Cultural Appropriation in Fragrance: A Practical Guide

Cultural appropriation in fragrance is the use of a culture’s materials, rituals, symbols or vocabulary by outsiders, for profit, without credit, context or benefit to the people they come from. It shows up in four places: the words on the bottle, the raw materials in the formula, the story told about the scent, and who earns from it. This guide sets out each one, with checks a buyer can apply.

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TL;DR

  • Appropriation in perfumery is mainly about extraction: taking a material, ritual or image out of its context and selling it as an exotic story.
  • Language is part of it. Some industry figures have dropped the “Oriental” fragrance family label, and many buyers now expect brands to do the same.
  • Sacred and traditional materials (incense, resins, sandalwood, plants held by indigenous communities) call for the most scrutiny.
  • Appreciation looks like credit, context, fair sourcing and voices from the culture involved.
  • Five checks for buyers are listed below, with questions to put to any brand.

Table of Contents

What the term means in perfumery

The general definition is the starting point. One widely quoted formulation holds that appreciation becomes appropriation when an element of culture is taken from a marginalised group without respect for its meaning. Perfumery adds its own features:

  • Scent is hard to attribute. A formula does not carry a name tag.
  • Ingredients are physical goods. Resins, woods and flowers come from specific places and communities.
  • Marketing relies on narrative. A bottle sells on the place or ritual it evokes.
  • Ingredient lists are partial. Fragrance components are often protected as trade secrets, which limits what a buyer can verify (NCBI review of fragrances in consumer products).

The fragrance designer Tasha Marks has described the uneasy border between appreciation and appropriation as tied to materials or narratives taken from their cultural context without proper acknowledgement of the communities of origin, in a recorded panel at Leighton House, London (15 November 2022).

Not every use of another culture’s scent tradition is appropriation. Scent traditions have travelled for centuries. The word “perfume” itself comes from Latin roots meaning “through smoke”, a reference to incense, and Asian perfumery has appealed in the West for a very long time, as a journal foreword on the subject notes. Exchange is old. The question is whether the exchange is credited and fair.

The language problem: “Oriental”

The most visible dispute concerns the word “Oriental”.

  • It was used to label warm, resinous, spicy and vanilla-led scents.
  • Critics say it was formed through a colonial lens, treating a vast region as one place. The Globe and Mail reports that the perfumer Dana El Masri and peers circulated a petition asking the industry to stop using “oriental” and “floriental” for such scents.
  • Vogue reported in 2023 that some industry leaders had replaced “Oriental” on fragrance wheels with “ambery”, while other brands resisted.

What a buyer can do:

  1. Note whether a brand uses “Oriental” in product copy.
  2. Check whether it names a real place, tradition or material instead of a vague “exotic East”.
  3. Look for plain descriptors: amber, resinous, spiced, smoky.

Vocabulary is the easiest part to change. It is also a signal of how carefully a brand handles the rest.

Materials: where the ingredient comes from

The second area is the raw material itself. Questions apply to any ingredient with a cultural or ritual history.

Incense, resins and sacred substances

Incense and resins have religious roles in many traditions. A perfume that uses them is not automatically problematic. Concern arises when a sacred substance is used as decoration, with a mystical label and no context. Research on commercial storytelling advises that brands lean on abstract or personal inspiration instead of commodifying cultural symbols or traditional ritual substances (University research on indigenous attributes in perfume markets).

The common question “is burning incense cultural appropriation?” has no single answer. Using incense as a household or personal practice differs from marketing a sacred ritual as a lifestyle product with no connection to its origin. Context, respect and credit decide it.

Incense, resins and sacred substances — overview diagram

Plants tied to a people

The same research examines taramea, a plant native to Aotearoa New Zealand and a taonga of Ngāi Tahu, traditionally processed into a prized perfume described as the “fragrance of chiefs”. It is a case study in how indigenous cultural attributes can be used to obtain premium prices in international perfume markets. The lesson for buyers: a material with a named community of origin raises a question about who benefits from the sale.

Taramea linked to traditional use and perfume markets

Sandalwood and other contested supplies

Sourcing and cultural questions often overlap. Overharvested or opaque supply chains harm the communities and ecosystems tied to a material. Our guide to ethical sandalwood sourcing lists what to check before buying.

