PerfuMate › IFRA limits › Limonene
How much Limonene can you put in a perfume?
IFRA standard: Limonene · Category 4, 51st Amendment
no percentage limit
IFRA sets no percentage limit for Limonene in fine fragrance. Its standard is a quality specification instead: the material must be kept fresh, with a peroxide value under 20 mmol/L (antioxidants and fresh stock keep it there).
Limonene 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.
Which materials contain Limonene?
Sold as Limonene 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 |
|---|---|
| Orange Essential Oilnatural | 95% |
| Orange Terpenesnatural | 95% |
| Sweet Orange Essential Oilnatural | 95% |
| Blood Orange Essential Oilnatural | 94% |
| Clementine Essential Oilnatural | 94% |
| Grapefruit Essential Oilnatural | 93% |
| Grapefruit FCF Essential Oilnatural | 93% |
| Grapefruit Pink Essential Oilnatural | 93% |
267 materials in the catalog carry Limonene; 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 |
|---|---|
| d-Limonene | 20 g |
| Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit | 80 g |
d-Limonene at 20 g in 100 g is 3.6% of the finished perfume. The calculator lists it as a Quality specification: it never fails a formula on the amount; what matters is the quality of the stock.
Or paste these lines into the calculator:
d-Limonene 20 g Ethylene Brassylate 80 g
Questions
Is Limonene banned in perfume?
No. IFRA sets no percentage limit for it; its standard is a quality specification.
Does Limonene from essential oils count?
Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Orange Essential Oil typically carries 95%. 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.