David Weymouth

A few years ago, if someone had asked me whether I preferred synthetic to essential oils, I would have assumed they were discussing the kind of motor oil I used in my car.  Today, the questions of synthetic and essential oils are always fragrance specific.  At Scentsy we use both.  More specifically, Scentsy fragrances typically contain a mixture of natural and synthetic fragrance oils.  The argument that “synthetics aren’t as good as natural (oils)” is, from my perspective, a myth. 

There is a laundry list of reasons why, but without synthetic fragrance oils our fragrance options would be highly limited—unless we were comfortable with mass deforestation or the unrestrained use of limited or endangered resources.  Not to mention the financial costs of those resources.  Musk notes are a great example, as “natural” musk oils are not distributed within the fragrance industry as a whole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk).  If it wasn’t for synthetic fragrance oils, the Siberian Musk Deer (and many other similar animals) would likely be extinct.  However, not all synthetic oils are created equal—so we still have the challenge (and fun) of identifying the right raw material.

Read more: Fragrance 101