Fragrance in skincare, good or bad?
and perfume tok driving sales in a growing fragrance industry
welcome! this is my beauty + cosmetics substack.
for more whimsical musings: a mix of neuroscience, self actualisation, clarity of mind or how to be efficient while aiming to live a slow paced life, please check out my other substack Soft Realm.
for more personal essays and - from May 17 on - my digital garden (media I've consumed and recommend) and diary entries, please subscribe to Romy's notebook <3
all are free for now, but not for long. when I introduce paid subscriptions, I will always make sure to include free posts though :)
Dear readers, i’m so excited because I am finally getting a logo for Soft Glow! its a great process to be in, choosing colours and vibes together with a graphic designer - she used to work for apartamento and Marni and is extremely talented! when the logo is revealed I’ll share more details about her <3
Regarding the laser deep-dive post, its getting lonnnngg and the research is still ongoing. i’m also including some other in-clinic treatments that are similar, or that sometimes might be mistaken to be lasers. Since I want to do this right and have several professionals fact check my work + have some first hand laser reviews and diaries, it takes a bit longer than expected. Which I think is fine, since laser season starts again end of summer, so you’ll have more than enough time to prep and save up for treatments, even if this comes out in a few weeks :)
Today, we’ll talk about fragrance in skincare, why some people prefer fragrance-free, and we’ll also talk about actual perfumes.
READ AND WATCH
I got interviewed by Vogue NL in April about the influence of social media on our shared obsession with beauty - and I keep on forgetting to include it in this substack so here we finally are! you can easily translate it to english in your browser (usually top right, tiny icon) -Een obsessie met huid en skincare, Vogue NL
I often cringe when I see celebs and models making crazy skincare mistakes on Vogue’s Beauty Secrets youtube series but that’s probably because I did a Vogue Beauty Secrets video with Vogue NL pre-pandemic and made some pretty cringey mistakes myself (still not over the fact that I mixed my sunscreen with a bit of foundation, which drastically reduces the sun protection). No I will not be sharing that video but I WILL be sharing my favourite model (she’s so funny, look up “alex consani core” on tiktok to see what I mean) - Vogue Beauty Secrets with Alex Consani, Youtube
TikTok is changing the perfume business - you too can smell like freshly cut grass or a rich old woman - the Economist [paywalled]
If you can’t read the Economist one, here’s another cute article about PerfumeTok
Summer 2025 perfume trends include pistachio, marshmellow, musk and milk - according to Teen Vogue
And here some of my favourite perfume creators on tiktok:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
everything about fragrance in skincare
Is fragrance in skincare good or bad?
The answer is… its personal. yup, sounds like a boring answer but there’s some beautiful information in the explanation of it. bear with me:
First of all, fragrance in skincare can be irritating the skin, for some people. who? people with sensitive skin, people that are allergy-prone, and for people with skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, etc., it can even cause flare-ups.
Let’s not forget: for neurodivergent people, scent can be overwhelming and can trigger a pretty unpleasant neurological response. this is why I totally understand rules in offices that go against (heavy) perfumes. perfumes of other people have made me feel nauseous so many times I can’t even count them - especially in the morning on my refreshed, virgin brain and lungs, ugh
In a lot of western (mainly mainstream and traditional-) skincare, fragrance in skincare is pretty overwhelming. think about the traditional pot of cream your grandma or auntie uses. To me personally, Western scented skincare often irritates my skin. This usually means there is a high percentage of fragrance in the formula.
But in Korean skincare, lots of brands use fragrance but its in a very low percentage. And when I use Korean scented skincare, I rarely experience irritation. The dose makes the poison, as always!
The most skin irritating fragrance ingredients are usually natural (I know, feels counterintuitive right?). I’m talking about essential oils, they are very potent and always contain a lot of allergens. even in low dosages, they can cause skin flare ups and irritation.
The aroma is nice, and they can have some anti-oxidant properties - although those properties are often not active in the low dosage that chemists use them in, since essential oils can be very irritating or triggering allergies even in low dosages - but in my opinion, the risk outweighs the benefit when it comes to essential oils in skincare.
Let’s not forget it always depends on the specific product formulations and the skin of course. Personally, I rather burn some oils in my bathroom - but always with a window open! Or I use a dilution in my hair for that nice spa-like aroma therapy.
Please always be careful with using pure essential oils. They are not meant for direct skin contact, they have to be diluted at all times. Another thing I need to say about essential oils is that its very unpleasant- and can be a huge health hazard for pets.
NEVER burn essential oils or incense in a small room or even a big room without a window open. And its better to refrain from it at all if you have pets, unless they’re locked out of the room or something.
what are masking agents? the beauty industry's silent ninjas
I recently fell down a rabbit hole researching masking agents, and to my sensitive-skinned friends I want to say: we've been bamboozled. but there’s no need to get scared, i’m here with solutions!
