With the first perfume dating back almost 4000 years, it’s fair to say our love affair with fragrance is an enduring one. But as more and more of us move towards adopting sustainable and environmentally-conscious cosmetics, finding a perfume that smells incredible and ticks those ever-important green and clean boxes can be seriously hard work. Or at least, it was until recently. Now, thanks to the pioneering new fragrance house hej:pure, all that is changing.

Launched in 2022, hej:pure’s three signature fragrances are as fun and friendly as they are sustainable and special. Blending the best of old-world perfume traditions with modern sustainable sensibilities through their motto of “less is more”, these really are timeless scents for the modern age.

Pure Water is a female scent where jasmine sourced from India takes centre stage. The fragrance can best be described as that perfect splash of fresh water on a summer holiday.

There’s also Pure Flower, another female scent with rose as its leading lady, a chicly understated and tender fragrance that blends hints of summer freshness with old-world nostalgia together seamlessly.

Pure Wood, their signature unisex fragrance, takes its power from vetiver and evokes the sensation of a fresh morning walk in the woods and the warmth of magic winter moments. The parfumeur behind Pure Wood, Amandine Marie, is also the nose behind some of the world’s most iconic fragrances (think Marc Jacobs, YSL, Lancome, Estee Lauder and Chloe to name but a few).

These beauties, which are already proving to be the new go-to favourites for many, have also been designed to make you feel good in more ways than one.

All three hej:pure fragrances are free of phthalates, palm oil, mineral oil, colourants and UV filters. They’re also certified animal cruelty-free and vegan friendly. What’s more, all of their ingredients are fully traceable and have been sourced ethically, meaning there’s no over-farming, greenwashing or unethical practices going into products.

As hej:pure explain themselves, the products are clean, yes, but not in the hierarchical sense so often associated with the beauty industry.

“The term “clean beauty” stands for products free of animal testing and controversial ingredients. The “clean” here does not mean “better than”, but “free-from” certain critically discussed ingredients.”

As if that wasn’t enough, hej:pure’s commitment to making beauty better extends well past its formulas and ingredients. Using recyclable glass bottles, cutting out unnecessary plastic and adopting eco-friendly cardboard and sustainable inks, their products are 98% recyclable.

This move to a conscious and cleaner model is something the industry has been in need of for a long time.

While major strides have been made across the makeup and skincare sections of the beauty landscape in recent years, the perfume industry has proven to be a little harder. For starters, many fragrances contain stabilising chemicals that ensure scents last on your skin for as long as possible. While these chemicals are super useful and play an important part in a perfume, they, unfortunately, aren’t always the most environmentally-friendly option. And those stunningly designed perfume bottles we love to see displayed on our beauty cabinets? Often they contain a number of single-use plastics that contribute to the beauty industry’s whopping waste problem, which is currently estimated to sit at around 120 billion units of packaging per year.

In addition to its reusable credentials, hej:pure has also partnered with major environmental organisations like the World Wildlife Foundation in a climate offset program to make the brand fully climate-neutral and contribute to ongoing efforts to improve our oceans.

Where once beauty lovers were forced to trade in style for sustainability, hej:pure offers a new frontier for perfumes. It’s safe to say that we’re seriously fangirling for hej:pure and this new era of a more sustainable future in fragrance!