Clean fragrance is an unregulated marketing category. No statute defines it; no agency certifies it. The phrases that crowd a bottle's front label — phthalate-free fragrance, natural, botanical, hypoallergenic, non-toxic — each carry a different weight, and most carry none at all. In the United States, the FDA does not pre-approve cosmetic ingredients and has not yet issued the fragrance-allergen disclosure rule mandated by the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 — that proposed rule, due June 29, 2024, has been pushed to May 2026 (Covington, 2024). In the European Union, the Cosmetics Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 governs what must appear on the label, but the word parfum can still legally hide hundreds of unlisted ingredients.
This glossary is for shoppers who want to read a fragrance label the way a chemist or a regulator does. It defines twenty-eight terms across five categories: composition labels, certifications, ingredient red flags, marketing-only language, and performance vocabulary. Where a term is contested or used loosely, we say so. Where a regulator has issued a binding definition — IFRA, ECHA, the European Commission, COSMOS-standard AISBL — we cite the document and the year. The goal is not to scare anyone away from perfume. It is to make the language usable.
Composition labels
Natural fragrance / 100% naturel
A perfume in which all aromatic raw materials derive from plants — essential oils, absolutes, CO2 extracts, hydrosols, resinoids, tinctures — with no nature-identical or petrochemical synthetics. There is no legal definition in the US or Canada. The closest binding standard is ISO 9235:2021, which defines natural aromatic raw materials. "100% naturel" on a French label generally implies ISO 9235 compliance plus a denatured-alcohol carrier of agricultural origin.
Eau de parfum, eau de toilette, parfum extrait, solid perfume
Concentration tiers, not quality tiers. Eau de toilette typically carries 5–15% aromatic compounds in alcohol; eau de parfum 15–25%; parfum extrait 20–40%. Solid perfume suspends the aromatic compounds in a wax-and-oil base instead of alcohol — useful for pregnancy, sensitive skin, and travel. Concentration affects sillage and tenacity but not safety; a phthalate-laden eau de toilette is no safer than the same formula at extrait strength.
Alcohol-free fragrance
A perfume formulated without ethanol as the carrier. Substitutes include caprylic/capric triglyceride, fractionated coconut oil, jojoba ester, or beeswax (in solids). Alcohol-free formats are slower to project and have shorter sillage but are preferred during pregnancy, by people with rosacea or eczema, and in observant Muslim and Jewish households where cosmetic ethanol is avoided. Note: "alcohol-free" refers to ethyl alcohol; cetyl, stearyl, and cetearyl alcohols are fatty waxes and are commonly present.
Single-note vs. accord
A single-note fragrance is built around one dominant raw material — rose, vetiver, neroli — with minor supporting ingredients. An accord is a multi-ingredient blend engineered to read as a single olfactory idea (a "chypre accord," a "fougère accord"). Most modern perfumes are stacked accords. Single-notes are easier to evaluate for sensitivity because the allergen and irritant profile traces to one botanical source.
Certifications and standards
COSMOS Natural and COSMOS Organic
The European reference standard for natural and organic cosmetics, managed by COSMOS-standard AISBL in Brussels (founded by BDIH, Cosmebio, Ecocert, ICEA, and the Soil Association). The current version is 4.2, effective September 1, 2025 (COSMOS-standard, 2025). COSMOS Natural certifies the ingredient origins and processing chemistry; COSMOS Organic additionally requires a minimum percentage of certified-organic agricultural input. Phthalates, parabens, synthetic musks, ethoxylated surfactants, and silicones are excluded by the standard.
Ecocert
A French certification body, founded in 1991, that audits cosmetic, food, and textile producers against external standards including COSMOS. "Ecocert certified" on a perfume usually means COSMOS Natural or COSMOS Organic certified by Ecocert as the auditor — the Ecocert logo and the COSMOS logo are not interchangeable but are often co-issued.
IFRA standards
The International Fragrance Association publishes a binding code of safe-use limits for individual fragrance materials, updated by amendment. The current version is the 51st Amendment, notified June 30, 2023, with full compliance for existing creations required by October 30, 2025 (IFRA, 2023). It introduced 59 new rules covering 263 materials, addressing skin sensitization, systemic toxicity, depigmentation, and genotoxicity. The 52nd Amendment is expected in 2026 and will likely tighten furocoumarin (citrus phototoxin) limits.
EU Cosmetic Regulation (EC) 1223/2009
The legal framework governing cosmetic safety, labeling, and market surveillance across the EU. It bans roughly 1,650 substances outright (Annex II), restricts another 300 (Annex III), and is amended regularly. Its most consequential 2023 update for fragrance is Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, which expanded the mandatory allergen-disclosure list to 81 substances (EUR-Lex, 2023).
