It should be noted that while the scent itself may primarily be derived from plants or created using non-animal origin substances in a laboratory, the perfume may still contain animal derived fixatives.
Barks: Cinnamon, cascarilla and sassafras root bark.
Flowers and blossoms: rose, jasmine, osmanthus, plumeria, mimosa, tuberose, narcissus, geranium, cassie, ambrette, citrus, ylang-ylang and vanilla.
Fruits: citrus (oranges, lemons and limes), juniper, vanilla. But pears, apples, strawberries and cherries are synthetically produced.
Lactones: “Milk” perfumes usually do not contain actual milk but are made from lactones originating mainly from peaches, apricots, figs and coconuts. (More than 100 lactones are used as flavour ingredients. However, vegans need not utilise something that smells like dairy even if it doesn’t contain it.)
Leaves, grass, and twigs: lavender, patchouli, sage, violets, rosemary, citrus, tomato, tea leaves/matcha and hay.
Lichens: oak-moss and tree-moss.
Nuts: pistachio fragrance emerged as the most popular by 2026.
Resins: labdanum, frankincense, myrrh, balsam and benzoin, amber and copal from conifer fossils. Loban is a chunk of particular resin or gum from a tree. It is traditionally used for its fragrant smoke during religious ceremonies by burning the powder directly on hot ash/coal in an incense censer/container.
Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: iris, vetiver and ginger.
Seaweeds: commonly used seaweed is bladder wrack.
Seeds and spices: tonka bean, carrot, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamom and anise.
Woods: sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper and pine. Camphor/kapoor is from the camphor tree and is incense.
Ingredients/Sources used in Perfumery: Animal/Non-Veg origin
Alleuritic acid: a yellow solid obtained from shellac.
Ambergris/amber: a solid waxy substance produced in the intestines of sperm whales and thrown up by them. It could be black, grey, different shades of brown, or yellow. Squid beaks (smooth and shiny) are always found in ambergris because it is formed to protect the whale from sharp objects which need to be expelled. (Ambergris-laced sugar fetches a high price and is a marketing gimmick.) It is used in aphrodisiacs also.
(In 2020-21 ambergris worth crores of rupees was seized in different parts of India. Officials from coastal Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka felt that the sudden spike in ambergris seizures was because of greater awareness among the coastal fishing community resulting from stories in the media of fishermen whose lives are said to have changed overnight on finding ambergris, as well as a slowdown in international trade due to flight restrictions after Covid-19, however, there were few buyers within India.)
Castoreum/castor: is a yellowish, unctuous substance with a strong, penetrating odour, obtained from beaver’s genitals or castor sacs/scent-glands (located in skin cavities between the pelvis and base of the tail) and termed a by-product of the fur industry. Male beavers spray it together with urine to mark their territory. (It is not only utilised by the perfume industry, but processed into a “natural food flavour” used to enhance flavourings such as raspberry and strawberry used in soda, candy, ice cream, yogurt, jam, jelly, tea, etc.)
Civet/gandhamarjara: civet cats are bred in captivity, imprisoned lifelong in narrow cages, frequently teased and made to undergo hundreds of painful scrapings of their glands to produce the extract.
Almost all civet paste originates on Ethiopian farms from where it is traditionally shipped in horns of zubu cattle to Europe and America. Each dried horn holds about 500 grams of paste, the amount one civet cat (male or female) can produce over a period of about 4 years.
In the 1970s every week as many as 108 civet cats were trapped in Kedappa and killed for the civet to be used in the Tirumala Venkateswara temple poojas at Tirupati.
When in 2011 the temple proposed to breed civet cats in the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park for extraction of their secretions, BWC wrote to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) not to grant permission but undertake a drive to stop the prevalent use of gandhamarjara in temples because it was illegal. However, no assurance was received from the CZA who said they’d written to the curator of the zoo who did not reply!
Earlier two unsuccessful animal farms had been set up by the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda & Siddha (CCRAS). One of them, run by The Indian Institute of Panchakarma in Trichur District of Kerala, which experimented breeding civet cats in captivity so that civet could be collected from the animals for use in Ayurvedic medicines. The civets were kept in small cages having rough wooden sticks in the centre on which the animals were made to rub their pouches. Leave alone breeding, the pairs died, and they were on the look out for replacements.
The Asian palm civet or toddy cat in Kerala is marapatti. However, it is called gandhabilav and mushkabilav in Hindi. In Assam it is gendera or johamol, in Marathi jowadi manjur, and in Kannada punagin bek. A variety of fragrant rice in Bengal is known as govindabhog (offered to Lord Krishna) and since the civet cat’s gland has a similar smell, the animal is gandho gokul.
Incidentally, civet cats as well as with other wild life are utilised for street performances in villages of Bihar. And, in Assam they (johamol) are considered a delicacy.
Deer musk/kasturi: musk obtained from the male has led to the wholesale slaughter and near extinction of the Himalayan Musk deer. Musk deer farming is unsuccessful.
The second animal farm under CCRAS, is the musk deer one at Kufri in Himachal Pradesh where again the animals have not bred successfully in captivity.
The night before the musk is to be extracted the male deer is deprived of food. The next day it is drugged to explore the genital organs and find the musk pod. When located, a cannula is pushed into the area so that the hardened musk granules stick to it when removed.
The other method utilised is to extract of liquid musk for which the deer is caught, forcibly held down, genitals explored and palpated for the musk which is then painfully scraped out with a sharp knife. The animals are traumatised, panic and try to flee. They remain very confused and excited, often jumping high into the air hitting and injuring their heads against the enclosure tops.
Despite this, in 2002 the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare proposed musk deer faming in Jammu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. BWC immediately sent a detailed protest letter to the Minister, pointing out drawbacks and failings and appealed that they not proceed with such plans.
In May 2014 the Chief Secretary of Odisha wrote to the Government of India informing them of the shortage of kasturi at the Jagannath temple at Puri and seeking their assistance in procuring it for the Navakalebara festival which will be held next in 2015. On knowing this, BWC requested the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment & Forests to investigate the matter on priority and intervene to stop its import and use. Simultaneously, the temple authorities were made aware that kasturi was obtained by killing deer and therefore they should reconsider its use.
Ironically, many Jain temples also utilise kasturi illegally.
Demand from China also results in musk deer (and tigers) being killed by Tibetan hunters along India’s North Eastern border. It is difficult to catch such poachers since it takes ten days of trekking to reach such places.
Honeycombs: obtained from the beehive, both beeswax and honey are utilised.
Hyraceum/Africa Stone: excrement of the Rock or Cape Hyrax (a mammal resembling a guinea pig). They live in colonies and defecate and urinate in the same location. After the resulting deposits have petrified (a process that takes hundreds of years!) these “stones” which are brownish and brittle and release dark oil with intense, complex and fermented scent which is said to be a cross between civet and castoreum.
Mother-of-Pearl: in order to be innovative, an international brand has infused its eau de toilette (a dilute form of perfume) with specks of mother-of-pearl.
Muskrat musk: the trapping and slaughter of 1,000 muskrats results in 1,000 pelts of fur, but a mere 3 ounces of musk oil.
Operculum/nakhla: mussel of marine origin or the gill of fish, or horny shell of mullusk.
Squalene/squalane:shark liver oil.
Allergies
A 2014 study found that 75% of women suffering from migraines caused due to smells were that of perfumes.
Even essential oils that are the basis of fragrances have toxic effects, e.g. B-damascenone a compound used in rose essential oil.
In this year and age why should ingredients in perfumes remain a secret? It is high time that they be declared. Just like for food articles, ingredients used to make cosmetics and other products should also be listed on packages.
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