Not many perfumers like to highlight synthetic ingredients even though they are necessary to compose fragrances.
Besides, modern perfumery wouldn’t exist without synthetic molecules as most of the perfumes are of natural and synthetic origin if not 100% synthetic. Consumers wouldn’t necessarily know it, but they tend to go for fragrances that incorporate ingredients such as veltol+ very much used in women fragrances that follow this new gourmand wave.
Their bad reputation is spoiling the beauty of our industry. Many things are said like poor long-lasting, abstract odor profiles, sharp and harsh notes… that is not true.
Jean-François Thizon, perfumer at Parfex on the contrary says that they push the creative side of the fragrance. “Some synthetic molecules are very impressive, they are endowed with multiple facets and provide substance, texture and emotion. I also use them to improve the natural result of the final composition and also to awaken some facets that we found in the natural ingredients; for example, enhancing this typical grapefruit note in vetiver from Haiti, to reveal all the beauty of nature.”
In short, natural and synthetic are both opposites and at the same time, complementary.
