Poo, Fat and Anal Glands - What The Hell Is In Non-Vegan Perfume?

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I bet most of our morning routines are the same: wake up, shower, get dressed, do your makeup and spray some beaver anal-sac juice on your skin? Doubtful? The bottle might say Dior instead. Here’s why your perfume might contain animal secretions…

I have spent many years informing, educating and convincing people to swap their usual cosmetics for cruelty-free alternatives. I've been successful in doing so in my own corner of the internet, and the market is still dominated by beauty conglomerates who exploit thousands of animals every year to make and sell their products. I have a lot of beauty influencer friends, and I inform them of the reality of their purchases and have them shaking their heads in disbelief. Only to go home and continue to push products to their massive followings. Trying to tell people that these are straightforward swaps is frustrating, and they'd be surprised how many high-end or well-known brands are already cruelty-free. Nonetheless, this is my platform, and you want to know how your perfume became a meat stew instead of a scent. Let's get into some definitions of vegan and cruelty-free first. (Scroll down if you just want the perfume recommendations!)

VEGAN:

An absence of animal-derived ingredients in the product. This can be anything from collagen from pigs, lanolin from sheep's wool, to carmine from ground-up cochineal insects. These are not niche ingredients; they're very commonly used in many cosmetics available on the market in the UK.

CRUELTY FREE:

The finished product is not tested on animals. The brand has also ensured that none of its manufacturers have tested the ingredients on animals throughout its supply chain. The brand does not allow or permit testing via a third party or where necessary by law (some countries will not allow a cosmetic to be sold unless it has been tested on animals first).

So, yes - it is ‘possible’ to buy a product that is vegan (ingredients-wise), but it may still be tested on animals. I'm not a gatekeeper of vegan purity, but logically, it doesn't make sense. If an animal suffers for a product to exist - then it's not vegan! The use of animal ingredients in cosmetics is nothing new. They have been used in perfume-making processes for a long time, as they boast properties that can make scents last longer or promote specific smells. Whilst there is potential that these animal by-products were obtained through not wanting to waste animals primarily used for food, this is not the case today.

Brands are not honouring indigenous practices by including these ingredients now; it's purely profit and ease. Using animal secretions may be cheaper and easier if they're common and readily available. Their customers are likely none the wiser, so there's little incentive to change. Some people object to the use of synthetic ingredients in their cosmetics. Still, it's more than likely you encounter these daily without realising. 'Clean' beauty is a problematic, non-regulated term that aims to demonise science and scare people into using overpriced products that will expire within a week of opening. Synthetic ingredients help make products last longer, protect against bacteria, create textures and enhance moisture. In perfume, they can do just as good a job as animal by-products, and in some cases better - no animal cruelty necessary.

If you're unsure, let's delve into what is actually in these perfumes…

MUSK

You've probably heard of this; it's prevalent in perfume-making. It's a strong scent that derives from gland secretions of animals such as deer. They have a musk sac containing a semi-liquid material, which is then turned into a powder before being combined with alcohol. There are synthetic versions of musk: muscone, musk ketone/xylene and ambrette.

AMBERGRIS

a waxy solid material derived from the intestines of sperm whales. It's also found in their abdomens and vomit. It's obtained from the water's surface, though whales were hunted for it in the past. It's heated with alcohol to make perfume. 

HYRACEUM

It sounds like an exotic flower, but it's actually faecal matter from a rodent, the hyrax. It'll be diluted with alcohol to remove the faecal smell. Allegedly cruelty-free as the matter can be collected without interference or harm coming to the creature. Perhaps the only animal-derived ingredient that could be argued as ethical! Synthetic alternatives can be used instead, such as indole or civetone.

LANOLIN

It is an ingredient found in many cosmetic products nowadays. It's also called wool fat or wax and is obtained from sheep. 

Others: KASTURI (from the anal gland of male deer, used as a perfume fixative), HONEY, CIVET (you guessed it, more anal secretions), CASTROEUM (more anal glands! from beavers), MILK.

VEGAN & CRUELTY-FREE PERFUMES:

Ditching perfumes with animal by-products in them made me move away from many 'popular' brands to find more unique scents. I am pretty disorganised, though, so I need my products reasonably accessible and not only stocked by a small boutique in Margate that's only open Tuesday to Thursday. Luckily, after a few years, I've got a solid collection, and I will share with you my absolute favs.

Floral Street - Sunflower Pop Eau de Parfum, £28, £68 for £108 for 10ml, 50ml, 100ml

I get so many compliments whenever I wear this perfume. It is so nose-catching (like eye-catching but for your nasal passages). It's fun, striking and lingers beautifully. It's citrussy and fruity, encapsulating sunshine and putting it in a bottle. Like the bottle shows, it's inspired by Van Gogh's sunflowers with a blend of mandarin, bergamot, vegan honey accord, and a pop of bellini accord. Floral Street are a female-founded and independent British brand. They make some of the best perfumes in my collection. I fell in love with them after being gifted their discovery set , where I bought 3 bottles of my favourites (which took me months to decide on as they all smelled delicious). Sunflower Pop is an official collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, so your purchase is both sustainable & ethical. We like. 

Other favourites from Floral Street: Wonderland Peony, Sweet Almond Blossom, Wild Vanilla Orchid and Black Lotus.

