PerfuMate › IFRA limits
How much of each material can go in a perfume?
IFRA limits, Category 4, 51st Amendment
IFRA caps how much of a restricted material a perfume may contain, as a share of the finished product. The 51st Amendment holds 172 restricted, 81 prohibited and 20 specification standards; the 146 pages below cover materials in PerfuMate's catalog, and each has its own page with the arithmetic, the materials that carry it and a worked example.
Have a formula already? The free IFRA calculator checks all of it at once: every molecule, from every material, at your strength.
Questions perfumers ask
How to read a limit
A limit is a share of the finished perfume, not of your concentrate. Coumarin's 1.5% means at most 1.5% of what goes on skin: in an eau de parfum at 18% that is 8.33% of the concentrate, and in a cologne at 5% it is 30%.
A limit is on the molecule, wherever it comes from. Coumarin from tonka bean absolute and coumarin from the bottle are one coumarin total, judged once.
Dilutions count at their strength: 1 g of a 10% solution is 0.1 g of the material.
Restricted: the Category 4 limits
At most this much of the finished perfume. The last column is the same limit as a share of your concentrate in an eau de parfum at 18%, if nothing else carries it.
Essential oils and popular materials
Naturals are held by the molecules they carry. The lowest ceiling among each material's grades in the catalog:
| Material | Limit, of the perfume |
|---|---|
| Clove oil | 2.77% |
| Cinnamon and cassia oil | 0.294% |
| Basil oil | 0.11% |
| Tarragon oil | 0.0186% |
| Rose oil and rose absolute | 0.55% |
| Lemongrass oil | 0.8% |
| Litsea cubeba oil | 0.821% |
| Lemon myrtle oil | 0.631% |
| Citronella oil | 1.4% |
| Nutmeg and mace oil | 0.5% |
| Anise and star anise oil | 0.466% |
| Tonka bean absolute | 2.14% |
| Spearmint oil | 0.983% |
| Cedarwood oil | 4.54% |
| Palmarosa oil | 5.87% |
| Geranium oil | 8.6% |
| Neroli and orange blossom | 3.33% |
| Petitgrain oil | 0.2% |
| Benzoin | no limit reached |
| Vanilla absolute | 2.62% |
| Patchouli oil | no limit reached |
| Vetiver oil | no limit reached |
| Lavender oil | 75% |
| Tuberose absolute | 3.33% |
| Osmanthus absolute | 4.3% |
| Saffron oil | 0.0218% |
| Mandarin oil | 2.5% |
| Clary sage and sage oil | 4.51% |
| Hedione | no limit reached |
| Galaxolide | no limit reached |
| Ambroxan | no limit reached |
| Vanillin | no limit reached |
| Ethyl vanillin | no limit reached |