NATURALS
The truth about natural fragrances
Luz Vaquero, Laura Nicolas, María Ángeles Lopez, Sylvain Massé – Iberchem
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The increasing demand for natural ingredients in the fragrance industry suggests changes are coming in both creative and commercial terms. From marketing experts to perfumers, many professionals in the industry must adapt their work to this demand by integrating the concept of ‘naturals’ into their practices. But there are still a lot of
misunderstandings and misconceptions surrounding the concept of ‘natural’ when we talk about fragrances. For instance, many consumers purchase products with natural fragrances motivated by the false belief that, because they are natural, they are necessarily healthier and better for the environment. To better understand how the demand
for natural fragrances has impacted the fragrance sector, we interviewed four professionals from fragrance manufacturer Iberchem, who work in four different departments of the company: Luz Vaquero, head perfumer; Laura Nicolas, regulatory affairs manager; María Ángeles Lopez, fragrance development manager; and Sylvain Massé, marketing manager. What does this shift towards naturals mean for each of them? How are they adapting to it? Let us find out.
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Personal Care: How is the increasing use of natural ingredients in fragrances influencing or impacting your work? Sylvain Massé: The trend of natural and organic ingredients has reached the perfumery sector progressively. It first appeared mostly in niche brands and eventually became mainstream. Having seen vast success in the personal care (shampoos, shower gels, etc.) and skin care categories (creams, serums, etc.), it was only a matter of time before it became a key element in fine perfumery. The natural fragrance market is projected to reach $4.3 million by 2024 from $2.7 million in 2019.1 From a marketing point of view, this phenomenon has created a new trend in brands’ narratives, as they now have to integrate messaging about naturals into their communications and marketing. For instance, the claims ‘natural’, ‘botanical’, ‘vegan’ and ‘organic’ have been gaining in popularity in recent years. These claims, which are relatively new to the industry, have the clear objective of attracting and retaining a generation of consumers who are increasingly convinced of the alleged benefits of nature.
Luz Vaquero: When it comes to perfumers, our relationship with natural ingredients is different from the marketing perspective just described by Sylvain. Perfumers have always worked with natural raw materials. They have always been part of our formulas and we use them regularly. In the early days (we are talking thousands
of years ago), perfumery consisted only of natural raw materials (woods, resins, essential oils, etc.). However, I’ve never seen such a ‘demand’ as the one we are currently witnessing. Now, it is a question not only of using natural raw materials, but of completely removing any synthetic ingredient from the formulations. In this sense, our work is affected when we have to create fragrances that are 100% natural. In this case, we have to work with a smaller palette of ingredients. Therefore, the range of combinations or nuances is obviously more limited. By working only with natural ingredients,
we are also more vulnerable to external risks related to climate change, such as droughts, floods, etc. This happened in Haiti with vetiver, in Indonesia with patchouli. Climate change has already impacted the availability and the quality of these raw materials.
October 2021 PERSONAL CARE
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