Orange X Santal Hand & Body Soap

Essential Parfums uses refillable bottles (with recycled glass), plastic-free FSC cardboard, beetroot-derived alcohol, and compositions around 86–93% natural in origin; the fragrances are vegan and cruelty-free. Production is mostly in France and Italy.

In perfumery the real artists usually go unnamed. Essential Parfums flips that: here the nose is on the bottle. The Paris house, founded in 2018 by Géraldine Archambault, has every scent signed by a well-known perfumer — the best-selling Bois Impérial is by Quentin Bisch — and cuts back on everything else: less packaging, fewer middlemen, good fragrance at a fair price. Refillable, largely natural in origin, made in France. Beauty without the markup.