Unilever disclose fragrance ingredients in a searchable database

If you’ve ever wondered exactly what ingredients are in the perfumes or fragranced products you already use or want to try, Unilever announced it’s going to be a lot easier to research their range. And it reveals some interesting facts. For example, did you know that the scent of the original Dove shampoo range is actually based on a traditional fougere fragrance type?

‘Take fougere fragrances notes for example – this consists of lavender, geranium and woody notes. If you use our Dove shampoo, you will recognise this scent.’

Going beyond current labelling requirements, Unilever will be disclosing all their fragrance ingredients online in Europe, starting with France and the UK, remarkably making it the first consumer goods company to disclose fragrance ingredients within the UK.

Individual product information will now be updated to include fragrance ingredients for home care and personal care products along with details about how they are used and the role they play in creating the fragrances that people know and love.

Unilever’s Chief Research and Development Officer, David Blanchard said, ‘We know how important fragrances are to people – they want products that make them look good, feel good and smell good. We’re excited to take the next step in our transparency journey, delivering on our promise to give people the information they need to choose the right products for them.’

‘People want to know more about fragrance ingredients and how we create scents for the brands they love. We’re happy to be making this information available online across Europe in 2018.’

Stating that transparency is important to them, offering customers a way to research products and ingredients they have an allergy to, Unilever have now listed the fragrance ingredients in a searchable database called What’s In Our Products, along with articles and features describing how the products are made and why certain ingredients are used or avoided where possible.

It certainly seems that transparency is the future, with the ‘clean labelling’ movement requesting easier to understand labels on all products and customers now used to being able to research a product at the click of a button. With perfumers’ names now very well known, their methods and inspiration revealed, it seems the ingredients they use will be next under the spotlight.

Written by Suzy Nightingale