Quesako ?

On this page you will find a small popular glossary and educational answers, without being exhaustive, to the questions generally asked, in order to have common basic notions on the world of perfume.

What does FiiLiT mean?

"FiiLiT" is the Philosophy of beauty through travel: Fi for Philosophy, iL for illumination (in the sense of Baudelaire) which means interior and exterior beauty in Baudelaire's time and iT for itinerancy, travel.

Each fragrance is an invitation to a journey that awakens the senses. Régis, creator of the brand, chose to share his love and passion for scents and perfumes discovered while traveling the world, materials, encounters, cultures and travel. Nothing is more precious in the world than the feeling of freedom that travel gives us. FiiLiT also means: “FeeL iT” (feel it) and “FiLL iT” (fill it) Fi for women, iL for men and iT for mixed.

How to refill your perfume?

All new bottles (50mL and 11mL) are unscrewable to reduce waste and allow the bottle to be reused. To refill your bottle, you can buy a 50mL or 100mL refill and using the small funnel, fill it again! The old 50mL and 100mL LIMITED EDITION bottles cannot be unscrewed and therefore cannot be refilled. This is why we changed the design of our bottles :) To replace the 11 ml refill in its wooden case with a new one, simply remove the empty bottle to replace it with the new refill.

Ethical sourcing

In a sustainable development approach, it is choosing to reconcile creation, economy and ethics within an environmental and societal approach. In concrete terms, we select small producers throughout the world, by selecting partners among NGOs in which we are sure that their work is paid at a fair price and that production respects the balance with nature. Some NGOs like Cœur de Forêt offer technology to improve the yields and quality of essential oils while promoting the ecological and economic aspects of producers. The materials we use mostly come from BEHAVE for the ethical sourcing of raw materials, as well as Accords et Parfums, a pillar of ethical perfumery, promoting the copyrights of perfumers and the quality of materials and partnerships. just with the producers.

Vegan perfume

It is a perfume that has no animal materials. We made this choice quite quickly, from the creation of the brand. Historically, we can already tell you about six animal raw materials which have already been used for the production of perfumes, namely:

Ambergris: a highly fragrant fatty substance from the intestine of the sperm whale. Both very fragrant and with a fixing power, ambergris is a rare and expensive raw material. This is why perfumers today use a synthetic essence such as Ambroxan or Ambrox instead of ambergris.

Castoreum: an oily secretion produced by certain odorous exocrine glands located in the cloaca of two species of North American beaver. After dilution, castoreum gives off a sweet smell of fur and leather with amber perfumes.

Beeswax: produced within the hive by the bees, it allows you to obtain absolute bee breccia. The concrete is washed with alcohol before formulating a perfume to which beeswax adds honeyed notes.

Civet: an odoriferous substance secreted by the anal glands of male and female musk cats commonly called civets. Perfumers no longer use this natural secretion prohibited by regulations. They replace it with reconstitution products.

Hyraceum: also called African stone, this animal raw material is none other than the petrified urine of a South African rodent, the Cape hyrax.

Musk tonkin: a secretion produced by a ventral gland of a mammal living in the wild in Siberia and Asia, the male musk deer only. The Washington Convention prohibiting the hunting of musk deer, this powerful and sensual animal essence is replaced by synthetic materials.

Is a VEGAN perfume cruelty free?

The difference between the two is that the Vegan label indicates that the composition does not contain animal material while the cruelty free label means that the products are not tested on animals. A vegan perfume that is CERTIFIED is systematically cruelty free because the associations include the composition and testing on animals. In Europe, we no longer test cosmetics on animals. However, some countries require them to be tested on animals (such as China) in order to sell them in their territory and in volume. Which is not our case!

Are your perfumes organic?

Our eau de parfums are made for all skin types. An organic perfume is a perfume created from a minimum percentage of organic natural materials (95%). An organic raw material has this designation if its production follows the criteria of organic farming. Faced with the limited quantity of raw materials with this organic label, the perfumer is thus limited in his creation. Likewise, it must be said by the price of these materials. Furthermore, our small producers, even if they cultivate eco-responsible crops like ours, do not allow us to claim this label: we will therefore not seek to engage in “greenwashing”, while respecting the principles of this culture as much as possible. and we use the production of small producers not labeled ORGANIC. On the other hand, Our alcohol (85% of the product) is labeled ORGANIC.

