I used to have a candle phase.
And honestly, who didn't?
There was something so comforting about the idea of it. Lighting a candle, winding down, signaling to yourself that the day was done. I had a whole collection going. Warm vanilla. Sea salt and driftwood. Something that was apparently called "cashmere."
But here's what I started noticing: the candles smelled good, and I felt nothing. Like, nothing nothing. The room smelled pleasant, and there was a "vibe", but I was still just as wound up, just as stuck in my head, and feeling a headache instead of a release.
Once that headache popped up, I thought: Okay. What is actually in that candle?
Then one afternoon I started working with essential oils and something happened in my body before I'd even taken a full breath. It might sound dramatic, but it was a feeling of connecting to nature… because, well, essential oils are nature. Like I was holding a little bottle of sacred medicine.
That moment changed everything.
What Does "Fragrance" Actually Mean on a Label?
Here's where it gets a little uncomfortable, and I say that as someone who wants to give you information that actually serves you, not to scare you.
In the United States, the word "fragrance" on a product label is legally considered a trade secret. This means a company can list "fragrance" as a single ingredient and be under no obligation to disclose what's actually inside it. What could be inside it? Potentially hundreds of individual chemicals. Synthetic musks. Solvents. Stabilizers. Phthalates, which are chemicals used to make scents last longer and which have been flagged by researchers as endocrine disruptors, meaning they can interfere with the body's hormonal signaling. [Source: NRDC]
A 2025 analysis of the fragrance industry's own transparency list found it contained over 3,600 ingredients, including chemicals linked to reproductive toxicity and endocrine disruption, with most carrying no mandatory disclosure obligation on product labels. [Source: Prosody London]
This is not about panic. It's about awareness. The word that is supposed to be describing something sensory and beautiful is very often doing the opposite of what we think it is.
And the body, it turns out, knows.
Why Does Synthetic Fragrance Sometimes Feel Off?
Have you ever walked into a store, or a hotel lobby, or someone's house that was heavily scented, and felt vaguely off within a few minutes? Headachy. Slightly irritated. Not quite right, even though the smell was perfectly pleasant?
Your body was telling you something.
When you inhale any scent, the molecules travel through the olfactory system directly to the limbic brain, the part of your brain that governs emotion, memory, and your sense of safety. This pathway is ancient and fast. Your body responds before your mind has had a chance to decide what it thinks about a smell.
What your body is responding to is the actual chemical composition of what it just received.
Real botanical essential oils are extracted from plants through processes like steam distillation. They carry the living complexity of the plant itself, hundreds of naturally occurring aromatic compounds that evolved over thousands of years. They are recognized, at a cellular level, by a body that evolved in relationship with those same plants.
Synthetic fragrance is something else entirely. It's usually a lab-created chemical approximation of a scent, designed to smell like something, not to be something. The molecules are different. The complexity is different. And the body, which has been recognizing plant chemistry since long before we had words for it, often knows the difference even when we don't.
One woman who works with essential oils professionally put it this way: it takes her thousands of hours with botanicals and no negative effects, and ninety seconds in an Uber with a synthetic air freshener to end up with a migraine. Her body wasn't being dramatic. It was being honest. [Source: Osmia Skincare]
What Does a Real Botanical Actually Do That a Synthetic Can't?
The short answer is that a real plant carries intelligence a lab cannot fully replicate.
When you steam distill a plant, you're not just capturing its smell. You're capturing its aromatic compounds. The sesquiterpenes, terpenes, esters, and other naturally occurring molecules that give a plant its character and its effect. These compounds interact with the body in ways that have been studied for decades and are increasingly backed by neuroscience.
Lavender, for example, contains linalool and linalyl acetate, which have been shown to support the parasympathetic nervous system and reduce anxiety markers in clinical settings. Vetiver contains over 100 sesquiterpene constituents that interact with the limbic system in ways that promote grounding and reduce the brain's threat-response activity. These are not ideas. They are chemical realities.
A synthetic "lavender scent" may smell like lavender to your nose. But it doesn't carry the compounds that do the work. It's the costume without the actor inside.
This is one of the things I feel most strongly about when it comes to North. Every botanical in this spray is the real thing. Not an approximation. Not a cheaper version that passes the smell test. The actual plant, distilled with care, so that what reaches your nervous system is something your body can genuinely work with.
How Do I Know What I'm Actually Buying?