Masking agents are ingredients added to skincare not to make products smell like a field of lavender, but to neutralise the sometimes funky odors of raw ingredients. I mean, sulfur smells like rotten eggs, niacinamide has that weird vitamin-y smell, most helpful ingredients are just not very pretty for the nose.
These masking agents are often actual fragrance ingredients, just used for a different purpose. So that "fragrance-free" label might be technically true (no fragrance added for scent) but practically misleading (fragrance ingredients still present).
Here's where it gets sneaky:
"Unscented" simply means no perceptible smell
"Fragrance-free" means no fragrance added specifically for aroma
But both can contain masking agents that are, chemically speaking, fragrance ingredients. In the US, these can hide under the umbrella term "fragrance/parfum" in the ingredients list. EU regulations are stricter, requiring specific fragrance allergens to be listed if they're present above certain thresholds (thresholds mostly being around the dose that you can actually smell them).
why It matters: the dose makes the poison (usually)
Here's where things get nuanced: masking agents are typically used in low concentrations (around 0.3% to 0.8%), which is generally below irritation thresholds for most people. The dose makes the poison is a fundamental toxicology principle that applies here.
BUT - and this is a big but for SOME of us - the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety has found that some fragrance allergens can trigger allergic contact dermatitis at levels as low as 0.8 μg/cm² in sensitive individuals.
Translation: if you're among the sensitive few, even those tiny concentrations can cause real problems.
Trust your nose. If a "fragrance-free" product has a suspiciously pleasant scent, it contains masking agents.
Look for truly transparent brands that explicitly state "no masking agents"
Check EU ingredient lists for fragrance allergens (limonene, linalool, eugenol) - their presence means fragrance compounds exist, regardless of front-label claims.
Always patch test! Your skin's reaction is the ultimate truth-teller. Here’s a guide!
monthly debunk
The EWG (Environmental Working Group) continues to spread misinformation by listing masking agents as "high hazard" ingredients without considering concentration, formulation context, or regulatory safety assessments. Remember: the dose makes the poison, and ingredients that are perfectly safe in small amounts often get unnecessarily demonised. Be critical, but don't fall into the fear-mongering trap!
and the perfume packaging awards go to:
Back to perfume-perfume! Since stumbling upon the James Turell for (glass-house) Lalique’s perfume bottles a few years ago, there hasn’t been a month that I didn’t think of them. that’s what great art does. Here some more favourites when it comes to perfume packaging:
milk-maid perfumes are trending
It might be because of the rise of conservatism, purity and the whole trad-wivery of it all. but milky perfumes are selling like oat milk latte’s did until recently and soy milk did in the 2010’s. they’ve been trending since right before the US election last year and are still topping the charts.
these fragrances, characterised by creamy, comforting notes reminiscent of milk, almond, or even slightly of coconut, have gained popularity for their nostalgic and cozy appeal. the popularity of milky fragrances also comes as part of the move away from heavy, heady perfumes and towards lighter, warmer “skin scents” that we’ve seen over the last five years. A quote from a dazed & confused article on lactonic perfumes (don’t you love the word lactonic lol):
There’s something kind of nostalgic about milk, even if we don’t drink it, it’s pretty universal,” she says. By formula or breast, there is a ubiquitousness to milk. For babies, it is the elixir of life, the soothing salve reached at the sound of their first cry. - perfumerism on tiktok
new product launches
scented
Aesop Eleos hand cream - I tried it in store and loved it. Also layered the Rōzu perfume with Aurner and loved that! Rōzu was not new-new, but Aurner is. Virēre as well!
Peter Thomas Roth: Water Drench Ice Facial Cooling Mist — I’ve been telling you all for a while that mists are the next big thing in skincare and there have been some great releases! Also I think RHODE is coming out with one soon. I haven’t tried this one yet since it’s one day old but this one probably smells like menthol if I look at the ingredients list. Not the best ingredient for the flare up girlies but fine for the rest!
unscented
Dr Jart+ Cicapair Gentle Foam Cleanser for sensitive skin
Murad hydration eczema control quick relief colloidial oatmeal treatment
magically soothing, viral korean moisturiser (and its whole line, I looove the mist and also a big fan of the barrier cream) is available at Sephora US now. For the European girlies: here and here
The Ordinary has had many new launches recently, this one stood out to me
some more perfumetok video’s that I just NEED to share with you, because its pure poetry and you can totally use it as a sleepcast if you like:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
also LOVE neoitgirl aka nikita, queen of beauty. we have mostly the same taste in perfume (just nothing too sweet n girly lol) and in the first few minutes she’s talking about my current favourite perfume called animalique by byredo and im not linking it to semi gatekeep it haha but its a new launch and its amazing:
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
until next time, stay glowing
and don’t forget to DM/comment me questions about beauty <3
xoxo soft glow
@caitlynandcharlee you mentioned has also an amazing substack called milk fed. Her writing about books and perfumes is absolutely beautiful!