by Anya McCoy

Introduction

The term “Natural Perfume” was relatively obscure more than five years ago. Many people, myself included, say we have been natural perfumers for years. But really, we were mostly amateurs, happily mixing simple blends, often cribbed from aromatherapy books, with our own preferences dropped in. Then there was a change in consciousness, and many decided that they really wanted to learn how to blend, and they wanted to define themselves as separate from mainstream perfumery, the stuff of department store choking clouds and allergic reactions. So, the term Natural Perfumery, like a synchronistic “click” in many scent-lovers heads, became the way in which we define what we do.

In the 1800’s, before the discovery of synthetics that would change perfumery forever, natural perfumery did exist; it just wasn’t called that. The perfumers were just perfumers. The 20th Century saw the growth of Mainstream Perfumery and the increasing use of synthetic chemicals replacing the natural aromatics. Now, in the 21st Century, Natural Perfumery is the logical next step along the fragrant path for many aromatherapists. It is the road back through history that we are now finding, and it is wonderful.

Aromatherapists are already used to blending several essential oils to evoke a mood, or bring about a desired physical change, and so this new trend, the natural progression of blending perfumes came into being. Aromatherapists, and others, suffering from chemical overloads, allergies and sensitivity to these synthetics, and perhaps just a gut reaction to the harsh and fake smells of these synthetics, moved towards a return to the perfumery of old, Natural Perfumery.

Natural Perfumery existed for centuries before aromatherapy was conceived by Gattefosse in the early part of the 20th Century, and now many modern aromatherapists discovering that they want to refine their art and create “real” perfumes, sometimes, but not always, with a healing goal in mind.

They are delving into the world of sensual pleasure and grand experimentation. One roadblock: very few of them have training as a perfumer, a requisite for understanding the complexities of blending the raw materials. One way past that roadblock? Classes, peer groups, and home study.

Some aromatherapy books contain some basic, rather primitive, perfume blending tips. Usually using no more than five or six essential oils, these simple perfumes smelled nice, and performed their aromachology job, but didn’t approach “real” perfumery. Chrissie Wildwood’s seminal Create Your Own Aromatherapy Perfumes: Enchanting Blends for Body and Home (Piatkus Press, 1995) is now a collector’s item, selling for ten times its original price on Internet sites. This is due perhaps because of the recognition that she was the first aromatherapist to publish a comprehensive, industry-based book on blending from an aromatherapists’ palette. Still, she limited the choices to essential oils, only.

A few years later, in 2001, Mandy Aftel’s Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume (North Point Press) became a bestseller and bolstered many in their aspirations to become “real” perfumers, due to the educational and coaxing nature of the writing. Aftel guides the reader through history, dabbling with exotic aromatics, revealing some secrets of beginning perfumery studies. There was no other book that addressed the beginner; no other book carried them along on a rapturous journey into the world of Natural Perfumery like Essence and Alchemy. And so the current boom in Natural Perfumery really took root.

Aftel didn’t know the limits of aromatherapy, since she wasn’t an aromatherapist, but many of the aromatherapists who read Essence decided to explore the new aromatic world she opened up to them.

Aromatherapy eschews the use of aromatic concretes, absolutes, resins and waxes. Aromatherapy is all about essential oils, and only essential oils. That is changing, as the recognition of the fact that if perfume is only to be dabbed on a small area of the skin, not rubbed in a large area, as in a massage, then there is a place for a well-conceived, well-designed perfume that contains absolutes, concretes and other “non-AT” raw materials.

Another big boost to Natural Perfumery has been the Internet. There, a novice perfumer in Wisconsin, or Japan, or England can sit at a computer and obtain rare and wonderful essences from every corner of the globe. It seems the time is right, the opportunities are right, and social and spiritual consciousness are aligned to reinvent an old art in a new light.

For this article, the focus will be on the production of liquid or solid perfumes, those fragrant delights that can be sprayed or dabbed or massaged into the skin. The liquid may be undenatured alcohol, or carrier oil, such as almond, jojoba, and others. The solid perfumes, carried in a small “compact”, are typically solidified with beeswax. It’s a whole new world opening up for aromatherapists, with a new language, new raw materials, and new skills to be learned.

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