The Best Non-Toxic Perfume Brands (And Better, Low-Tox Options)

You can still enjoy luxurious perfumes without sacrificing your health. Here’s a list of thirteen low-tox perfume brands with beautiful scents.

When it comes to personal care, we all want to smell amazing, but it’s also important to take care of your health.

And just because we care about our health doesn’t mean we can’t wear perfume, right? Right.

When I first “detoxed” my personal care products at home, one of the first products I missed the most was perfume. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my health over it but I knew I had to find a healthier alternative. So this post is all about the non-toxic perfume brands I found during my own research when I was on the hunt to find clean perfume brands.

These brands prove that you can have both: you can still wear quality fragrances without the additional risks to your health.

What is non-toxic perfume?

Its important to note that there is no legal certification or definition of what a ‘non-toxic perfume’ is but generally it’s a better, cleaner scent option that is free from harmful additives, does not use synthetic fragrance, and uses natural and organic ingredients instead.

Not only are they better for you, but they’re also an eco-friendly choice since many non-toxic brands focus on sustainable practices, cruelty-free production, and recyclable packaging. 

So, if you’re looking for a healthier, more conscious choice for your scent collection, here are the best low-tox perfume brands that are made without common chemicals.

Why choose a non-toxic perfume?

Have you ever walked by someone on the street and felt suffocated by their strong fragrance? Watery eyes, sneezing, coughing, headaches… there’s a reason most public spaces are now scent-free areas. Synthetic fragrances are irritating to the body.

Most commercial perfumes, colognes, and body mists are a concoction of hundreds to thousands of synthetic chemicals like phthalates, parabens, and artificial colorants—ingredients that can cause a variety of unwanted symptoms such as skin irritation, headaches, allergies and, over time, can disrupt your hormones and affect your overall well-being.

So, what exactly is fragrance?

I was pretty shocked when I found out my favourite vanilla perfume was not just a handful of ingredients but actually a mixture of dozens to hundreds of hidden chemical ingredients.

The part that gets muddled is that companies are legally allowed to not disclose all of their ingredients used in the creation of their scents because it’s considered a “trade secret” by the US Food and Drug Administration. So, when you’re buying perfume, the brand legally does not have to let the consumer (you) know which chemical ingredients were used.

Most companies use synthetic fragrances because they’re cheap, easy to replicate (make thousands of the same perfume), and their easy to work with.

Impact on health

Because companies are not legally required to list each and every single chemical ingredient used in their formulations, it’s really difficult to gauge the full extent of how the fragrance can impact our health.

However, many fragrance ingredients have been identified as known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, developmental and neurotoxins, and allergens.

What about ‘safe synthetics’?

More people are becoming conscious of the potential negative health effects of traditional fragrances and are opting for cleaner alternatives. That’s where ‘safe synthetics’ comes from.

Safe synthetics are lab-made scents that are made without harmful chemicals such as phthalates and parabens.

I’m seeing a lot of brands using safe synthetics now, probably in part to appeal to the health-minded folk and to continue to increase sales through greenwashing terms.

Are safe synthetics better than conventional fragrances? Yes. Are they completely toxin-free? Doubtful.

I do think they are an upgrade from traditional fragrances but there are some brands that go a step further and completely omit the use of synthetic ingredients.

Non-Toxic Perfume Brands

ESAS Beauty

Nusa Holistick

One Seed

Living Libations

Good Medicine

Low-Tox Perfume Brands

Wyld

Recreation Beauty

Lavanila

FFern

Wit & West

Providence Perfumes Co.

Switching to non-toxic perfumes is a great way to enhance your self-care routine while being kinder to both your body and the planet. Whether you’re looking for something light and fresh or deep and sensual, these non toxic perfume brands offer a range of non-toxic options to suit every personality and occasion!

‘Better’ perfume brands (but not great)

Lastly, here are a couple of popular perfume brands I’d consider “safer” than conventional options but not clean enough to include in the non-toxic list. Most of these brands include some synthetic ingredients which is why I wouldn’t label them as ‘best’, but they are transparent about their ingredients and omit harmful chemicals such as phthalates.

• Phlur
• Skylar
• Ellis brooklyn
• Henry Rose
• By Rosie Jane
• Heretic
• Dime 
• The 7 virtues
• Strange Invisible (use certified organic grape alcohol, essential oils, and natural botanicals which is great, but they don’t disclose their ingredient list so it’s hard to identify how clean it is).
• ALT
• Pacifica
• Be Rosy