FAQs

Flowering Pharmacy designs both 100% natural perfumes and sustainable semi-synthetic from renewable sources. As its name suggests, a sustainable semi-synthetic fragrance is created from some sustainable synthetics, botanicals, or artificially modified notes. Sometimes, it’s derived from all three. 

To build confidence in the safety of our fragrance ingredients, we list them along with an allergen statement and always omit chemicals of concern, such as parabens, styrene, phthalates, animal ingredients, and animal testing. They also do not contain any substance listed in California Proposition 65 (aligned officially with the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986). 

From our experience and understanding, the perfume industry isn’t going to go all-natural anytime soon. Ingredients must be safe for human health and the environment, free from shortages or extreme price swings, and not sourced from animals. Perfumers also have to follow brands’ commitments to sustainability and responsible sourcing—and sometimes, natural ingredients are neither sustainable nor responsible.

To say a perfume smells natural is a compliment, but some natural scents are problematic. The recipe for Chanel No. 5 is undergoing a revision, not to remove synthetic aldehydes but to replace some of its woodsy notes derived from natural mosses. The European Union says they are allergens and has moved to restrict them.

Some raw materials grow in regions that may be ecologically or economically sensitive. For example, perfumers’ desire for oil from Indian sandalwood is much greater than its potential supply. The oil is produced from the wood of trees that are 30 to 60 years old. Harvesting for perfumery has driven the evergreen trees to all but extinction, and exports are now heavily restricted. Witnessing sandalwood deforestation in this region, Chanel developed a new source of this oil on the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. As part of an agreement with local communities, it established a program to breed new sandalwood trees, control woodcutting zones, and conserve 75,000 old trees in their natural habitat. If Chanel is successful, sandalwood’s rich, creamy fragrance should have a place in the perfumer’s palette for another 100 years.

Although Flowering Pharmacy follows a more natural fragrance trend, it comes with challenges. Avoiding synthetics would rule out many iconic and favorite notes in complex compositions. Natural fragrance ingredients number in the hundreds, whereas perfumers can access over 3,000 synthetic molecules. Flowering Pharmacy is proud to be part of helping to crystallize a move by the broader industry toward more sustainable ingredients—be they natural, fermentation-derived, or sustainable semi- synthetic from renewable sources using green chemistry.