Worth a closer look
Evidence key Strong Moderate Weak How we grade
Labeled fragrance allergen (EU) Scent ingredient Limited by IFRA
- What it can be used for
- Adds scent, makes alcohol undrinkable and tones skin (the functions the EU ingredient database, CosIng, lists for it; a product may use it for any of them)
- CAS number
- 97-53-0
Why it’s flagged
A fragrance allergen the EU requires companies to name on the label.
- Annex III entry 71. Source: EU Cosmetics Regulation, Annex III (restricted)
Must be named on EU labels above 0.001% in leave-on and 0.01% in rinse-off products. Elsewhere, including the US, it can hide inside “fragrance”.
Used to add scent: its official function is perfuming or fragrance.
- Listed functions: denaturant, perfuming, tonic. Source: EU CosIng ingredient database
The EU ingredient database (CosIng) lists this ingredient's function as perfuming or fragrance, so it may be there to add scent, even on a label that never says “fragrance.”
Use limited by the fragrance industry's own IFRA standard.
- IFRA standard “Eugenol”: use limited. Source: IFRA Standards Library
IFRA, the fragrance industry's own standards body, sets maximum amounts for this material in different kinds of products.
What the research says
- Seal of Acceptance products must also exclude a named 34-ingredient Ecz-clusion List (including cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic aldehyde, coumarin, eugenol, farnesol, geraniol, hydroxycitronellal, isoeugenol, oak moss absolute and several citrus extracts), chemical UV absorbers other than titanium/zinc/iron physical sunscreens, and formaldehyde releasers, in any amount. Strong evidence. NEA 2026
- The fragrance industry's original 1976 evidence for aldehyde 'quenching' (that a companion terpene or alcohol stops citral, cinnamic aldehyde or phenylacetaldehyde from causing skin sensitization) was a single, unreplicated human maximization test per mixture with no subject numbers reported, and the paper's own data are internally inconsistent: cinnamon bark oil sensitized despite being one of the paper's three 'protective natural oil' examples, and cinnamic aldehyde + eugenol sensitized at a 2.5:1 ratio where 1:1 had not. Moderate evidence. Opdyke 1976 (RIFM) Industry-funded
- The four most common airborne fragrances in homes and offices — pinene, limonene, linalool and eugenol — are usually present at levels 2 to 3 times below the concentration needed to physically irritate the eyes and airways, but at or above the much lower level needed just to smell them. Moderate evidence. Wolkoff & Nielsen 2017
- Citronella oil, marketed as a natural insect repellent, has been banned in the European Union and Canada since 2006, partly because it contains methyl eugenol, which the US National Toxicology Program considers 'reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen' based on animal studies. Weak evidence. Ramsey 2020 (YJBM)
- In animal and lab studies, common scent chemicals such as linalool, limonene and eugenol act on brain signaling systems; what lifelong low-level exposure does in healthy people has never been studied. Weak evidence. Pinkas 2017
Each finding shows its evidence grade. See every graded fact or how we grade.
Don’t want it on you or in your air? Look for “fragrance-free,” not “unscented.” An unscented product can still contain a masking fragrance. Why the words matter.
What this page can’t tell you
These lists describe what a substance can do, its hazard. The risk from one product depends on how much is in it and how you use it, and the label doesn’t say how much.
Not being on a list doesn’t make an ingredient safe. It may never have been assessed.
“Fragrance” or “parfum” on a label can hide this ingredient and many others. In the US, the individual chemicals in a fragrance are rarely named on the label.
Check your products
Check a whole labelProducts that list itEWG Skin DeepShop fragrance-free
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Flagged the same way
Official lists checked September 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.