A little bit of history of Natural Perfumery
At Cherie Em we are passionate about reviving the lost art of Natural Perfumery. Perfumery in the 20th Century was replaced with synthetics and mass marketed products. Natural or Botanical perfumery is an ancient practice which uses only natural aromatic plant materials (flowers, resins, barks, citrus, woods).
What is natural perfumery?
Natural Perfumery dates back tens of thousands of years where wild crafted plants and flowers and sometimes animal ingredients (no animal ingredients are used in Cherie Em’s perfumes) were extracted and interspersed together to create simple perfumes. Perfumes were made across many cultures from Ancient Babylonians and Egyptians to Indians, Chinese, Europeans plus many more.
In the 1800’s famous French Perfumer, G.W. Septimus Piesse was the first to use top, middle and base notes of music as an analogy to constructing perfume. These French Perfumery techniques are the perfect harmony of top, middle and base notes to a produce a beautiful blended harmony of fragrances and are the methods used by Cherie Em using only natural and organic aromatic materials.
At the end of the 19th Century and the turn of the 20th Century, synthetic ingredients were introduced. These synthetic ingredients allowed perfumes to become produced in much larger quantities than their natural counterparts. Now there is a growing number of artisan perfumers around the world who are passionate about reviving the ancient art of Natural Perfumery.
Natural Perfumery as an Art
Natural perfumery is also an art and there is a beautiful creativity in the blending of natural ingredients to create a perfume using the French Perfumery techniques described above. Many believe that you need to be a scientist to study perfumery but some say that can hinder the intuition of the art of blending.
Artisan perfumes created in small batches contain some of the most rarest and beautiful ingredients on the planet (it would be cost prohibitive for large manufacturers to use some of these ingredients).
Natural Perfumes are healthier
The use of natural ingredients in perfumery is much healthier for the environment and our own wellbeing. People with allergies, who can’t have the hormone disrupting chemicals of synthetic perfumes or simply can’t tolerate the strong smells of some synthetic fragrances are so pleased to be able to wear a natural perfume that doesn’t react with them.
Natural perfumes are much more subtle. The subtleness of a natural perfume ensures that you do no overpower any room that you walk into. It is akin to having your own private scent veil which is smelt by you and those who embrace you.
In our perfumes you will find only plant extracts from Organic and Natural sources. There are no Phthalates, Parabens, Petroleums, Sulphates or any other nasty, chemically derived ingredients.
Shop our Natural Solid Perfumes
Shop our Natural Spray Perfumes
