Ink + Ocean (natural vegan jojoba oil perfumes)
Ink + Ocean Botanicals is a London scent brand, which offers natural jojoba oil-based organic scents in glass bottles, plus organic solid perfumes in glass jars. Formulated by a qualified aromatherapist, click the ‘perfume’ category to the left on the Etsy shop link, for dozens of options.
The range includes Jardin de Papillon, which is like ‘walking into a summer garden’, with top notes of lavender and bergamot, middle notes of magnolia and ylang ylang, and end notes of earthy sandalwood and vetiver.
Never spray scent near babies or pets (air rooms before letting them back in rooms). Avoid scent at night, if pets sleep on your bed. Same for incense, cocoa solid scents (in case they lick your skin – same with beauty creams and sun creams/cosmetics/deodorants with zinc oxide).
Also in a wildflower scent, with notes of fresh mint, lavender and chamomile, middle notes of rose and ylang ylang and base notes of cedarwood and patchouli.
Solid perfumes are popular, as they don’t spill and are good for travel, like taking through airport security that now bans some liquid in bottles. The waxy base also holds scent longer.
Others also don’t have to ‘walk through a cloud of scented mist’, even if you like to! They are also more affordable, as you are not ‘spraying scent into the air’, that just gets wasted.
Why choose sustainable vegan scents?
Most of the big brand scents are made with fake fragrance and sometimes animal or endangered ingredients. And massively over-priced to pay for over-packaging and celebrity endorsements.
Ingredients to avoid in perfume & cologne
Parfum (this masks all kinds of nasties)
- Civet is from the glands of an Asian wild cat
- Castoreum (also used in ‘fake vanilla’) is from beavers
- Castoreum is from beavers
- Musk is from a tiny Siberian deer
- Hyraceum is from an African guinea pig
- Ambergris is from ‘whale poop’
- Rosewood oil (from a critically endangered tree)
- Ensure sandalwood and frankincense are sustainably-harvested
- Ensure eucalyptus avoids chainsaw harvesting to protect koalas ((monocultures can cause wildfires for these flammable trees).
How to safely dispose of old scents
Don’t pour old perfumes down drains, as alcohol/oils can harm wildlife. Use them up and recycle empty bottles (take full/half-full bottles to household recycling, as hazardous waste).
