How much Geraniol can you put in a perfume?

IFRA standard: Geraniol · Category 4, 51st Amendment

4.7%

of the finished perfume, at most

Under the IFRA Standards (51st Amendment, Category 4: fine fragrance on skin), Geraniol may make up at most 4.7% of the finished perfume. In an eau de parfum at 18%, that is at most 26.1% of your concentrate: 26.1% of every 100 g.

Geraniol is also one of the EU's declarable fragrance allergens: above 0.001% of a leave-on product it must be named on the label.

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 Geraniol its concentrate can hold. If nothing else in the formula carries it:

Perfume strength	Most Geraniol in the concentrate
Cologne, 5%	94%
Eau de toilette, 10%	47%
15%	31.3%
Eau de parfum, 18%	26.1%
20%	23.5%
Extrait, 25%	18.8%

Which materials contain Geraniol?

Sold as Geraniol itself, counted in full:

Geraniol

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
Palmarosa Essential Oilnatural	80%	32.6% of the concentrate
Citronella Essential Oilnatural	21%	no limit on its own
Rose Otto (Rosa damascena)natural	20%	no limit on its own
Rose Otto Turkey (Rosa damascena, Isparta)natural	20%	no limit on its own
Geranium Absolute (Pelargonium graveolens)natural	18%	no limit on its own
White Rose Otto (Rosa alba)natural	18%	no limit on its own
Rose Otto Taif (Rosa damascena trigintipetala, Saudi)natural	17%	no limit on its own
Geranium Essential Oil Bourbonnatural	16%	no limit on its own

171 materials in the catalog carry Geraniol; 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
Geraniol	13 g
Palmarosa Essential Oil	20 g
Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit	67 g

Geraniol alone brings 2.34% Geraniol to the finished perfume, and Palmarosa Essential Oil adds 2.88%. Each looks modest, but the perfume holds 5.22% against a limit of 4.7%: 1.11 times the limit. To bring it inside on its own, the calculator cuts Geraniol from 13 g to 11.158 g and Palmarosa Essential Oil from 20 g to 17.165 g. Or keep the formula and bottle it weaker: the highest strength inside every limit is 16.2%.

Open this example in the IFRA calculator

Or paste these lines into the calculator:

Geraniol  13 g
Palmarosa Essential Oil  20 g
Ethylene Brassylate  67 g

Questions

Is Geraniol banned in perfume?

No. IFRA restricts it: at most 4.7% of a fine fragrance (Category 4).

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

At 18%, at most 26.1% of the concentrate, if nothing else in the formula carries Geraniol. Every other source counts toward the same total.

Does Geraniol from essential oils count?

Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Palmarosa Essential Oil typically carries 80%. 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.