If you’re anything like me, the finishing touches to any outfit always include the right pair of earrings, some new sunglasses and a spritz of my favourite perfume before I head out the door. I have always loved choosing a new perfume and I usually ask for one for Christmas or my birthday, which will actually last me the whole year. Since going vegan and transitioning my make up to vegan cruelty-free (VCF), I had given up on the idea of buying a new perfume, assuming that all the ones I liked wouldn’t be ethical. This was until I discovered Eden Perfumes. 

Based in Brighton, this family-run business specialises in creating botanical cruelty-free perfumes handmade in the UK that imitate your favourite brands. Their fragrances contain no nasty synthetic preservatives, no parabens and no phthalates. This is great news for us humans, as our skin is actually our largest organ and absorbs so many chemicals and toxins from what we put on it (this is also true of what we wear – the chemicals used in the dyeing process in clothes can be transmitted to us through our skin). They are a vegan family and strongly believe that if you love animals you shouldn’t test products on them, or support brands who do, and therefore all their fragrances are certified vegan by the Vegan Society – an important stamp of quality assurance. 

The ingredients used in the process of making these fragrances are all organic vegan natural essential oils – it’s great to know that what you’re putting on your skin won’t harm you or the environment and hasn’t come at the expense of some poor animal! They offer a range of perfumes, aftershaves and unisex colognes (still not sure what the difference is between those) and the best part about it – on their website you can type the name of your favourite perfume in and, if they make it, they will match it to one they produce. The perfume comes in these gorgeous glass bottles with a metal cap, a really simple yet beautiful design – no fuss here!

I got my first bottle of Eden at VegFest Bristol a few weeks ago and I was not disappointed! I chose number 475 which is matched to Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford – a fragrance I have always wanted but not felt comfortable buying knowing that Tom Ford tests on animals (although their site says they don’t they sell in China which means they do, and their owned by Estee Lauder which also tests on animals). I really enjoyed being able to try all the different scents and decide on my favourite, I would recommend seeking them out at VegFest’s and other vegan festivals if they are there!

Eden also sells scented soy candles, which would make such a lovely gift for a friend or relative – bear them in mind next time you’re stuck for ideas! And you can even send back your glass bottles for a refill at a discounted price – how eco-friendly is that?? Supporting these companies will, overtime, reduce the demand for the current big names in perfume and they will be forced to rethink how they produce their goods and the way they treat animals in the process.