Table of Contents
Fragrance is one of the most powerful parts of a body care experience — it’s emotional, nostalgic, can have relaxing properties, and it is deeply personal. It can make a simple shower routine one of the most enjoyable parts of your day. Fragrance, in our opinion, is a huge part of the experience, but we have heard from you the concern around it's safety, and we hope that by the end of this post, you know more about synthetic fragrances and can feel less confused about selecting your body care products that contain this "ingredient".
What Are Synthetic Fragrances?
The easiest way to explain it is there are 2 ways you can scent a body care product. The first is with natural essential oils that are 100% derived from plant based materials. We LOVE a good essential oil, but the problem arises because you become very limited to the scents available from nature. You want a musky cashmere scent, or a fresh ocean air mist fragrance? You just cannot get those from nature.
That is where we turn to synthetic fragrances. Now before you run away from the word synthetic, please note that there are actually a lot of lab-created ingredients in the beauty industry that are designed to be even MORE skin friendly than natural ingredients. A lot of baby care products are created to be more gentle and soothing than a natural counterpart.
The problem isn’t that they’re synthetic. It’s that fragrance formulas are considered trade secrets under US law, which means brands are not required to disclose the individual chemicals that make up their scent. The word “fragrance” or “perfume” on a label can legally represent a blend of anywhere from a handful to several hundred different chemical compounds and some of those ingredients can be hidden within that label and you would never know about it.
This is where concern comes to play, as it should. By putting fragrance on the label it causes consumers to question if they can trust the brand or not.
Why Does That Matter for Your Skin?
When a product contains undisclosed fragrance chemicals, you have no way of knowing what you’re actually absorbing — or whether any of those compounds might be problematic for you personally. It's an even greater dilemma when you have an allergy because you couldn't possibly know if the fragrance will cause issues for you.
Some common concerns with synthetic fragrances include:
- Skin irritation and allergic reactions: Fragrance is one of the leading causes of contact dermatitis and allergic skin reactions. Even people who don’t consider themselves “sensitive” can develop reactions over time with repeated exposure.
- Hormone disruption: Certain fragrance chemicals, including some phthalates (used to make scents last longer), have been identified as potential endocrine disruptors — meaning they may interfere with hormone function.
- Respiratory sensitivity: Synthetic fragrance compounds can trigger headaches, asthma symptoms, and breathing difficulties in sensitive individuals, particularly in enclosed spaces.
- Cumulative exposure: Most people use multiple scented products every day — body wash, lotion, deodorant, laundry detergent. The exposure adds up, even when each individual product seems harmless on its own.
What We Use at Solette Instead
We believe scent should be a pleasurable and safe part of your body care routine — not a source of hidden exposure. That’s why transparency in our ingredient lists isn’t optional for us. It’s non-negotiable.
We do use synthetic fragrances in our body care products, because we work directly with one of the leading fragrance houses in the US which means we are able to control 100% of what goes into our fragrances. We absolutely DO NOT use any phthalates in our fragrances and we use a much lower % of fragrance in our products compared to industry standards.
If a customer has a deeper question about our fragrance blends, we are more than happy to provide the detailed formula of each specific fragrance and we are working to get this information published on our website for access 24/7 when needed.
You Have a Right to Know What’s in Your Products
The beauty industry has a long history of opacity — complicated ingredient names, vague label claims, and trade secret loopholes that keep consumers in the dark. We started Solette because we believe it doesn’t have to be that way. We use a mix of natural and synthetic ingredients to create products that perform and enhance your daily life. Skin health is at the forefront of ingredient selection, and we are fully transparent about what's in our jars.
If you would like more information than what is currently published on our website, please email our founder directly at caitlin@solettebeauty.com with she will happily get back to your requests.
—
Curious what’s actually in your Solette products? Browse our full ingredient lists online — no trade secrets, no hidden formulas, just honest body care.
White Sands + Seaspray Luxury Body Butter
$30.00
Luxury Shea Body Butter Your skin will be so happy once it meets our thick and creamy body butter. Our non-greasy formula is one of the thickest you'll find and keeps your skin hydrated throughout the day. Natural glycerin draws… read more