Made in France

The production of our eau de parfum is French. In fact, the raw materials are all gathered in the town of Grasse where perfumes (perfume concentrates) are manufactured. Then still in France, the organic alcohol is put into organic French wheat alcohol, the maceration over a period of 5 weeks, the glazing (step in which the perfume is brought to a temperature below 5°C) and finally filtering to remove all material residue. The conditioning is carried out by an ESAT in the Paris region which is a work assistance establishment and service. In France, an Esat is a medico-social sheltered work establishment, reserved for people with disabilities and aimed at their social and professional integration.

Is your packaging eco-responsible?

We work with printers labeled imPRIm'VERT (for the manufacture and printing of packaging) which aims to encourage the implementation by companies carrying out printing activities of concrete actions leading to a reduction in impacts of the activity on the environment. Our ash wood travel boxes come from European PEFC forests. PEFC is the leading forest certification system in terms of surface areas and the world's leading source of certified wood. All our glass bottles are recyclable. On the other hand, vaporizers (pumps) are not recyclable due to many technical components of different materials. We try to continually improve packaging in order to limit the ecological impact.

Are your glasses biodegradable?

For Glass, it takes: 4 to 5,000 years to biodegrade in nature! So yes in France, we recycle glass. But is recycling a real solution to preserve our beautiful planet? (see https://www.consoglobe.com/recycler-verre-4321-cg/Recycling glass is one of the most effective ecological actions we can make). In fact, glass takes 3 or 4 millennia (what we believe) to decompose in nature. Creating “new” glass from recycled glass consumes much less energy, in fact a tonne of recycled glass saves half a tonne of CO2. So why recycle glass? While packaging is essential for the protection of food and drink and is said to be inert, glass packaging ensures good preservation, safe delivery and attractive presentation for a wide range of consumer products supplied to European and global markets. whether for drinks, cosmetics, perfumes or pharmaceutical products... Glass is 100% recyclable up to infinity, and remains inert, preserving the original taste of the products it contains: it is the product the most reliable today, far ahead of plastic, including when it comes to recycling.

Code of ethics

We apply an ecological and ethical approach based on a common desire to promote a natural, healthy and reasonable mode of consumption of cosmetics. The rigorous choices of natural materials and certain synthetic notes in adequate quantities, respectful of the environment and the health of living beings, have the mission of encouraging an approach of values ​​in a not necessarily ethical market which is perfume. Just as much in the content as the container (less plastic materials which are harmful to the planet in the packaging). We guarantee that our perfumes do not contain formaldehyde, benzene, acrolein, bisphenol A, phthalates parabens.

What is a perfume?

A perfume is described as a pleasant smell given off by something, or an odorous product to perfume the body, composed of a mixture of aromatic products (concentrate) and ethyl alcohol which serves as a carrier for the smell. In a more technical way, perfume designates an olfactory composition that we create in the laboratory which is based on aromas and combines natural or artificial materials for the concentrated odorous part (essential, absolute, concrete oils, etc.). To this is added depending on the type of perfume alcohol, oil or balm, a fixative. In addition to the concentrate in a proportion of 15 to 18% to support our eau de parfum, we use COSMOS certified organic ethyl alcohol from organic wheat farming, containing no phthalates.

Alcohol in perfume

Alcoholic perfumes are the most common perfumes. The alcoholic or ethanol carrier is volatile and, once evaporated, leaves only the perfume on the skin. Alcohol also ensures the good preservation of the product and is anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial.

We determine the types of perfume by category:

The Perfume has a concentration of 15% and up to 40% for a long wear of more than a day,

Eau de Parfum has a concentration of 12% to 20% for several hours of wear (our eau de parfum has a concentration of more than 15% for one day wear),

Eau de toilette has a lower concentration of 6 to 12% and only lasts a few hours,

Fresh water is less than a concentration of 5% for poor hold.

Denatured alcohol

Denatured means making it unfit for consumption (orally). It is a European obligation, which consists of putting a petrochemical or emetic product in ethyl alcohol. Generally, phthalates are added, which also have a preservation and odor fixing function. What we use is ethyl alcohol from COSMOS certified organic farming, generally from organic farming of wheat or beets in France and denatured with Bytrex which is an industrial emetic not containing Phthalates.

Manufacture of concentrates

Natural raw materials are grouped according to the manufacture of essential oils according to the NACERev.2 nomenclature, which breaks down the class into 4 branches of manufacturing:

Essences of natural aromatic products;

Resinoids;

The composition based on odorous products for food;

The manufacture of compositions based on odoriferous products other than for food (mainly perfumery).