Storytelling: who is telling the story

The third area is narrative. Premium pricing often rests on a story: a desert, a temple, a spice route. The research on indigenous attributes describes a tension between the commercial value of such storytelling and the ethical duty to avoid appropriation.

Signs of weak storytelling:

  • A culture is used as mood, not as subject.
  • No named people, place or tradition.
  • No credit to a perfumer, community or collaborator from that culture.
  • Stereotyped packaging: turbans, lanterns, “mystic” lettering.

Signs of stronger storytelling:

  • The story is the brand’s own or its team’s own memory.
  • Where another culture is the subject, people from it have shaped or approved the work.
  • The brand states what it gives back, if anything.
  • The claim is specific and checkable.

Appropriation, appreciation and exclusion

A fair account also covers the opposite error. Fragrance-free policies, useful for accessibility in shared spaces, can marginalise communities for whom scented products carry cultural or religious weight. A UCLA toolkit on fragrance-free spaces advises avoiding blanket bans and building community dialogue.

Health is a separate matter from culture, but both belong in a decision about scent in shared places. Fragrance sensitivity is an irritation of the airways, not a true immune allergy, and people with asthma or chemical sensitivities are more likely to react to scented products, including incense and air fresheners, according to the American Lung Association. Anyone who gets headaches, coughing or dizziness from scented products should speak to a GP or pharmacist, and ask hosts before burning incense in a shared room.

Five checks before you buy

Check Question to ask Better answer
Vocabulary Does the copy use “Oriental” or “exotic”? Plain notes, named places
Materials Which ingredients have ritual or community ties? Named and sourced openly
Story Whose memory or culture is it? The maker’s own, or told with the culture’s involvement
Benefit Who earns from the story? Stated support, credit or partnership
Transparency Who is the business behind the brand? Named people and an address

Our guides on spotting real socially conscious perfumes and on who is behind an indie perfume extend the last two rows.

UK law covers safety, not cultural conduct. Anyone making cosmetic products, perfumes included, available to consumers in Great Britain needs a Responsible Person based in the UK who holds the product information file and handles notification, as GOV.UK guidance sets out. A compliant label shows a brand is legal. It does not show a brand is respectful. Both questions need asking.

Our perspective

We make perfume as an independent house, and we hold ourselves to the checks above.

  • We work from memory. Our scents are built on remembered places, moments and feelings, and each bottle tells a story. Memory is a source a brand can own and credit.
  • We name what we draw on. Thurible is described as sacred clove and incense. Amber is smoky saffron. We use note names and not a vague “Orient”.
  • We treat stories about real communities as responsibilities. Our Palestine Collection, including Scent for Gaza, carries a cultural narrative and advocates for a social issue. Stories like these need care, accuracy and purpose, not decoration.
  • We keep the formulas unisex, cruelty-free and vegan, and we publish our thinking on sustainability and on ingredient regulation.

We do not claim to be beyond criticism. Appropriation is a judgement made by communities and buyers, and a brand’s job is to be open to it, answer questions, and change where it gets something wrong.

— Rook

Trying scents with these questions in mind

A discovery set lets you smell a brand’s work and read its story before committing to a full bottle. Use the table above on each sample.

Thurible Eau de Parfum | Sacred Clove and Incense

Frequently asked questions

Is burning incense cultural appropriation?

Not by default. Incense has been used across many faiths and regions, and the word “perfume” itself points to smoke. The issue is treating a sacred practice as a styling accessory, or selling it without credit to its origin. If a material is sacred to a specific community, learn its use before adopting it. Check ventilation and who shares the space too, since smoke can trigger symptoms in people with asthma.

Why do people object to the word “Oriental” in perfume?

Critics say it groups many cultures into one “East” seen through a colonial, Eurocentric lens. Some fragrance wheel creators now use “ambery” for warm, resinous scents, as Vogue reports. Descriptions that name notes or real places avoid the problem.

Can a brand use another culture’s ingredients respectfully?

Yes. Respectful use usually means open sourcing, credit to the community or perfumer involved, no sacred symbols as decoration, and some benefit returned. Brands whose stories come from their own memories and not from another people’s traditions face fewer questions.

Are fragrance-free policies a form of exclusion?

They can be if applied bluntly. They protect people with sensitivities, but can disadvantage communities for whom scent has religious or cultural value. The UCLA toolkit linked above recommends dialogue over blanket bans.

Sources

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