Perfumes: Nature's elixirs spread the fragrance

Vina Lacascade

In a world of consumption, earthly resources, including aromatic plants that make our perfumes, have been facing bigger threats than ever before.
According to the Global Footprint Network (GFN), August 8 marked the day when the world's seven billion people's annual demand on nature exceeded what the Earth can generate during the entire year.
This was the motivation that inspired Vina Lacascade, deputy general-manager, international brand of The Body Shop, to launch 'The Elixirs of Nature' perfume collection that used a non-destructive technology to protect the plants.
The 'headspace technology' allows absorbing the essence of flowers through cocooning the plant, flower or wood in a glass sphere and creating a vacuum that helps the plant emits its fragrance. The essence is then recreated leaving nature unharmed.
"When I was asked to develop the launch, I realised that some naturals were on the verge of extinction. So we thought of using technology that allows us to produce scent true to the plant without harming nature," said the French national who's been in the perfumery field for 15 years. She was speaking during the product launch at The Body Shop in Mall of The Emirates.
It took three years for the former pharmacist to design a collection of five perfumes inspired from rare plants of Switzerland, Bora Bora, India, French Guiana and South Africa. The five perfumes - Nigritella, Kahaia, Swietenia, Bowhanti and Widdringtonia - were named after the wild they were extracted from.
Lacascade explained that she avoided renaming the perfumes to raise awareness on the plant types that are threatened with extinction.
"While the purpose is to become sustainable, I also want to inspire people to think about nature and how we can take better care of our surroundings," she said.
But are fragrances produced from the headspace technology as strong and long-lasting as other perfumes? According to Lacascade, they were designed to be long lasting.
"Through typical distillation, you have to use a major part of the plant, but the headspace technology allows us to take the fragrance and recreate it. Therefore, the product is even truer to nature," she noted. "For example, some plants only open at night and you can only smell them before sunrise. If you cut it off, you will not get the smell you want."
For Lacascade, to achieve sustainability, people have to develop a sense of curiosity and exploration of world ingredients.
"Fragrance is an important part of how we look and feel. We should develop a smart way of consumption to get the most benefit out of nature in the long and short run," she said.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com