How I Started Making Natural Perfume: From Skincare Concerns to Chemical-Free Fragrance
What started as reading ingredient labels for my child's eczema turned into a two-year obsession with creating luxury natural perfumes. Here's how I went from concerned parent to self-taught perfumer, and why I believe natural fragrance doesn't have to mean compromising on sophistication.
Honestly? I never thought twice about what was in my perfume—until I had kids and everything changed.
Why I Switched to Natural Perfume
My eldest developed stubborn eczema when they were tiny, and suddenly I became that parent reading every single label. Soap, laundry detergent, those innocent-looking baby wipes—everything got the scrutiny treatment. The ingredient lists were genuinely intimidating—like chemistry homework I'd definitely failed at school.
So I started making our own products at home. Simple soaps, gentle cleaners—nothing fancy, but it felt good knowing exactly what touched our skin. Then one day I caught sight of my old synthetic perfume bottle, just sitting there gathering dust. I hadn't touched it in months, and something about it suddenly felt... wrong. Too harsh, too mysterious, too full of unpronounceable chemicals. Not something I wanted on my skin anymore, and definitely not around my little ones.
Learning to Make Natural Perfume at Home
That's when I discovered the world of natural fragrance and essential oil perfumery. I started simple—blending essential oils, creating little scented potions for myself. But after a while, I wanted something more sophisticated. Something that was definitively a perfume, not just nice-smelling oils mixed together.
What followed can only be described as complete obsession with natural perfume making. I devoured everything I could find about perfumery—scent families, fragrance structures, how top, heart, and base notes create that perfect harmony in organic perfumes. I'd research commercial perfumes to understand their composition, though I deliberately avoided smelling them. I wanted my natural fragrance creations to be genuinely unique, not echoes of existing fragrances.
Creating My First Natural Perfume Collection
The real magic happened at my blending table. With zero chemistry background, I felt like an oddly excited mad scientist, returning night after night to create new natural perfume concoctions. Some were truly awful—nose-wrinkling, immediate-regret kind of disasters—but I loved every minute of it. Each failure taught me something new about how natural fragrance materials behave, how they interact, how they evolve on skin.
Then one evening—after two years of this beautiful madness—something clicked. Three natural perfumes came together in quick succession, each one genuinely beautiful. Not just "nice for homemade," but properly elegant, complex, and wearable. I'd found my calling in creating chemical-free fragrance.
Why Choose Natural Perfume Over Synthetic Fragrance
This journey taught me that natural perfume doesn't have to mean simple or less sophisticated. When you strip away the synthetic fillers, the phthalates, the hormone disruptors, the mysterious "fragrance" listings, you're left with something pure and powerful. Natural fragrance that works with your skin instead of masking it.
Every bottle of vegan perfume I create now carries this story—the parent who wanted better, the self-taught perfumer who refused to compromise, the small-batch maker who believes luxury fragrance shouldn't come with a side of chemicals you can't pronounce.
Because your skin deserves better than synthetic perfume. Your senses deserve the authenticity of natural fragrance. And your story deserves a signature scent that's as unique as you are—free from phthalates, parabens, and synthetic additives.
Sharon x
Founder | Perfumer