An Update on Phthalate-free Fragrance Oils

When we launched as a company, our mission was to bring quality phthalate-free fragrance oils to the market and we’re proud to say, this is something we were able to deliver right up until the pandemic hit in 2020! 

As many of our loyal customers may remember, we were faced with an unprecedented challenge of having our main perfumer withdraw supply leaving us with the task of reformulating and replacing the vast majority of our fragrance oils. This was no small feat but again, we rose to the task at hand and have been able to successfully reproduce our original range while continuing to expand our fragrance offering.

However, as part of the reformulation of our fragrances; you may have noticed a number of them are no longer phthalate-free and this has raised concern among some of our makers, so we’d like to provide some clarification about our fragrances that now contain phthalates and the direction we’re heading in moving forward. 

Firstly, what are phthalates and how are they used in fragrance oils?

Phthalates is the name of a group of chemicals with two main uses:

Phthalate Esters or Plasticisers: this type of phthalate allows plastic products to become flexible without compromising their strength. Unfortunately, it has since been found that these particular phthalates have potentially negative effects on human health and it is for this reason, we only use phthalate-free bottles for the packaging of our fragrance oils. It is important to note, this type of phthalate is not the same as those that are used in creating fragrance oils. 

Diethyl Phthalate (commonly known as DEP): this type of phthalate is a solvent which is used to extend the aromatic strength of fragrance oils. DEP has been found to be non-toxic in skin products and candles if used at safe levels (IFRA – Background Paper – Phthalates – Final 12.2007).

We came across a great analogy when trying to explain the difference between the two:

Phthalates have the same stigma as snakes. Some of them are poisonous and some of them are harmless. However, because they are all usually labeled and grouped together as 'phthalates' (or 'snakes'), people generally want to avoid them altogether.

So, what are we doing to address the elephant (or snake) in the room?

We’re glad you asked! Firstly, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes with our perfumer to ensure all new fragrances introduced are phthalate-free and whilst we won’t be reformulating those oils that do contain phthalates; all makers should benefit from a range that will continue to grow in 2023 while also addressing the concerns of makers as a whole. 

One area we noticed was lacking when it came to our phthalate-free offerings was our Christmas-themed fragrances, and we’re happy to say all the new Christmas oils we’ve introduced over the past few months are phthalate-free. 

These include: 

• Christmas Cheer (Reformulated)
• Cranberry Appletini
• Hot Chocolate
• Mulled Cider
• Nutmeg, Patchouli & Cedar 

Other phthalate-free oils that you might enjoy over the holiday period include:

• Nana’s Kitchen
• Palo Santo
• Winter’s Night
• Snug as a Bug (one of our best-sellers all year round!) 

Following the recent re-design of our website, we’ve made it much easier to browse our phthalate-free oils, you can find them all in one place at the link below.

https://www.nicandlesupplies.co.uk/collections/phthalate-free 

We hope you enjoy the new festive oils mentioned above and we always encourage and appreciate reviews of our fragrances so we, and other makers, know what your experience is with them. 

We’re looking forward to introducing more new phthalate-free fragrance oils for you to choose from in future!