![]() I’ve encountered some older perfumes which have survived very well and retained their original character. I have a modern Mitsouko and it still gives me pleasure. Some of the Zombie Scents are still wearable. ![]() Poison, the outrageous 80s power dresser, now wearing a purple bathrobe and sipping Ribena in front of the telly. Tabac Blond, so anaemic now a leather handbag with an electronic cigarette instead of a smouldering jazz club in the 30s.Īnd what of Mitsouko, such beauty of a mossy forest with naked nymphs frolicking, now a tight-lipped executive woman who sometimes dreams of the woods. My beloved Diorella, secretly squirted from my grandmother’s dressing table, now a shadow of its former self due to so many restrictions Diorissimo, a shadow of its former self due to the limits and bans on historic lily of the valley materials. It is heartbreaking to encounter a Zombie Perfume. I do think we would be better off with warning labels and perhaps a return to the fashion of scenting scarves and handkerchiefs, or wearing little nosegays and scented lockets. Trying to engage, educate and participate in the allergen discussion when we’re already so far down the road of restrictions and bans seems like the old “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.” I don’t personally think it should have to be necessary to restrict so many materials so severely. I think the main problem with the fragrance allergen issue has been the perfume industry’s secretive nature. Furanocoumarins are now removed from bergamot oil in most cases as part of its processing for perfumery use. Some materials contain constituents which cause phototoxicity: bergamot oil naturally contains furanocoumarins which, if left in, would cause skin discolouration when exposed to sunlight. A shame because I really like the way it smells. Some perfume materials are more problematic than others: Lyral (a common lily material) is significantly more problematic than many other synthetic ingredients. According to Lisa Hipgrave from IFRA UK, perfume allergy develops over time, so you could use the same fragrance for years and suddenly become violently allergic to one of its ingredients. Only about 3% of the EU population is allergic to fragrances but some of the cases can be quite severe and result in permanent skin conditions or damage. ![]() ![]() There is also some misunderstanding about how allergies to perfume form and how many people get them. As far as regulators and safety experts are concerned, it is easier to eliminate any potential risk from perfume than to remove peanut products from sale. Alas, peanuts are food and perfume is considered a non-essential luxury product (non-essential! Yes, this story is a real chiller). Why can’t perfumes just have a warning label?” This topic always turns to “But lots of people are allergic to peanuts and they’re not banned. On the other hand, if a fragrance material is applied undiluted to shaved rat skin or fed to an animal until it dies, does that really reflect what happens to perfume in normal everyday use? The point is: as suspicious as IFRA may seem from the outside, it’s acting as a barrier between NGOs, pressure groups and overzealous governmental ingredient regulation. Of course people who stand to gain from anti-paraben scare-marketing will triumphantly quote that the Danish government has banned parabens without putting the statement in context). So they banned parabens “just in case”, partly to stop mothers worrying. When the EU and individual governments are left to ban and restrict materials, you end up with what happened in Denmark (the government banned parabens in products for children – not because there was any new science on parabens being harmful, but because there was a data gap. IFRA, despite popular opinion to the contrary, has actually managed to save many perfume ingredients from getting removed from the perfumers’ palette completely. Sometimes justifiably so sometimes using the “let’s crack this walnut with a hammer”-approach. One or more of the key components may have been banned or restricted. The scent may be re-adjusted to better match modern tastes. Cost of materials may have become prohibitive (or just undesirable). Perfumes get reformulated for many reasons. Unlike a flesh zombie, a perfume zombie appears polished and modern, stylish and clean, suspiciously so…suspiciously so. They sound the same, they sometimes even look the same, though in many cases you’ll spot something odd about their appearance.
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