Synthetic raw materials are grouped into 3 manufacturing categories (NACE standards) for chemical products: Basic chemicals, synthetic aromatic products and coal tar distillation.

Clean wording

The cleanly formulated perfume for oneself and the environment is a perfume formulated from raw materials that do not present any recognized danger to nature. These natural or non-natural materials must therefore be both as sustainable as possible, and without impact on our environment in the long term. It is also a perfume without raw materials that can present dangers to humans by having carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (toxic to reproduction) effects. These so-called CMR materials are all listed by IFRA (International Perfume Association) regulations and their use is controlled.

Natural perfume

A natural perfume is a perfume composed of natural raw materials (essential oil, absolute, resinoid) or of natural origin (molecules isolated from a natural substance and derived from it)

The structure of a perfume

For reasons of copyright protection, the perfumer is not required to communicate the list of components to the public and it is generally a combination of natural or artificial materials which provides the originality, the character and specificity of a perfume. Thus, its characteristics are carefully guarded. The materials that make up the perfume are highlighted without informing all the proportions and arrangements. However, it is impossible to describe a perfume by simply listing its components, which are often numerous. On the other hand, it is possible to classify a perfume according to its olfactory family, in order to construct an olfactory pyramid (notes which appear during use). We find the following notes: citrus, floral, aromatic, fruity, spicy, woody, amber, green, aquatic, leathery and animal.

The olfactory pyramid

The vaporized perfume, the perfume notes do not appear at the same speed and always arrive in a gradual order, we thus define an olfactory pyramid which gradually describes the arrival of the essences with 3 levels:

The top note gives the first impression of the perfume with citrus fruits, green, aromatic, fruity, aquatic notes... These are volatile notes that we perceive from the first moments and for about 30 minutes and evaporate little by little;

Then the heart note which gives the “sillage” of the perfume with aromatic, fruity, floral, spicy and woody notes. These notes can remain present for several hours. The heart note carries the facets which give the body of the perfume. It is more intimate than the top note;

The base note is there to last and this is how it lasts. There we find traces of the heart notes which persist. The base note gives the depth of the perfume. We particularly find woody, mystical, oriental, gourmet and powdery notes.

Allergens

IFRA is an organization representing the international perfume industry which aims to ensure that perfumes are safe for the consumer by establishing a form of regulation to follow. This organization ensures consumer protection and its regulations must continue to be followed by the entire industry. IFRA lists these molecules on the INCI display of European product labels. Allergens above a certain threshold in perfumes must be notified in this list. Some people can become allergic to certain molecules through the constant use of certain raw materials. In a perfume they are present in two forms: as a molecule (in their pure form) or within natural products. This is why all perfumes containing natural products are more or less allergenic. For example, essential oils are not recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding women. In addition, we use reworked natural citrus essential oils to limit their photosensitizing effects.

What do your perfumes contain?

Our eau de parfum contains: 15-17% perfume concentrate, 79% denatured organic wheat alcohol, 5% demineralized water. We seek to ensure that our products are as natural as possible: they are between 87% and 100%.

Creation of a perfume

Initially a brief, which is based on a painting, a memory of places, emotions, moods, an atmosphere, scents and more concretely raw materials, desires for travel and horizons, a wide range of aromas, smells and research, discoveries, novelties and originalities: a sum, a cocktail of creation, innovation, escape and tradition. We will seek the pleasure of scents and materials and their evocation without worrying about the constraints of rarity (we will simply say to find), depending on the richness of the supply that may exist. It is also naturally a taste and a style that must stick to the brand, made of exoticism, love, enthusiasm and sincerity.

What is a nose?

It's not just an organ for breathing but a job! A nose can also be a “perfumer-creator”, “perfumer analyst”, “ingredient perfumer”, “technical perfumer” and/or evaluator in order to test perfumed food products or cosmetic products. Perfumer-creators or Noses have recorded in their memory hundreds or even thousands of odors (natural and/or synthetic) to create original perfumes by combining essences. A Nose must ensure that they follow a brief and the regulations in force. It is after numerous tests and by iteration that an Eau de parfum is chosen for its launch on the market. It will correspond to the completeness of a range or an intimate and original favorite.

Natural raw materials

The essences used in the composition of a perfume are generally made from raw materials of plant, animal or synthetic origin.

