Natural Perfumers: Ayala Moriel, Claude Andre Hebert, Red Flower, Social Creatures

Luca Turin writes in Perfumes: The Guide, "(T)here are really very few perfumes you could honestly call all-natural. Of those, we have yet to find any that belong aesthetically in the top tier" while Chandler Burr, in his review of Guaiac by Red Flower, states: "Perfume as an art form (and as a commercial concern) is built on synthetic raw materials . . . Guaiac is a four-star perfume for one simple reason: Because it lacks synthetics, which often lend substantivity (the length of time the perfume lasts on skin), Guaiac is fleeting. This is the price you pay for an all-natural perfume."

So two of the top perfume critics in the world say that choosing to go the natural perfumery route limits the palette, narrows the window for aesthetic achievement and greatly reduces the longevity of any composition. So why do it? Because not every consumer wants a mass-market, chemical laden bottle of spray, and where there's demand, you can bet that supply will be sure to follow.

Today's blog post looks at four natural perfumers who have recently arrived on the scene as the answer to the Where Can I Buy A Natural, Ecologically Aware Perfume question: Russell Newell with Social Creatures in the UK, Claude Andre Hebert out of Montreal, Canada, Yael Alkalay with Red Flower in New York, and Ayala Sender with Ayala Moriel Parfums in Vancouver, BC.

Though the Claude Andre Hebert site is entirely in French, I did find mention from other sources that Hebert works in the line of naturals as a way of keeping connected to the locales his scents are meant to evoke: "Not only does each of the twelve scents represent a continent, but the ingredients come directly from that piece of land . . . Hebert is supporting sustainability through 100% natural ingredients, corn-sourced alcohol and reusable bottles."

A few weeks ago, I purchased a bottle of Hebert's eponymous scent. It's a complex and spicy-sweet fragrance with good staying power, the container comes with a glass stopper rather than spray nozzle, and the bottle is label-free, so it actually can be re-used with very little difficulty. Hebert's interest in using natural essences appears to spring from a desire to support the local economies of the various regions for which he's named his perfumes. Fragrances can be ordered by calling Mr. Hebert at his shop or emailing him through his website.

I previously reviewed Rebel Ambush by Social Creatures, a small family-run fragrance company out of the UK. Their website states that: "SocialCreatures products use a very high percentage of natural components (typically 95-99%) some of which are high value, and hard to find . . . Social Creatures (does) use a small amount of synthetics in our products. These are usually those that would have been traditionally produced from animals. These include musks from deer and beaver. Other instances are where the plant source is endangered or prohibitively expensive."

Bottles and boxes are handmade in England, and the natural ingredients are sourced, collected, blended and matured in small batches (about 100 bottles to the batch) to ensure quality and consistency. Social Creatures fragrances are fairly expensive in comparison to mainstream productions, but the creation of the perfume and its packaging is labor intensive, distinctive and high quality. A bottle of Rebel Ambush is on its way from the UK, and I hope to have photos of the handmade bottle and packaging to post soon. Fragrances can be ordered directly through the Social Creatures website.

Red Flower Organic Perfumes lives by the motto: "Source sustainably, produce locally." Founder Yael Alkalay creates a very Zen motif with her brand and sticks with it (sometimes to the point of irritation, as a casual surf through her website will attest), but Red Flower's Guaiac perfume is apparently good enough to impress even the synthetic aromachemical cheerleaders, and that's enough to make me sit up and take notice. The website states that: "the scents contain only essential oils, the bottles are made from biodegradable glass, and the boxes were manufactured at a wind-powered plant and printed with soy inks." How many ecological trends can one human being reasonably cover? All of them, apparently.

I have the Guaiac on order and will write about it as soon as I get it in my hot little hands. Perfumes can be ordered through the Red Flower site, or from Amazon and other online retailers.

Yesterday, I received my sample package from Ayala Moriel Parfums out of Vancouver, BC. Ten tiny vials of all-natural fragrances. I wasn't quite certain what to expect, but I'd heard good things about Ayala Sender's work from various members on the POL forum, and as I'm interested in what separates the natural perfumers from the synthetic perfumers, I thought I'd give her line a try.

Ayala Moriel fragrances are handmade in small batches from pure and natural sources, with minimal animal products (beeswax, honey, beach harvested ambergris) and as much locally and organically grown and harvested ingredients as possible. I tested her Schizm fragrance today, and it's just about as perfect a masculine as I could have wished for and had given up hope of finding -- a deep, mossy musk that somehow manages to include some truly beautiful florals without getting even remotely Fracas about it.

Like the majority of natural perfumes, it's on the quiet side and needs to be reapplied if you're expecting your love affair with it to last all day. Ayala Moriel perfumes and samples can be purchased directly through the Ayala Moriel website.

UPDATE:

Rich Hippie is another company that produces organic, naturally sourced fragrances. Their website claims that "Rich Hippie perfume is made using the traditional methods employed by perfumers before World War II and the advent of the chemical industry. Prior to World War II, all fine perfume was 100% natural and chemical free. Perfume was made by combining extracts from flowers and plants that were almost always farmed organically or wildcrafted with 100% natural "spirits of wine" or wine alcohol distilled from grapes grown in the great wine regions of France."

I haven't heard much about Rich Hippie, but I like that the alcohol they use in their base is derived from organic grapes rather than petroleum. I ordered a few fragrance samples so that I can see how they fare against the other four natural perfumers discussed above.

Rich Hippie fragrances and samples can be purchased through their website.

UPDATE 2:

A reader in the comments to this post pointed me in the direction of Liz Zorn. Her Underworld sounds like it could be a very nice Vetiver indeed: "A dark earthy pairing of vetiver and balsams, with a touch of Jasmine and Rose in the heart, set against a smoky leathery base. PROFILE: Green, Balsamic, Earthy, Leather" -- sheesh. What's not to like?