How much Citronellal can you put in a perfume?

IFRA standard: Citronellal · Category 4, 51st Amendment

0.49%

of the finished perfume, at most

Under the IFRA Standards (51st Amendment, Category 4: fine fragrance on skin), Citronellal may make up at most 0.49% of the finished perfume. In an eau de parfum at 18%, that is at most 2.72% of your concentrate: 2.72% of every 100 g.

Check your own formula in the free IFRA calculator

What the limit means at your strength

The limit is on the finished perfume, so the stronger the perfume, the less Citronellal its concentrate can hold. If nothing else in the formula carries it:

Perfume strength	Most Citronellal in the concentrate
Cologne, 5%	9.8%
Eau de toilette, 10%	4.9%
15%	3.26%
Eau de parfum, 18%	2.72%
20%	2.45%
Extrait, 25%	1.96%

Which materials contain Citronellal?

Sold as Citronellal itself, counted in full:

Citronellal

It also arrives inside other materials. The limit is on the total, so the calculator adds every source together. The largest carriers in PerfuMate's catalog, by their typical composition:

Material	Typical content	Alone at 18%, at most
Combava Petitgrain Essential Oilnatural	78%	3.49% of the concentrate
Eucalyptus Citriodora Essential Oilnatural	70%	3.88% of the concentrate
Citronella Essential Oilnatural	35%	7.77% of the concentrate
Melissa Essential Oilnatural	10%	27.2% of the concentrate
Lemon Tea Tree Essential Oilnatural	5%	54.4% of the concentrate
Kaffir Lime Essential Oilnatural	3%	90.7% of the concentrate
Sichuan Pepper Essential Oilnatural	2%	no limit on its own
Tangeris Givco 212™ (Givaudan)	2%	no limit on its own

24 materials in the catalog carry Citronellal; the calculator counts every one of them.

Shares are the catalog's typical values. A real batch varies with origin and season, and your supplier's analysis (GC-MS or certificate of analysis) is the real figure.

A worked example

A 100 g concentrate, bottled as an eau de parfum at 18%:

Material	Weighed
Citronellal	1.4 g
Combava Petitgrain Essential Oil	2.1 g
Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit	96.5 g

Citronellal alone brings 0.252% Citronellal to the finished perfume, and Combava Petitgrain Essential Oil adds 0.295%. Each looks modest, but the perfume holds 0.547% against a limit of 0.49%: 1.12 times the limit. To bring it inside on its own, the calculator cuts Citronellal from 1.4 g to 1.249 g and Combava Petitgrain Essential Oil from 2.1 g to 1.873 g. Or keep the formula and bottle it weaker: the highest strength inside every limit is 16.12%.

Open this example in the IFRA calculator

Or paste these lines into the calculator:

Citronellal  1.4 g
Combava Petitgrain Essential Oil  2.1 g
Ethylene Brassylate  96.5 g

Questions

Is Citronellal banned in perfume?

No. IFRA restricts it: at most 0.49% of a fine fragrance (Category 4).

How much Citronellal can I use in an eau de parfum?

At 18%, at most 2.72% of the concentrate, if nothing else in the formula carries Citronellal. Every other source counts toward the same total.

Does Citronellal from essential oils count?

Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Combava Petitgrain Essential Oil typically carries 78%. The calculator adds every source.

Does this limit apply to candles or soap?

No. This is Category 4, fine fragrance on skin. Other products sit in other IFRA categories with other limits, which these pages and the calculator do not cover.