These soaps contain manufactured fragrance oils. Some of these soaps also contain Essential oils, for example we only use Peppermint Essential oil, so the Chocolate Peppermint soap has both essential and fragrance oils. Most of these soaps contain manufactured colorants such as oxides or micas. All of our colorants are skin safe. While we like the idea of using only Essential oils in theory, we find we love scents that are not available in Essential oils, such as Carnival, Black Raspberry Vanilla and White Ginger & Amber. This also allows us to offer fragrance choices to a wide customer base.