What you need to know about fragrance in skincare, what it does to our skin, and five fragrance-free products to try
- Adding scents to skincare is a way to boost the consumer’s at-home experience, and/or a way of masking unpleasant odours in the formula
- With the rise of social media and ‘skinfluencers’ who analyse ingredient lists, more brands are opting out of using fragrances in the products they sell
The skincare world has acquired its own F word, and you’ve probably heard about it already: fragrance.
Over the past few years, with skincare becoming an essential part of our self-care routines, brands have had to be more transparent about their practices and ingredients.
This has led to them not only having to share what their products contain, but also what they don’t.
As a consequence, some skincare “Big Nos” entered the game. No sulphates, no mineral oils, no alcohol, no silicone, no parabens, no artificial colouring and no synthetic fragrances became a label certification that brands trying to enter the clean-beauty category had to attain. Fragrance has been one of the most controversial ingredients.
We’re inevitably drawn to fragrances, and the skincare industry knows it. Adding scents to skincare is essentially a way to boost the consumer’s at-home experience, and/or a way of masking unpleasant odours from some ingredients in the formula.