There hasn’t been a single fragrance brand that has cracked the code on creating a fragrance that is 100% botanical, has zero synthetics, uses non-denatured alcohol AND smells like a truly fine fragrance with all it’s complexities (until now.. keep reading). One or two have gotten close, but consumers complain they smell too strongly of layered essential oils and not enough like the perfumes they miss.
Don’t get me wrong, I wear essential oils all day and love them. Essential oils are amazing for mood and focus and I enjoy how they smell, but they don’t smell like a fine fragrance. I genuinely miss having a signature scent to wear every day. Like may other health conscious buyers, I avoid synthetic perfumes due to their hormone disruption and reproductive toxicity, but also because I get a raging migraine every time I am around them.
The “clean fragrance” movement has tried (and mostly succeeded) in telling the story that “safe synthetics” are the answer to these toxic perfumes. But, are they? Safe synthetics (which has no true standard) are often made from petroleum and have never been tested for safety or toxicity. These brands may not have the common, well known hormone disruptors, like phthalates, parabens, lilial or musk ambrette… but they are still using ingredients that could harm your health (and trigger headaches).
You can see just how clean or not clean perfume brands are on here in my clean fragrance list.
Finally, a Truly Clean Fine Fragrance
When my friend Gaya, the visionary CEO behind Wyld Notes, approached me about consulting on the ingredients for a new 100% synthetic free fragrance line, I jumped at the chance.
This podcast is our story, the behind the scenes that takes you from the vision to the creation of Wyld Notes. (launching in March!). We expose why the “clean” fragrance movement isn’t as clean as you think it is and why Wyld Notes is so different than anything else out there.
You’ll get up close and personal and understand their commitment to sourcing regeneratively grown ingredients and how their commitment to using non-denatured organic alcohol was one of their biggest hurdles to bringing the brand to market. Every single detail has been carefully considered to create safe, sophisticated scents.
Whether you’ve avoided perfume due to sensitivities or you’re just starting to question what’s in your favorite scent, this episode reveals why clean fragrance matters. Wyld Notes is proving you can have a signature scent you love without it impacting your health.
In today’s episode, we’re chatting about:
- Why synthetic fragrances are linked to migraines, skin reactions, and hormone disruption
- How Wyld Notes sources ingredients from regenerative farms
- The truth about denatured alcohol in perfumes
- Why traditional fragrance houses resist going 100% natural
- How to layer botanical perfumes for a unique signature scent
What is Denatured Alcohol in Fragrance?
Over the last year, I’ve been consulting with many companies, and I’ve learned a lot about the manufacturing space in a lot of different ways. It’s easy to be hard on brands, but when you start to get to know them, you discover that getting a manufacturer who’s willing to make the formula they’re asking for is difficult.
In the United States, alcohol taxes and licensing regulations make it darn near impossible to manufacture a fragrance without adding toxic chemicals to the formula. These denaturants make it poisonous to drink, or “undrinkable”, so the government knows you’re not selling rum in a perfume bottle. It also cuts the cost in half. If you denature the alcohol you are using, you don’t have to pay those hefty alcohol taxes and can sell your perfumes and colognes at a lower cost.
2 Ways of Denaturing Alcohol
There are two ways of denaturing alcohol. One uses strong essential oils, like peppermint or bergamot, to denature the alcohol. That’s a 100% natural option and works great when making, say, a hand sanitizer. But, when you’re making a fine fragrance, that’s not an option because the overpowering smell of the essential oil takes over your entire fragrance.
So, the only option is to use an odorless denaturant. Diethyl-phthalate used to be the most common denaturant (and are still used), but since it is a known hormone disruptor, TBA (tert-butyl-alcohol) is the denaturant of choice for “clean fragrance” lines. It’s derived from petroleum, but allows brands to avoid those alcohol taxes.
Wyld Notes chose to pay those taxes and only use organic sugar cane alcohol with zero denaturants, rather than settle for something that was synthetic. You can hear more in the episode about how that commitment almost derailed the launch of their entire line.
Where Wyld Notes Gets Their Botanical Scents From
There are three different sources. Wyld Notes sources regeneratively grown essential oils from Young Living Farms. These farms are all certified organic and the extraction method of the essential oils is the cleanest and best quality you will find anywhere. You are getting the best of the best when it comes to ingredients.
Some botanicals are sustainably sourced from the wild, aka, wildcrafted. There are incredible stories of how the harvesting process actually helps the environment.
The third source is through their partner fragrance house, who embraced Wyld Notes vision for crafting using only the best botanicals. They follow the same thorough, rigorous process for sourcing their ingredients and Wyld Notes verified and tested every single source.
Wyld Notes Botanical Scents Discovery Set
Wyld Notes is launching with five new gender-neutral fragrances. You can get a discovery set of all five of them to try them out and see which ones you love and what works with your skin.
Perfumes smell different on different people. Wyld Notes has a good variety in the discovery set:
- Smokey Ember: The boldest scent.
- Rugged Wilderness: Favorite for men.
- Timeless Floral: A mix of florals and citrus.
- Fireside Citrus: Citrus top notes mixed in with a little woody undertone.
- Sweet Decadence: Trendy, very sweet, and expected to be a top seller.
Their collection launches in March 2025. Shop the first-ever organic, regeneratively sourced, 100% botanical fine fragrance.
About Wyld Notes
If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please:
- Leave a positive review or rating wherever you listen
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Related Episodes
Episode 2: The Fragrance Dilemma: How an Entire Industry Hijacked Your Hormones
Episode 44: Safe Synthetics in Perfume vs. Natural Scents: Cracking the Fragrance Code, Part 1
Episode 45: Understanding Fragrance Allergens and Reading Labels (Cracking the Fragrance Code Part 2)
Episode 46: The Link Between Fragrance and Infertility: Cracking the Fragrance Code, Part 3
Episode 58: Leaving the Toxins Behind: From Big Fragrance to Botanical Fragrance w/ Seda & Amanda of ESAS Beauty
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