1. Natural Perfume FAQ
What are the ingredients of Anya’s Garden natural perfumes?
My perfumes are composed of raw materials that come from plants, the soil, the ocean, and animals. There are no synthetic or petrochemical ingredients. My natural perfumes are blended in the classic French style, yet have a modern twist. I blend with the French dictates, but put my own terroir and aesthetics on these exciting, different perfumes. They are blended in organic sugar cane alcohol.
Sourcing the finest aromatics and ingredients
You have read my biography on this site, and you know I have years of experience as an ethnobotanist and natural perfumer. My experience enables me to select and source the finest natural aromatics from around the world.
I create many tinctures of exotic, rare plants in my home’s botanical garden, extracting essences not commonly found in the industry. They are nonexistent in the industry due to their rarity or the manufacturing industry’s inability to extract the scent on a profitable scale. At the artisanal scale, this is possible, and you benefit from this with wonderfully fragrant perfumes unlike any others.
Cruelty-free perfume
Anya’s Garden perfumes are tested on people, not animals. I use animal products in the perfumes, including beach-harvested ambergris, beeswax, choya nakh from seashells, legally obtained musk from poached deer (licensed supplier), and goat hair from the head of a billy goat.
The perfumes are never tested on animals. Well, people are animals, so just my test subjects and myself, who are willing and able to consent to skin applications.
Organic, wildcrafted, sustainable
The world is full of wonderful, exotic, exquisite raw aromatics. My philosophy is that there is no need to use endangered or at-risk plants in perfume, so our perfumes do not contain Mysore sandalwood, Brazilian rosewood, or spikenard. Yes, it is challenging to find alternatives, but perfumery is all about creativity, and I pretend they never were part of the perfumer’s palette, and go from there.
Allergies, sensitization, irritation, patch tests
Ever had to cough or have your nasal passages and throat close up because someone is wearing a very strong perfume in your vicinity? That won’t happen with natural perfumes. Many field tests confirm that.
This isn’t to say that you might not have an allergy to certain ingredients, perhaps an herb or flower that you already know about when it causes you to sneeze in its growing form, e.g., a rose. However, you won’t have a dramatic reaction. To determine if a perfume is likely to cause you a problem, conduct a patch test. Since you’ll also be breathing in the perfume at the same time, this can be a respiratory system check, also.
Place some of the perfume on your inside elbow, cover with a Band-Aid and wait 24 hours. If not redness or irritation appears, and if you have no respiratory distress, it is fine to purchase and use. For this reason, we always recommend purchasing samples before a whole bottle.
Batch-to-batch variation?
Since natural aromatics and the animal-based fixatives that they contain may vary slightly from season to season, and region to region, much like vintage wines, there may be some variation in an Anya’s Garden perfume purchased from different batches. I make every effort to modify each batch to compensate for this variation, and propose that the lover of my perfumes accept what might be a slight twist on their favorite scent. The finest of French winemakers have their loyal client base who accept the gentle year-to-year variations in the wine, and I hope that the natural perfume customer will also.
Support small businesses worldwide – artisanal and global.
I feel a kinship with other small businesses worldwide. The internet has enabled all of us to source and sell our products globally, while maintaining our community locally. I search for the finest aromatics, recycled packaging goods, and green-friendly products, and I encourage you to do so, too.
2. Ingredients of Anya’s Natural Perfumes and Products
100% Natural Ingredients
All of Anya’s Garden Perfumes, soaps, and room fragrance products are made with 100% natural ingredients.
My policy on natural materials exceeds the definition of ‘naturals’ as outlined in ISO 9235, the International Standards Organization’s fragrance industry standard.
Absolutes – Concretes are blended with alcohol, and the alcohol is distilled to obtain the pure aromatic essence. Waxes are left behind and are known as floral waxes.
Animal Extracts and Tinctures – beeswax, ambergris, hyraceum, civet, musk, castoreum
Beeswax – organic beeswax
Botanicals – dried plant materials, e.g. herbs and spices
CO2 – Carbon dioxide is used to extract the scent from plant material. The CO2 extracts are very close to the plant material’s original scent
Concretes – the first stage of scent extraction of plant material. A solvent is used to extract scented molecules and then recaptured at the end of the process, leaving the concrete solvent-free
Enfleurage – fresh flowers are placed in trays of hardened fat and the scent is absorbed into the fat. The fat is then ‘washed’ with alcohol to extract the scent
Enfleurage alcohol – may be used in perfumes as is, or distilled to extract the absolute
Essential Oils – plant material is steam or hydro-distilled (or a combination of the two) to extract the essential or ethereal oils that contain scented molecules
Expressed Oils – citrus fruits are pressed to extract the oils
Floral Waxes – the end product of the concrete and absolute extraction processes
Hydrosols – after the essential oils are collected from the surface of the water used in the distillation process, the scented water left behind is the hydrosol
Infusions – dried plant material is placed in olive or another natural oil and macerated to extract the scent
Natural Isolates – natural isolates are specific odor molecules contained in essential oils and absolutes that are obtained by fractional or molecular distillation. These methods follow the defintion of natural isolates of the Natural Perfumers Guild, and they exceed ISO 9235.
Organic alcohol – 190-proof alcohol obtained from sugar cane
Resin – copal, amber, frankincense, opoponax, myrrh, fir and similar exudants from trees
Tinctures – tinctures are made by placing fresh or dried plant material in 190-proof alcohol for maceration to extract the scent. Handmade by Anya
TP-50 – natural Vitamin E oil from wheat, used as an antioxidant
+ A Lot of Love and Passion – added every day to each handmade artisan product
What is Never Used in Anya’s Garden Perfumes
Animal testing, synthetic alcohol, genetically or chemically modified or synthetic ingredients, petroleum wax, phthalates, propylene glycol, artificial dyes, fragrance oils, mineral oil, parabens, adulterants, “compounds” from other sources, even if advertised as natural, since I don’t know the sources, or isolates created by biotechnology and other lab processes that include GMOs.
The Natural Ingredients and You
Natural aromatics can sometimes cause an allergic reaction. For example, if you’re allergic to roses, a perfume containing rose oil may trigger an allergic response in you. Some aromatics are believed to cause skin rashes or blotches, so we recommend performing a patch test on your skin before liberally applying perfume. Anya has blogged on the use of perfume jewelry, and using clothing and your own hair as the place to apply and wear perfume if you suspect you may react. So please regard this as a “label” of sorts, a way to allow you to make an informed decision for yourself about wearing perfume.