But are Synthetics Bad?

When it boils down to it, everything is a chemical. In the natural world, fragrance is a plant’s way of either drawing in or repelling another living organism. Skunks excrete a foul smell as a warning. Flowers produce pollen to draw in bees. The citronella plant produces an odor to keep fleas and mosquitos away. When we create perfume we are choosing the scents of nature we most love.

How are synthetic molecules made?

A synthetic fragrance molecule is a petroleum based formulation. The lab takes the exact chemical structure that exists in the natural molecule, and replicates it. So tehcnically, it’s the same chemical.

So why can a synthetic molecule sometimes be worse?

There are some synthetics that we know are toxic endocrine disruptors and these are the synthetic musks. Unfortunately, these musks smell great, contribute to the longevity of a fragrance, and make up the bases of many perfumes we love. But, these musks have been found in body tissue and breast milk of women nursing, weeks after application. What this tells us is that the body absorbs it, but does not dispel of it properly. Instead, it becomes intertwined with the chemical makeup of our body, interfering with our body to maintain balance and function properly.

At La Roux Perfume, we use only materials we know are safe and avoid 99% of synthetic molecules. This is a hard balance to strike because working with synthetics has many benefits to a perfumer. It allows the perfumer a larger palette to choose from which allows for more variety in overall fragrance creation, and it is much cheaper than using naturals.