PerfuMate › IFRA limits › Citronellyl acetate

How much Citronellyl acetate can you put in a perfume?

IFRA standard: Citronellyl acetate · Category 4, 51st Amendment

2.7%

of the finished perfume, at most

Under the IFRA Standards (51st Amendment, Category 4: fine fragrance on skin), Citronellyl acetate may make up at most 2.7% of the finished perfume. In an eau de parfum at 18%, that is at most 15% of your concentrate: 15% 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 Citronellyl acetate its concentrate can hold. If nothing else in the formula carries it:

Perfume strength	Most Citronellyl acetate in the concentrate
Cologne, 5%	54%
Eau de toilette, 10%	27%
15%	18%
Eau de parfum, 18%	15%
20%	13.5%
Extrait, 25%	10.8%

Which materials contain Citronellyl acetate?

Sold as Citronellyl acetate itself, counted in full:

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
Rose Givco 217™ (Givaudan)	5.5%	no limit on its own
Geranium Essential Oil Bourbonnatural	5%	no limit on its own
Geranium Essential Oil Egyptnatural	5%	no limit on its own
Combava Petitgrain Essential Oilnatural	2%	no limit on its own
Geranium Absolute (Pelargonium graveolens)natural	2%	no limit on its own
R-Rose (F-TEC)	2%	no limit on its own
Rose Otto (F-TEC)	2%	no limit on its own
Rose Petal (F-TEC)	2%	no limit on its own

17 materials in the catalog carry Citronellyl acetate; 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
Citronellyl Acetate	23 g
Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit	77 g

Citronellyl Acetate brings 4.14% Citronellyl acetate to the finished perfume, against a limit of 2.7%: 1.53 times the limit. To bring it inside on its own, the calculator cuts Citronellyl Acetate from 23 g to 13.588 g. Or keep the formula and bottle it weaker: the highest strength inside every limit is 11.73%.

Open this example in the IFRA calculator

Or paste these lines into the calculator:

Citronellyl Acetate  23 g
Ethylene Brassylate  77 g

Questions

Is Citronellyl acetate banned in perfume?

No. IFRA restricts it: at most 2.7% of a fine fragrance (Category 4).

How much Citronellyl acetate can I use in an eau de parfum?

At 18%, at most 15% of the concentrate, if nothing else in the formula carries Citronellyl acetate. Every other source counts toward the same total.

Does Citronellyl acetate from essential oils count?

Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Geranium Essential Oil Bourbon typically carries 5%. 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.