Natural Perfume: What To Expect

If you’re new to natural perfume, and especially if you’ve typically worn “commercial” perfumes, there are some differences you’ll note:

• Elspeth’s Airs only uses natural ingredients- essential oils, absolutes, concretes, resins & other botanical materials- and not products that have been “synthesized.” Natural materials are typically more complex and can vary based on factors like where the plant was grown and what its environment was like. You may notice that the natural extraction of certain flowers & plants smells different than the commercial perfumes you’ve smelled it in.
• Silage & Lasting Power: Silage is how far a perfume projects from the wearer’s body. Natural perfumes tend to have less silage than perfumes that contain synthetics, staying closer to the wearer’s personal space. A well-composed natural perfume should last for at least several hours. Synthetic perfumes have a powerful, sometimes overwhelming silage. Spritz on pulse points, hair and/or cloth for your enjoyment and that of those that you allow in your personal space.
• Evolution: Natural perfumes evolve on the skin and interact with the wearer’s chemistry. They change over time as notes of different volatilities evaporate. Synthetic scents tend to be more “linear” and don’t often change much over time.

Source: “Foundations of Natural Perfumery,” by Ayala Moriel

See also: The definition and standards of natural perfumery, as laid out by the Natural Perfumers Guild.