Why Natural Perfumes?
Why bother with added expense of natural aromatics when chemicals are seemingly superior in staying power and variety? There are so many reasons. First, natural perfumes have a much more intricate fragrance than synthetics. The complexity of Mother Nature can never be duplicated in a lab. Chemists have been trying to no avail for decades. Natural perfumes are great if you want to experience fine fragrance, fashion and benefit from the healing energies of plants, all at the same time. 
Secondly, value. Most commercial perfumes are very inexpensive blends with outrageous markups to cover the expensive ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements. Why not purchase more of the valuable aromatics we all crave and less fillers and alcohol with natural, artisan scents? If we marked our perfumes up the way the big perfume houses do, we would be charging thousands per ounce!
Another important reason to go natural is that whatever you put onto your skin permeates your body and enters your bloodstream, and many of the chemicals found in regular retail perfumes are downright scary. The bulk perfume producers are required to test their creations on animals (shame!) but still they cannot predict the effects on the HUMAN body when they mix a hundred or so of those chemicals together. Best to avoid.
Now, take a moment and imagine the difference between eating a strawberry flavored hard candy and a real, fresh strawberry. Each and every strawberry grown in nature has it's own unique flavor which delights the palate and body. Every "Jolly Rancher" tastes exactly the same. It comes down to personal taste.
What to Expect from Natural Perfumes
Natural perfumes are luscious, fleeting pleasures. They blend with your individual body chemistry to create personal scents that develop beautifully. On average, natural scents can be expected to remain on the skin for 2-4 hours. Natural perfumes cannot be expected to be as tenacious (long lasting) as synthetics. There is also far less sillage (the fragrant wake you leave behind as you pass by) which your co-workers and friends will certainly appreciate.
Prepare for a scented voyage of dancing notes! As the different molecular weights emanate from your skin, new aromas will come forward for their moment in the spotlight. This does not mean the scent is "changing" on you, a common assertion of the unaware. Scents are supposed to change and develop as you wear them.
How to Wear Perfume
Scent clings best to moist skin, so apply perfume to your pulse points which are the areas on your skin where blood flow is the strongest and the skin is the warmest. The inside of your wrists, elbows, back of knees, neck, behind your ears, between your breasts, and inside your elbows. For a lighter scent, spray the outside of your hand instead of the inside if your wrist, but keep in mind that our modern day hand washing habits erase most of the fragrance applied there.
How to Make Perfume Last Longer
If you want to smell your perfume all day, apply it to your clothing and hair where it will last ten times longer than on your skin. This is also the best way to appreciate the full range of notes. Perfume sprayed on skin develops very quickly; you lose the top notes faster than when you apply it to an article of clothing or your hair.
You can apply perfume immediately after your shower, as open pores and warm skin will soak up the scent, as long as you haven’t used a deodorant soap. If you have dry skin, or spend a lot of time indoors, apply perfume more often. Applying unscented oil or lotion to areas where you will be applying perfume will give the scent something to cling to and keep it from absorbing so fast, this can triple your wear time! If your scent has faded after a few hours, rub the once scented area with a drop of water to reactivate the scent.
Allergies, Testing & Cautions
Even natural perfumes have some potential allergens, but they are naturally occurring compounds, not manmade chemicals. We recommend a skin patch test if you have a history of allergies. Matriarch Perfumes are tested by friends, not on animals. Although our perfumes are not certified organic, most of the ingredients we use are either organic or wild harvested. The natural pigments in natural perfumes may stain light colored clothing- be careful. Do not ingest. For adult use only. ENJOY and smell often!
