, those that manufacture will not disclose the information. Hence, according to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA), these are ‘trade secrets’ of which they cannot force the revelation.
- Natural fragrance oils lack the natural properties of aromatherapy. They may duplicate an aroma from nature purely but lack the original plant’s whole essence, so it becomes incomplete. Natural fragrance oil may have a pleasant scent but lack useful to the brain’s neuroreceptors.
- There are no government safety regulations that talk about natural fragrance oils, natural perfumes, or natural isolates. This means that it is not necessary for the approval of FDA by the law before these products go in the market even though they should be safe for consumers. You will find companies selling synthetic fragrance oils and claim to be natural fragrance oils.
Synthetic Fragrance Oils
This consists of two types; typical fragrance oils and nature-identical fragrance oils.
Typical fragrance oils come from human-made compounds’ laboratory process, mainly from petroleum by-products, for example, aldehydes, toluene, benzene derivatives, and any other common toxic chemicals. Moreover, they are affordable with a wide variety that includes the scent binders such as phthalates to help preserve their fragrance for an extended period. Remarkably, the lab experts in this production can form exquisite scents from the chemical reactions even without the equivalent smell in nature. This means that synthetic fragrance oils are human-made from chemical combinations that are non-existent.
The second type of synthetic fragrance oils is the nature-identical oils. The name can be quite deceiving because these oils are fully or partially synthetic-nothing natural about them.
The only dissimilarity between producing “Nature Identical” fragrance oil and the synthetic fragrance oil ultimately is that the Nature Identical Oil contains a chemical layout similar to the essential oil. It is essentially an artificial duplicate of a molecule that exists in nature. Read on.
You will find these scents often in terms such as “parfum,” “fragrance,” or “nature-identical” oils on the components list. Also, several fragrance oils could contain a small proportion of essential oils. Nevertheless, including a little bit of essential oil will not change them to being anything natural.
Essential Oils
The essential oils are also an excellent choice for those who prefer natural scents. They are often from within a plant and produced mostly through the steam distillation method. The production of essential oils creates the pure natural scented essences from a range of aromatic plant extracts such as leaves, flowers, grasses, barks, needles, roots, twigs, seeds, and even the peels of the fruit.
Because essential oils are unblended botanical extracts, the percentage of the components even as a whole may differ depending on the several factors that affect the plant growth, harvest period, and mode of extraction, among others; for instance, temperature, humidity, geographic location, soil, and rain.
Usually, essential oils are incredibly intricate blends of a lot of specific scent compounds. Moreover, the chemical structure of an essential oil defines its scent and entire quality.
Essential oils are not just exceptionally therapeutic aromas, but they also offer healing properties and other therapeutic advantages lacking in synthetic aromatics.
However, bear in mind that not everything in nature creates an essential oil; for example, you will not find essential oils from strawberry or vanilla. This means there’s a limit to the options you will want to choose.
It would also be better if you always read the illustrations before buying or using any essential oil. In several cases, you will find that the citrus essential oils weaken in cold process soap, cinnamon, and clove oils are not ideal for leave-on products. Juniper likes berry can be a significant risk if you’re pregnant or have underlying kidney problems.
So, be on the outlook as you will never find the term “fragrance” on an ingredient list to mean essential oils. For the essential oils, the name “essential oil” will always be present. Hence this shows the transparency and regulation in the manufacture and packaging of the products.
Also, apart from soothing the passion for fragrance, essential oils play a significant role in a plant’s life. They help the plants to adapt quickly to the environment by attracting pollinators with their scent and offering protection. Unlike natural fragrance oils, essential oils act as a whole hence have the synergy to provide increased benefits.
In conclusion, it would be wise to say that there is no definite position for natural fragrance oils. This means that they lie somewhere in the middle between the essential oils and synthetic fragrance oils. The blend of both components creates a more substantial impact beneficial to skincare.
This means that as a fan of scents and looking for those that are not in the category of essential oils or are searching for a naturally perfumed skincare product, the therapeutic significance of essential oils is not a significant concern. Natural fragrance oils are a better option than synthetic oils.
Because your skin and health are always worth the effort, please ensure you do your research, ask many questions, and buy products only from companies you can trust. Regrettably, the lack of regulation extends a skincare industry loaded with unproven claims.