Plant materials:

FLOWERS

The noblest are undoubtedly rose and jasmine, to which we will add tuberose and iris. The other most used flowers are violet (from which we mainly take the leaves), orange blossom (or neroli), mimosa, daffodils, lavender and ylang-ylang (or ilang-ilang), flower originating from the islands of the Indian Ocean.)

FRUITS

Essentially, the fruits used in perfumery are citrus fruits. There are various varieties of lemons and oranges, notably lime and bergamot. The other fruits are most often synthetic products, the most frequently used being vanilla.

OTHERS

They are numerous, from trees to the most modest herbs. In a tree or shrub, you can use the bark or wood (cinnamon, sandalwood, cedar, birch, guaiac), the resin (incense, myrrh, benzoin, labdanum). For plants, you take them as is ( rosemary), leaves (patchouli, verbena), roots (vetiver, ginger) or seeds (cardamom, coriander, tonka bean).

Extraction technique

There are three main methods of extracting essences: distillation, extraction with volatile solvents and enfleurage.

Distillation is the main method used to extract essential oils. Known since Antiquity, it was perfected in Arab civilization from the 8th century and remains a major technique in traditional perfumery today. The distillation method consists of extracting the perfume using water vapor in a still. The still is a steel tank topped with a serpentine pipe in which the flowers and plants are placed on a perforated tray located in the upper part of the tank; the still is then filled with water brought to a boil. As it rises, the steam released absorbs the odorous principles of these plants and carries them into a coil or a refrigeration system to allow its condensation. The mixture of water and essential oil thus obtained is then collected in essenciers, also called Florentine vases, in which the two liquids separate naturally by difference in density. Essential oils are collected from the surface for use in perfumery, while the scented waters of certain essences (rose water, orange blossom water, etc.) are reserved for other uses. ''For example, five to six tonnes of roses are needed to obtain one kilo of essential oil.''

Volatile solvent extraction consists of dissolving the odorous material of the plant in a solvent which is then evaporated. This technique has been practiced since the 18th century with ether, an expensive and highly flammable product. Nowadays, more suitable solvents are used such as ethanol, methanol, benzene or carbon dioxide. The plants are placed in enormous steel tanks called extractors and subjected to successive washings with solvents which thus take on their scent. After decanting and filtering, the solvent is evaporated to obtain a kind of strongly odorous paste called concrete for flowers and resinoids for the material derived from the treatment of dry plants (roots, moss). After a series of alcohol washes in mechanical mixers and glazing, the concrete gives rise to a pure essence called absolute.

The enfleurage technique is based on the power of fatty substances to naturally absorb odors. It can be practiced, depending on the difference in the resistance of plants to heat, hot or cold. Hot enfleurage (or maceration) consists of infusing flowers or other fragrant elements in previously heated fats. The resulting mixtures are then filtered through fabrics to obtain scented ointments. This technique, known since Antiquity, was supplemented over the centuries by progress made in other extraction methods. Mechanical washing with alcohol of these perfumed ointments in beaters thus makes it possible to produce a perfumed alcoholic extract after separation of the fatty and alcoholic products. The cold enfleurage technique was developed for the most fragile flowers such as jasmine, tuberose or daffodil, which cannot withstand being heated. Very widespread in the Grasse region until the first half of the 20th century, it consists of spreading a layer of odorless grease on the walls of a glass frame which is then covered with flowers. These flowers are renewed until the fat is saturated with perfume. The perfumed ointments obtained can be used as is for the manufacture of cosmetic products. Treated with alcohol in threshers to relieve them of their fat, they make it possible to obtain an absolute after evaporation. This technique is rarely used today because it is very expensive.

Synthetic materials

Synthetic materials are artificially produced molecules. They can be present naturally in certain natural or human-invented raw materials. A material equals a molecule whereas for a natural material (essential oil, absolute, etc.) it is composed of multiple molecules. There are several methods of manufacturing synthetic materials (chlorination, distillation, cyclization, esterification, etc.). These methods are more or less long and complex and aim to produce the purest, most stable material with the best possible yield. Synthetic raw materials are the basis of perfumery today. Progress in chemistry since the mid-19th century has enabled the development of industrial perfumery meeting the quality and volume expectations of the world market. They are not always less expensive than natural materials, but their choice most often responds to ecological constraints, out of concern to preserve biodiversity and consistency in the quality of the products. “Green” chemistry in the laboratory can ethically respond to the overexploitation of land and crops

Are synthetic materials toxic to health and the environment?

