Future of Natural Perfumery

After dealing with that fake Lily-of-the-Valley 'pure natural oil', I went to a supplier who carries both raw materials and synthetics and tracked down a shortlist of LOTV synths created by the likes of Symrise, Vigon, and Firmenich. I'm determined to get to the bottom of this with a bit of comparison and contrast to see which synths are the 'pure natural oil' I purchased. One of my former students with whom I discussed this pointed out that it could be a combination of all or a few of these other synths, along with aldehydes and other synth chems. A proprietary fake. I have an entire drawer in the studio dedicated to fakes. It's about one-quarter full of small samples of stuff that I either purchased or was sent by an inquiring mind. One of the markers of a fake is the price -- or it was until a couple of years ago. These suppliers are now beginning to charge the same price for the fakes, or close, as the cost of the real extract. Another marker is the Latin name, and they've circumvented that as well, including the Latin name of the plant they claim was sourced in their advertising. This is so very confusing to someone new to the field. This fake LOTV was considerably underpriced so I already knew what I was getting, but my goal is to gently point out to the supplier that their offering isn't real, as advertised. Always give them the benefit of the doubt because anyone can be fooled. If, after my research, I approach them (gently - ha!) and they spit in my face, I will warn people not to be taken in by their crap products.

Back in 2019, I had a natural perfumery student who claimed to be a certified aromatherapist. Usually, this is a good indication that they have some experience with natural materials, plus aromatherapists make the transition from therapy to hedonism fairly well. The problem was that when this person sent their final perfume submission for their certificate, they sent me a perfume loaded with fakes. When I told them, they seemed gracious and accepting of my assessment and agreed that they should do a better job sourcing materials and resubmitting the work so they could obtain the certificate. I never heard from them again. They are now offering their own natural perfumery course online for an exorbitant price. This is the result of a lot of things, primarily stubbornness, laziness, and a healthy dose of greed. Those dollar or euro signs in their eyes make them blind to the potential disaster ahead of them. 

This is what scares me about the future of natural perfumery. These people right here.