If you’ve been doing your research on fragrances and perfumes in general, there’s no doubt that you’ve stumbled across the word synthetic and there’s no doubt that that word had left a certain bad taste in your mouth and had left you with a lasting bad impression to products that use synthetic compounds. But like covert ops, there’s more than meets the eye, and that nothing is as it seems. Let me explain why.
First of all, why do synthetic compounds exist? You see, natural compounds, like the name suggests, are extracted from natural sources. Most of the time, this takes form as a mixture of essential oils and other extracts of a natural origin normally sourced from botanical materials. These compounds have the advantage of being unique, natural fragrances are unique in the sense that no two compounds are every always exactly the same. This means that quality control and production can take up more time, for troubleshooting to solve issues in production which translates to a more expensive product for the consumer. This is why natural fragrances tend to cost a whole lot more than their synthetic brethren do.
Synthetic compounds, on the other hand, are made entirely in the laboratory. Now, it’s not as bad as you think it is since synthetic compounds mean that it’s always going to be made with a certain standard in mind, translating to a product that is consistent, predictable, and easy to work with. This also means that the production process will be much simpler and much easier than it is with natural compounds. Synthetic fragrances also have the advantage of lasting a lot longer than their natural counterpart, a virtue that is rather sought after in the modern fragrance market since most of us would like to spritz on our fragrances once a day and will still be able to enjoy the fragrance by the time we go back home to relax.
So why is synthetic not a bad word? Well, for one, just because something is synthetic does not always mean that it is bad. Take the pharmaceutical industry, for example, it’s common practice to use artificial materials in products since it’s much easier to come across and are generally much easier to work with thanks to their more stable nature when compared to the unpredictability of natural compounds. But really, none of this should matter to you since fragrances, like attractiveness is a highly subjective thing and can not, therefore, be judged simply based on its level of artificiality since even “natural” fragrances are still going to utilize some amount of artificial or synthetic compounds in their production process.
There is no shame in being attracted to synthetic fragrances, because at the end of the day, who cares? If something smells good to you, wear it with pride because no one on earth starts a conversation with “you smell great, does your perfume use natural compounds?” Because if they do, you would probably want to reconsider your choice of friends.