Fragrance is one of the only ingredients in cosmetics that can legally mean nothing. On ingredient lists, it’s treated as a single item. In reality, it often contains dozens or even hundreds of undisclosed compounds. Most of them will never be named. There is no sourcing information. No disclosure requirements. Just a protected placeholder.
The reason is simple. Under current regulations, fragrance is considered a trade secret. Companies are allowed to withhold the details of what’s in it. What started as a way to protect brand identity has turned into one of the biggest gaps in transparency across the beauty industry. Behind that gap is a supply chain that’s almost completely hidden. It affects workers, ecosystems, and public health, but you’d never know that from reading the back of a bottle.
Clean beauty campaigns have called out parabens, sulfates, and microplastics. But fragrance remains largely untouched. It’s treated as background. That silence has allowed some of the industry’s most extractive practices to continue under the radar, especially in luxury scent. Sustainability is nearly impossible to measure when no one is obligated to name their materials. And that makes sustainable fragrance incredibly difficult to identify, let alone define.
What’s really in a bottle of fragrance
Perfume blends natural ingredients with synthetic ones. Neither is inherently better. Both have problems. Most of the plants used in perfumery (rose, jasmine, oud, vanilla, sandalwood) require huge amounts of raw material to yield a small amount of extract. A kilo of rose oil can take more than a million petals. Oud is harvested from infected agarwood trees that are now endangered in many parts of the world. Sandalwood has been overharvested for decades and is only now being replanted under stricter controls.
Synthetics are often presented as the more sustainable option, but that depends on how they’re made. Many are petrochemical-based. Others are produced in factories with high water and energy use. Few are biodegradable. Some synthetic musks, still used widely in commercial fragrance, have been found in human fat tissue and marine ecosystems. Several have been restricted in the EU. Others are still in use, especially in the US, where oversight is weaker.
Most of these ingredients are used without context. The word fragrance allows a brand to include whatever blend it chooses without listing what’s inside. A perfume might contain responsibly sourced vetiver or rose absolute from a certified co-op. It might also contain phthalates, UV blockers, or synthetic preservatives. There’s no way to tell.
Sustainability is about more than materials
A sustainable perfume is about the entire system it came from. Whether the land was treated well. Whether the harvesters were paid fairly. Whether the material was processed close to the source or shipped across the world for cheap labor. Whether the scent can degrade without leaving something toxic behind.
Some brands are starting to take this seriously. They’re using biodegradable fixatives, waterless formulations, and upcycled plant materials. Others are switching to closed-loop distillation or sourcing from regenerative farms. These changes aren’t always easy to communicate on a label. They involve shifts in sourcing, processing, preservation, and packaging. They also require letting go of certain perfume ideals, like long wear times or projection that fills a room.
The mainstream fragrance market hasn’t made that shift. Sustainability claims are mostly left to marketing departments. A label might say “botanical fragrance” while still using synthetics. Another might say “natural” but include rose oil sourced from overworked fields underpaid laborers. With no standard definitions or certification systems for fragrance sustainability, these claims go unchecked.
What transparency could look like
It’s not unreasonable to expect a full ingredient list. Or to know where the materials came from. Or whether the product was tested for environmental impact. These are basic requests. But right now, fragrance remains a protected black box. And that’s what makes it such a difficult category for anyone trying to shop with care.
None of this means perfume needs to be perfect. It means the people making it should
be willing to be accountable. It means the people wearing it should have the right to know what they’re actually putting on their skin and into the air. If a perfume claims to be sustainable, it should be able to explain how. That includes the growing, the harvesting, the synthesis, the transportation, the preservation, the packaging, and the breakdown.
Anything less is branding.
To find brands that are beginning to offer transparency around fragrance sourcing and sustainability, be sure to visit our Directory.