Eden Perfumes - No 504, £24, £36, £60 for 30ml, 50ml, 100ml

This was the first perfume I've actively purchased without knowing what it would smell like. Having your own scent is a significant investment, and it's buying something you've never smelled before is a big gamble. However, this gamble had an excellent payoff because this is the MOST complimented perfume I own. Before I get into why this perfume is so unique, let me tell you what's so special about the brand. Eden Perfumes is a small, independent perfume brand with two physical branches (Notting Hill and Brighton) and an online store. They're all the good things, cruelty-free and vegan, and even offer refillable bottles. The unique thing about them is that they make 'dupe' scents. It is a word primarily associated with Gen-Z's obsession with fake designer items, but Eden's dupes are ethical. Think of your favourite designer perfume, Angel by Mugler? That's No. 2 at Eden. Black Opium by YSL? That's No. 30 at Eden. There are more niche offerings and 'male' scents and aftershaves. So, what was my gamble on No 504? Well, it's a dupe for the viral Baccarat Rouge by Maison Francis Kurkdijan (£150 for 35ml). I have smelled the original, and although I had bought from Eden before, I was sceptical about how much of a dupe this would be. It was an exact match with even better longevity and projection. I have been complimented on the street, in the supermarket, at events, and even at a hospital appointment.

The Body Shop - Full Flowers, £42 for 75ml

Many of us have tried a Body Shop scent in our lifetime. As a teenager, I was obsessed with their body mists, and I still am! Their vanilla and strawberry mists are often in my handbag during the summer to cool myself down and sprinkle a delicious fruity scent over me. They're not known for their longevity or intensity, though. We move on to eau de parfum or eau de toilette for more serious smells. Their offerings have grown significantly since the early 2000s, including their iconic White Musk perfume. My mum always had a bottle of it, and the smell instantly reminded me of her. They made it vegan a few years back and now sell variations such as Blue Musk, Zest, Black Musk, and Flora. At one point, they were also selling scent boosters that you'd layer with the white musk base - I'll have to keep an eye out! Whilst White Musk will always be my sentimental favourite, I've been more interested in their Full Flowers Collection. The scents are so strong they rival some of the more expensive perfumes I've owned. Four are in the collection: Ylang Ylang, Iris, Orange Blossom, and Rose. The first two are my most used, and I'm not typically a floral fan. Ylang Ylang is spicy and fun, whereas Iris is soft and woody. The bottles are a dopamine dressing dream for your shelf, and they're great value, too, at £42 for 75ml.

Ffern - £79 for 30ml

Sustainability is the beating heart of Ffern. Their website states they are taking a fresh approach to perfumery and perfume making. Their products are not made en masse, but their limited run isn't to be exclusive or pretentious. They have a ledger that guides each season as they make one bottle of a fragrance for each signed name. This allows them to have a small batch process, which minimises waste. You're billed before they send you a bottle (one per season), but you're free to leave whenever you like. If you leave the ledger, you must join the waiting list like everyone else. If you stay on it, you're on it for life. Their ledger is full on the date of publication, but the waiting list is always open. As a member of the ledger, you will also have access to their archive store (where bottles have been returned, so the numbers are minimal). I've received two bottles from Ffern, and I was blown away by the unique combinations. Their summer scent was a welcome fresh affair with grapefruit, key lime, lemon and green mandarin rind top notes. They sat atop rose geranium, basil grand vert and ho wood with a base of hay, brown-eyed rock rose, vetiver root and red cedar. I'm also a massive fan of their packaging. It's not because it's fancy or beautiful, but it's breathtaking regardless. It's designed to be re-used, particularly emphasising the mycelium inner. It's a mushroom root bottle tray that is 100% compostable. They even use these trays in-house to grow herbs and other flowers. In my spring delivery, they sent some seeds along with my bottle to encourage me to do the same. You won't find any plastic in any aspect of their packaging (not even the cap!). Everything they send can be recycled so that nothing goes to landfill. Everything about Ffern is beautiful, and I am enamoured by everything they produce regarding sustainability and perfumery.

Fenty Fragrance - £115 for 75ml

It's an unexpected entry on this list. Still, after reading rumours about how good Rihanna smells, her perfume debut shouldn't be a shock. There are celebrity fragrances, sure - if you never begged your mum for a bottle of Britney Spears' Fantasy for Christmas, then did you even grow up here? (it still bangs, by the way; I don't care what perfume snobs say!). Fenty Eau De Parfum is a bit different, though, as it's attached to the Fenty brand instead of being from Rihanna directly. I'm on the Fenty beauty PR list, so I regularly get products to try, and so far, I've not tried anything I didn't like, and some I even love. I had just discovered the perfume was coming out when a personalised bottle arrived at my door earlier this year. If I could describe it in three words, I'd pick mysterious, confident and sex. It's a warm floral scent with magnolia, musk, tangerine and Bulgarian rose keynotes. It's sweet and spicy and actually very close to Baccarat Rouge. They advise that it expresses uniquely on each wearer, which is a nerve-racking concept. Still, the reviews alone support this method of madness. It's comprised of only middle notes and seems to last forever - I have clothes that are gently worn and not washed yet that hold the Fenty scent in their fabric. It's warm and inviting, almost making me not want to wash it away. It's the pricier pick, but the investment will not be in vain!