What is fragrance?

At Scentsy, we fill lives with fragrance — but what are those fragrances made of? What is in Scentsy products that make them smell so good? To answer these questions, we have to delve into the science of scent:

Fragrance 101

The reason we experience scents (good and bad) is thanks to airborne molecules we inhale. The science of perfumery is centered on the creation of fragrance oils — compounds of different ingredients that release pleasantly scented molecules under the right circumstances — such as when you warm a Scentsy Bar! When it comes to designing a desired scent, it can be helpful to understand the structure of fragrance.

Creating fragrance

People have been creating scents for millennia — and some of their methods are still used today. For example, many natural oils are still produced by expression, where oils are directly squeezed out of natural ingredients like citrus rinds. More modern techniques combine a wide variety of ingredients to achieve bold, layered scents like the ones produced by your favorite Scentsy Bars!

Understanding fragrance ingredients

Today, thousands of ingredients are available to help perfumers craft new fragrances. These range from natural sources like fruits and flowers, to synthetic ingredients like artificial musk. While the idea of making fragrance molecules in a lab may sound a little like science fiction, the truth is that human-made scents have been a part of the fragrance industry since the late 1800s. Often, synthetic fragrance ingredients are used as safer, more sustainable alternatives to their natural counterparts. You can learn more about why Scentsy uses a mix of both natural and synthetic ingredients here.

Fragrance development

Creating great fragrance is as much an art as it is a science — a lot of creative decision are made along the way. Scentsy’s Fragrance Development Team are the experts that guide this process, helping ideas for scents become the next generation of beloved Scentsy fragrances. You can learn more about this team here!