Perfume dreams - a short list of better ones
Where can I find a sustainable perfume?
It’s important to remember that all consumption comes with an environmental and social cost. People has been working on the fields where the ingredients are grown and some natural recourse are required regardless if the ingredients are natural or synthetic, for example, and just think about the packaging. However, there’s still an opportunity here to make a better choice.
Some of the sustainability aspects of perfumes are:
Are animal products being used or not?
Are the animal products from endangered species?
Are there a lot of natural ingredients requiring a lot of water, energy etc.? (rose essential oil needs tons of rose roseleaves
Are there any harmful chemicals?
How has the synthetic ingredients been produced?
Where does the natural ingredients comes from and under what human conditions has they been produced (are they organic because natural and organic doesn’t mean the same thing)?
What about the packaging, is it made out of recyclable material?
What you can do to consciously smell good:
Mix your own perfume of essential oils
Look for certifications or a small-scale trustworthy brands that can answer the questions above
Certifications:
ECOCERT is looking at everything from the ingredients to the packaging. 95% needs to natural and 10% of the ingredients organic. In other words the certification doesn’t mean that this is a 100% organic product.
This is a certification of ethical trade. The workers have worked under good conditions, are offered a minimum wage guarantee and can organise themselves in unions. Fairtrade works with small scale farmers in less developed countries and that’s why not all the ingredients in a hygiene product can be Fairtrade.
There’s plenty of vegan-certifications out there. This on is from UK and one of the oldest ones. This one normally also comes with a “cruelty free logo” which basically means the product hasn’t been tested on animals.
List of perfumes
Acorelle - 100% of the ingredients are natural and 90% of are organic. Free from artificial smells and ECOCERT-certified. The perfumes are also vegan.
Abel - 100% natural but not organic and not certified. Not available in Sweden but you can order with samples to your home.
Honoré des Prés - 100% natural ingrédients and is ECOCERT-certified.
Lush - the perfumes are not testen on animals and neither are the ingredients. A majority of ingredients are natural but not organic and the product is not certified but they have done a good job being transparent about the ingredients.
The Body Shop - their products are not tested on animals and do not contain animal products. The perfumes are however not natural or organic even though the alcohol is organic and fair traded.
Note: Just because something says “organic orange”, “organic cinnamon” and so on, it doesn’t mean that the product is organic. There’s probably plenty more ingredients that are not. This also applies to cacao butter etc. from women’s cooperative etc. Yes, good with one ingredients being ethical but what about the rest? This is called greenwashing when companies claim something to ethical or sustainable and haven’t really looked at the whole product. This is also the reason why there’s no more perfumes on the list.