NATURAL VS SYNTHETIC

Is Natural always better?

Natural raw materials are either sourced from plants or animals. Plant sources include blossoms or buds, stems, fruit and peels, seeds or leaves, bark, resin or roots. Animalic raw materials used were, mainly, civet, castoreum, ambergris, musks and beeswax/ honey, all powerfully scented and long-lasting. The vast majority of commercial fragrances today use synthetic substitutes for animal notes either for environmental or ethical reasons.

Natural fragrances are often considered superior in scent, on personal health, and in terms of environmental impact. While noble natural raw materials - depending on the way they are obtained (distillation or extraction) - can often yield more complex timbre, their usage in perfumery proves complex.

That said, many natural compounds are toxic and allergenic. Synthetic odorants, their use beginning in the late 1880s, have been developed and tested to resolve those issues. And some naturals cannot be distilled or extracted to yield their glorious scents: lily of the valley, lilac, hyacinth, peony and many more. Synthetics come to the rescue.

There is discussion about whether the energy used in production and waste breakdown of synthetic molecules versus natural ones offsets the former’s superiority in terms of toxicity and allergenic risk. Then again, naturals may endanger species (agarwood, sandalwood for example). Without deeper study on the quantity and quality of the environmental impact of each, I cannot evaluate the difference. Now being researched, newer shorter production methods could reduce energy usage and genetic techniques can develop better biodegradability to improve environmental effects.

All-natural perfumery is an important industry and can produce exceptional juices. But the addition of synthetics enlarges the perfumer’s palette, and not just in terms of the numbers of raw materials at the disposal of a nose in his/her collection.

Naturals and synthetic both have their rightful place in high perfumery, but it would be a shame to demonize synthetics. Naturals bring complexity and synthetics, poetry.