Ink + Ocean (jojoba oil scents from London)
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, to find dozens of options.
Never spray scent near babies or pets, and air rooms before allowing them back in. Avoid wearing scent at night, if pets sleep on your bed. Same with incense.
Nor use cocoa solid perfumes near pets, in case they lick your skin (same with beauty products containing them including sun creams that can also contain pet-toxic zinc oxide).
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.
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.
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 is sustainably-harvested (monocultures can cause wildfires near koalas, for these flammable trees, and some harvesting involves chainsaws).
How to safely dispose of old scents
Don’t pour old perfumes down the drain. They may contain alcohol or oils that harm wildlife and water systems. Use it up, recycle empty bottles, or take full or half-full bottles to your hazardous waste facility.
