PerfuMate › IFRA limits › Thujone
How much Thujone can you put in a perfume?
IFRA standard: Thujone · Category 4, 51st Amendment
1.4%
of the finished perfume, at most
Under the IFRA Standards (51st Amendment, Category 4: fine fragrance on skin), Thujone may make up at most 1.4% of the finished perfume. In an eau de parfum at 18%, that is at most 7.77% of your concentrate: 7.77% of every 100 g.
What the limit means at your strength
The limit is on the finished perfume, so the stronger the perfume, the less Thujone its concentrate can hold. If nothing else in the formula carries it:
| Perfume strength | Most Thujone in the concentrate |
|---|---|
| Cologne, 5% | 28% |
| Eau de toilette, 10% | 14% |
| 15% | 9.33% |
| Eau de parfum, 18% | 7.77% |
| 20% | 7% |
| Extrait, 25% | 5.6% |
Which materials contain Thujone?
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cedarleaf Essential Oilnatural | 50% | 15.5% of the concentrate |
| Wormwood Essential Oilnatural | 35% | 22.2% of the concentrate |
| Sage Essential Oil Dalmatiannatural | 31% | 25% of the concentrate |
| Armoise Essential Oilnatural | 30% | 25.9% of the concentrate |
| OLIBANUM SFE CERT™ (dsm-firmenich)natural | 1.93% | no limit on its own |
| Calamus Essential Oilnatural | 0.575% | no limit on its own |
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 |
|---|---|
| Cedarleaf Essential Oil | 23 g |
| Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit | 77 g |
Cedarleaf Essential Oil brings 2.07% Thujone to the finished perfume, against a limit of 1.4%: 1.48 times the limit. To bring it inside on its own, the calculator cuts Cedarleaf Essential Oil from 23 g to 14.184 g. Or keep the formula and bottle it weaker: the highest strength inside every limit is 12.17%.
Or paste these lines into the calculator:
Cedarleaf Essential Oil 23 g Ethylene Brassylate 77 g
Questions
Is Thujone banned in perfume?
No. IFRA restricts it: at most 1.4% of a fine fragrance (Category 4).
How much Thujone can I use in an eau de parfum?
At 18%, at most 7.77% of the concentrate, if nothing else in the formula carries Thujone. Every other source counts toward the same total.
Does Thujone from essential oils count?
Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Cedarleaf Essential Oil typically carries 50%. 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.