They are generally the result of several years of scientific research. Synthetic materials, unlike natural ones, are not subject to climatic hazards; all their manufacturing processes are carried out in the laboratory. If this process comes from green chemistry (respectful of the environment and its resources). We can say that certain synthetic molecules are more ecological than natural ones. However, this is not the case for all synthetic materials and the same for natural materials, today not all are from sustainable and eco-responsible production. Thanks to current European regulations and awareness of our environmental impact, all these synthetic materials are monitored so that their impact is as neutral as possible.

Does the scent change on my skin?

A characteristic of perfumes is that they transform on the skin and it is different depending on the person giving it a particular singularity specific to each person. It is also important to note that the skin type of each of us involves a noticeable, or sometimes blatant, transformation of scent. Thus, it is personalized according to the person wearing it. Perfume rarely smells the same on two different people.

Perfume conservation

It's a bit like good wine, we avoid differences in heat, light but also humidity.

Heat: expands and transforms the olfactory molecules of your perfumes and can therefore alter its properties and longevity.

Light: UV rays alter the quality of many materials, notably liquids and their olfactory molecules.

Humidity: a damp room and over time, the precious liquid risks losing some of its olfactory virtues. It is better to opt for a dry room.

Regulations in the perfumery sector

The perfumery sector is particularly regulated by law and constantly revisited. This makes it possible to review or prohibit products related to health (ANSM) and which concerns the components taken individually, their dosage, the product, legal notices, distribution, marketing... "The composition of cosmetic products is strictly regulated by regulations, whether French or European. Since 1975, in France, and since 1976 in Europe, (with the European directive known as the “Cosmetic Directive”, replaced in 2009 by Regulation No. 1223/2009), regulations determine the ingredients (or substances) which can be used in cosmetic products. It establishes the list of prohibited substances (more than 1000 substances) and specifies at what maximum concentration and under what conditions certain substances can be used safely. It also establishes the restricted list of colorants, preservative agents and UV filters which can be used in cosmetic products to ensure coloring, conservation and sun protection functions. These lists are regularly updated to take into account scientific advances. Previously, the European REACH regulation, relating to the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemical products and which entered into force on June 1, 2007, aims to better protect human health and the environment against the risks that may present chemical products. The regulation provides that manufacturers have the responsibility to assess the risks posed by the chemical products they use or place on the market and to provide their users with the necessary information. Registration of substances is mandatory with the European Chemicals Agency; Substances that have not been registered will no longer be able to be placed on the European market.

How to use your perfume?

According to the great book of perfume, nose culture: “Each perfume requires its own gestures. For vaporizers, the dose to apply naturally depends on the intensity of the perfume, your tastes, the moment, your mood and the desired effect. "Concerning the application, skin or clothing, why choose? On contact with the skin, the perfume will evolve in a more personal way. Be careful if you tend to sweat, humidity may significantly alter the smell and staying power of the fragrance. Clothes are excellent supports, but prefer woolens, cotton, cashmere or silk, and avoid perfumed synthetics, which develop an unpleasant smell. »

Yuka App Notes

YUKA's rating is based on allergens. The primary principle of the application is to decipher the labels with allergens on the INCI list of food and cosmetic products and to analyze their impact on health. However, we notice that the more natural the perfume is and has aromatherapeutic effects, the lower the rating will be good, particularly with certain FiiLiT perfumes. Essential oils are concentrates of plants and have allergens. We find this app useful when we are allergic to something particular. However, it does not qualify the quantity of an allergen and will therefore limit itself to favoring products without active ingredients through its rating. Indeed, often having allergens in natural active ingredients, the application will give a bad rating to a product which has active ingredients but which is effective. For example, a day cream with 90% water and 10% silicone will have a rating of 100/100 on application because there would be no allergen but has no active function and will even clog skin pores. We trust more in labels like COSMOS which control the formulas. Thus our 99.9% natural Madagascar Waka perfume with active aromatherapeutic virtues obtains the lowest rating on Yuka, even though it is the perfume which has the most health benefits. As soon as there are essential oils, there are allergens, so a bad rating on this application. France is the most demanding country on the INCI lists, which means that the same product sold in the US will have a much better rating because brands are not obliged to display the INCI!

Finally, we work on formulas to avoid polluting groundwater while enjoying a beauty that returns to the sources of nature, our nature. We are constantly studying, learning, improving.

We want big brands to apply more ethical values ​​because they have the means. So let's create demand together.