Yes! All of our fragrances are vegan. We don't use any animal derived naturals or fragrance molecules. Any fragrance notes such as ambergris, leather, civet for example, are high quality synthetic recreations. We never test on animals, only on our head perfumer.

Yes, but here is the catch...

All fragrance materials are chemicals! This is a topic of conversation that can go on for a very long period of time and frequently comes up. For an example, Rose Absolute is made up from over 300 chemicals. Rose petals are taken and placed under pressure using a solvent. This solvent extracts these chemicals and once evaporated, leaves behind an oil which is the Rose Absolute. This is a 'natural' product but is generally quite restricted due some of these natural chemicals.

Lemon Essential Oil is created by boiling lemon peel then distilling that vapour off, which then separates from the water vapour. This is a 'natural' product. Bergamot Essential Oil is processed in the same way, and is also a 'natural' product. But Lemon essential oil is only somewhat restricted due to some of it's chemical composition where as Bergamot is heavily restricted due to furocoumarins. Therefore, Bergamot goes through a further process where these furocoumarins are removed making it safe for contact with skin. This is still a 'natural' product.

Now here's where things get tricky. One of everyone's favourite molecule's, Ambroxan... It mainly comes from Clary Sage where it is extracted through processes such as molecular distillation resulting in a product that is a pure single chemical with none of the other parts of the Clary Sage. Is this a 'natural'? It came from a plant after all? We'd say no, it's a chemical (we'd call it a molecule). Just like all the other fragrance chemicals that make up the 'natural' plant extracts. Ambroxan is unrestricted and, while not advised for anything pure, could be touched at 100% strength with our bare skin and cause no damage to us meaning that beautiful rose absolute mentioned above, which is a 'natural' is more dangerous than this chemical.

Essential oils and Absolutes are concentrated parts of plants that smell lovely but are also natural chemical defences of those plants. Some are generally harmless and some can be quite nasty. And that's where modern processes can remove those nasty parts allowing us all to still enjoy the beauty of these fragrances.

We stick to strict IFRA and European guidelines and regulations. All fragrances are then assessed and a CPSR (Cosmetic Product Safety Report) is produced by an independent cosmetic assessor. It's these very regulations that are sometimes the cause for fragrances to be discontinued or reformulated. A perfume from 100 years ago would most likely not be classed as safe for skin now.

If we wanted to go down the rabbit hole then we could discuss the chemicals in the screen you're reading this on, or in the fibres of your clothes or the very chemicals that make up your own body. But to answer the age old question, does our (and all other) fragrances contain chemicals? Yes. But they are sometimes 'natural' and sometimes not 'natural'. But they are always safe in the levels used in our fragrance.