Citronellol
Allowed
A rose-scented alcohol that occurs naturally in geranium, rose and citronella oils, and is also made synthetically.
- What it does
- Scent
- Our take
- One of the fragrance components the EU requires to be declared by name above a threshold, which is why it appears on labels of products scented only with essential oils. Declaring it is a transparency requirement, not a warning. A known contact allergen for a small number of people, so worth knowing if you react to scented products.
- Scope
- A label cannot tell you whether this was extracted from a plant or built in a lab, because the molecule is identical either way. Seeing it named is a disclosure rather than a warning: it is what an honestly labelled, essential-oil-scented product looks like, and the EU requires it to be named precisely so that the minority of people who react to it can avoid it.
What we read
- Added from the September 2026 core sweep
Every other ingredient, with the same treatment.
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