This is the question I get most often, and I want to answer it honestly because the market is confusing right now.
A few things to look for:
Read the full ingredient list. If you see "fragrance" or "parfum" listed without further disclosure, that's a synthetic blend and what's inside it is unspecified. A truly botanical product will list each essential oil by its common or botanical name, lavender essential oil, vetiver root oil, black spruce, and so on.
"Natural fragrance" is not the same as botanical. This phrase has become a greenwashing shorthand and carries no standardized meaning. It does not guarantee the absence of synthetic compounds.
Trust your body. This sounds less scientific than the above, but it's not. If a scent gives you a headache, makes you feel flat rather than settled, or wears off and leaves nothing behind, those are real signals. Your olfactory system has millions of years of practice at this. It often picks up what your mind hasn't caught up to yet.
Ask what's in it. A brand that is genuinely committed to botanical integrity will be able to tell you exactly what is in their product and where it came from. If that answer isn't readily available, that tells you something too.
Why This Matters for Your Nervous System Specifically
We talk a lot about nervous system regulation in wellness spaces right now, and for good reason. But here's something that doesn't get said enough: the products you use on and around your body are inputs to your nervous system. Every inhaled molecule, every topically absorbed compound, is something your body has to process, recognize, and respond to.
When what you're inhaling is a lab-created chemical compound your body doesn't recognize, the result is often an additional load rather than relief. Which is the opposite of what we're trying to create with a wellness ritual.
When what you're inhaling is a true botanical, the body recognizes it. It knows what to do with it. It can receive it.
This is why the ritual matters and why the quality of what's in the bottle matters just as much. A 30-second reset with a true botanical spray can become a genuine nervous system cue. That same 30 seconds with a synthetic body spray is just... a smell.
And your body has always known the difference. We're just finally catching up to what it was trying to tell us.
FAQ: Real Botanicals vs. Synthetic Fragrance
Is synthetic fragrance always harmful? Not necessarily in every single exposure. But the cumulative daily use of products containing synthetic fragrance, especially those with phthalates and parabens, is an area of growing research concern. The issue is less about one candle and more about the consistent, layered exposure most of us have across multiple products every day.
What should I look for on a label to know if a scent is truly botanical? Look for each ingredient listed by name. Botanical products will specify their individual essential oils (lavender essential oil, vetiver root oil, and so on) rather than grouping everything under the word "fragrance" or "parfum."
Can my body really tell the difference between a botanical and a synthetic scent? Yes, and often quite quickly. The olfactory-limbic pathway responds to the actual chemical composition of what you inhale, not just the perceived smell. Many people notice that synthetic fragrance leaves them feeling flat, headachy, or mildly irritated, while true botanicals produce a genuine felt shift. This is not placebo. It is physiology.
Is "natural fragrance" the same as a botanical essential oil? No. "Natural fragrance" is an unregulated term that can include both naturally derived and synthetic aromatic compounds. It does not guarantee the therapeutic complexity of a true essential oil.
Does North contain any synthetic fragrance? Never. Every aromatic element in North is a pure botanical essential oil, chosen for its effect on the nervous system and its integrity as a plant extract. You'll find the full ingredient list on the product page, because transparency isn't optional for us.
I've used essential oils before and didn't notice anything. Why? A few possibilities: the quality of the oil matters enormously, and many mass-market "essential oils" are diluted, adulterated, or synthetic blends in disguise. The way you use it also matters. Scent paired with slow, intentional breath creates a measurably different effect than passive inhalation. The ritual is part of the medicine.
Conclusion
So maybe that candle phase was never really about the candle...
Maybe it was about a desire for something...
For something beautiful to actually do what it promised and help you soften, settle, and come back to yourself. And when it didn’t... when the room smelled good but your body still felt wound tight, flat, or headachy... that wasn’t you being high-strung and hard to please... That was your body telling the truth.
Because this is the deeper point: your body knows the difference between decoration and support. Between something designed to imitate nature and something that actually carries the intelligence of the plant itself.
And once you feel that difference, it becomes very hard to ignore.
Because if a ritual is meant to help you return to yourself, then what’s in the bottle should actually support that return.
That is why I care so deeply about real botanicals.
Not because “clean” is trendy.
And not because I’m trying to be precious about ingredients.
But because I want the women who use these tools to feel something real.
The candles may have smelled nice. But the plants? The plants changed everything.
