Today’s fragrance industry offers a variety of ways to give your scent wardrobe an eco makeover.
Once upon a time, a person might approach shopping for a new fragrance by considering a scent’s splashy, celeb-fronted ad campaign or its eye-catching bottle design. But in recent years, shoppers have grown more concerned with another aspect of their olfactory obsession: a fragrance’s environmental impact.
Just like it has revolutionized every other beauty category, sustainability has changed how fragrances are developed — and purchased. Today, perfumers are considering the carbon footprint of their creations as much as the layering of the notes themselves. And it’s not just the new kids on the block who are cleaning up the fragrance industry; heritage houses are also working to reduce their impact on the environment, with refillable bottles and eco-friendly formulations.
Guerlain’s nature-inspired refillable Aqua Allegoria fragrances showcase its commitment to protecting the environment. Cécile Lochard, the brand’s former chief sustainability officer, notes that the switch to using sugar-beet alcohol, which prevents the use of certain pesticides, in all of its Aqua Allegoria scents is a major achievement. “The development of an organic alcohol shows how fast the race to improve sustainable sourcing is now moving,” she says. For the Aqua Allegoria collection’s latest launch, Florabloom, Guerlain partnered with organic-flower growers in Grasse to source a buttery enfleurage of tuberose.
“I think we’re going to see a lot more discussion around not only eco-friendly materials but also fair-trade conditions,” predicts Emma Vernon, the self-proclaimed “perfume-obsessed” host of the Perfume Room podcast. Brands are focusing on more sustainable manufacturing practices, including the working conditions and economic opportunities of those harvesting the ingredients that make up a fragrance, she says….
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