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PerfuMate › IFRA checking while you compose, not after

IFRA checking while you compose, not after

Most perfumers meet IFRA at the end: the formula is finished, and then an evening goes to checking each material against the standards by hand. PerfuMate runs the check the other way round, live on the bench while the formula is still being written, on every tier including free. If IFRA itself is new to you, IFRA for perfumers teaches the concept; this page is about the workflow.

How does IFRA checking work while you compose?

The flag rises on the line that is over while you are still typing, and clears when you dose it down.

  1. Compose as normal. Every line is judged against the finished product at your chosen concentration, and every dose is corrected for the dilution the material is actually weighed at, so a line poured from a 10% solution is counted at what it truly contributes.
  2. A line over its limit is flagged while you work, not in a report you run afterwards, so the problem surfaces while the formula is still easy to change.
  3. Dose down and watch it clear. Reduce the line, or lower the finished concentration, and the flag goes as the arithmetic passes. There is nothing to export, nothing to re-run, and no second tool.

For restricted materials that reach no published standard, the app says "restricted, check the current amendment" and gives no number, because a number invented from memory is worse than a blank.

What does a manual check miss?

A restricted molecule rarely arrives on its own line. It arrives inside naturals, and the same molecule can come from three different essential oils in one formula. A check that looks only at the named lines misses it three times. PerfuMate carries estimated constituent tables for hundreds of naturals and bases, roughly what each oil is made of, and the compliance arithmetic reads them: one restricted molecule arriving from several naturals is summed once, across all of them, against one limit. The tables are estimates and the app says so on every material page; if you have a real analysis from your supplier you can paste it in and it replaces the estimate for your bench.

What exactly is the data behind the check?

The limits are drawn from the 51st Amendment, Category 4 only: fine fragrance on skin. The app puts every formula in that category. A body lotion, a soap, a candle or anything for children sits in a different category with different limits, and this app will not compute them. The set is fixed at the 51st Amendment and ships inside the app, so a new Amendment arrives as an app release rather than as a silent data change.

It has been checked against the official book, line by line. On 2026-08-16 the compiled IFRA Standards up to and including the 51st Amendment, 263 standards over 726 pages, were downloaded from IFRA's own CDN and every entry diffed by CAS number: 252 of 252 comparable entries matched the published Category 4 figure exactly, with zero disagreements. The script that runs the diff ships in the repository, so the check can be re-run against the next amendment rather than taken on trust. The set remains indicative all the same: a working figure to compose against, not a certificate. The full answer on where the data comes from is at answers, IFRA.

One structural limit worth knowing before you rely on it: the IFRA join, like the allergen and GHS joins, is by CAS number. A material can supply one through its estimated constituents as well as its own row, so it is unassessed only when it has neither, and that comes back as "nothing known" rather than "nothing applies".

What paperwork comes out of the check?

The EU allergen declaration, a print-ready INCI line and a safety data sheet draft, all free; bottle labels and the sale pack are the two paid items.

How far does the checking go, and where does it stop?

The regulatory surface is IFRA Category 4, the EU allergen declaration, an indicative and unverified GHS classification, and an SDS draft. The app stamps every compliance sheet the same way: an indicative working set, verify against the official IFRA standards before you sell. There is no REACH, no CPNP or SCPN notification, no UFI or poison-centre submission, no Product Information File and no US state disclosure. None of this replaces a regulatory consultant, and the app never says it does. A product that tells you where its checking stops can be believed about where it runs.

The checking itself costs nothing: it runs on the free tier, which does not expire, and the paid version is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. The fastest way to judge it is to see the flag rise and clear on a formula of your own. Open the bench.