Ingredient red flags — what a phthalate-free fragrance actually guarantees
A phthalate-free fragrance is a structural claim, not an aesthetic one. It means no diethyl phthalate (DEP) used as a denaturant or solvent, no DEHP/DBP/BBP/DIBP carried over from raw-material processing, and — in the cleaner reading — no phthalate-class plasticizers anywhere in the supply chain, including the cap liner and the spray actuator. Brands that take the claim seriously publish a third-party assay or work to a standard (COSMOS Natural, Nature et Progrès) that excludes the whole class. The terms below explain what each red-flag ingredient does, why it's flagged, and what the regulators have said.
Phthalates (DEP, DEHP, DBP)
Plasticizers historically added to perfume to extend wear, denature alcohol, and dissolve resinous fixatives. Diethyl phthalate (DEP) is the variant most often found in fragrance and is classified as a category 1 endocrine disruptor with documented effects on male reproductive development (Api et al., PMC, 2021). DEHP, DBP, BBP, and DIBP have been added to the EU's Authorisation List for endocrine-disrupting properties (ECHA, 2024). "Phthalate-free" requires verification — DEP can hide inside the word parfum.
Synthetic musk (galaxolide / HHCB, tonalide / AHTN)
A synthetic musk is a lab-engineered analogue of the animalic musk note traditionally drawn from deer, civet, or ambergris. The polycyclic synthetic musks galaxolide (HHCB) and tonalide (AHTN) were introduced as cheap, persistent replacements for the older nitro-musks and are now detected in human breast milk, umbilical cord blood, and freshwater sediment globally. The French agency ANSES has formally proposed classifying galaxolide as a Category 1B reproductive toxicant under the CLP Regulation (ANSES, 2024). Both are excluded under COSMOS and avoided by clean-fragrance houses. Note the distinction: a macrocyclic natural musk lactone (ambrettolide from ambrette seed, for example) is not the same molecule class as a polycyclic synthetic musk and does not carry the same persistence profile.
Parabens in fragrance
Methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, and butylparaben are preservatives, not fragrance materials, but they appear in scented body oils, lotions, and solid perfumes. The EU restricts propyl- and butylparaben to 0.14% and bans isopropyl-, isobutyl-, phenyl-, benzyl-, and pentylparaben in cosmetics (Annex II/III, EC 1223/2009). All parabens are excluded under COSMOS Natural. They are not banned in the US.
"Fragrance" / "parfum" as a black-box ingredient
Both the FDA and the EU permit a single line — fragrance in English, parfum in French — to stand in for what may be 50 to 200 individual aromatic compounds. The disclosure is protected as trade secret under the US Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966, codified in 21 CFR 701.3. Under EU rules, the 81 named allergens must be broken out separately if they exceed 0.001% in leave-on products or 0.01% in rinse-off (EUR-Lex, 2023).
Endocrine disruptors (EDCs)
Substances that interfere with hormone synthesis, transport, binding, or metabolism. The European Commission and ECHA maintain a public assessment list (ECHA, 2024). In fragrance, the chief suspects are certain phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP, DIBP), specific synthetic musk compounds (galaxolide is under formal CLP review), oxybenzone, and benzophenone-type UV filters used as fragrance stabilizers. An endocrine disruptor free perfume is a structural promise, not a marketing slogan — to verify it, ask the brand to map its formula against the ECHA assessment list above.
Allergens — the EU 26, expanded to 81
Until 2023, EU labels were required to declare 26 fragrance allergens (Annex III, established by the Cosmetics Directive of 2003). Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, in force August 16, 2023, expanded that list to 81. The transition deadline is July 31, 2026 for new products and July 31, 2028 for existing stock (ALS, 2024). The expansion captures many natural materials — citral, linalool, geraniol, eugenol, farnesol — which means a fully-natural perfume will now declare more allergens on the label, not fewer.
Marketing-only terms — use precisely
"Clean"
A retailer-driven category, not a regulatory one. Sephora's "Clean at Sephora," Credo Beauty's "Dirty List," and Target's "Clean Beauty" each define their own exclusion lists. There is no FDA, Health Canada, or EU definition. When a brand calls itself clean, ask which exclusion list it follows — phthalates, synthetic musks, parabens, undisclosed parfum, ethanol of unknown origin — and whether the standard is third-party audited.
"Hypoallergenic"
The FDA states plainly that the term "means whatever a particular company wants it to mean" and there are no federal standards governing its use on cosmetics (FDA, 2022). It is not a guarantee of low-allergen content; it is a marketing claim. For fragrance, the more meaningful question is whether the 81 EU-listed allergens are disclosed.
"Non-toxic"
A consumer-facing slogan with no regulatory definition in the US, Canada, or EU. Toxicity is dose-dependent, route-dependent, and individual: water is toxic in sufficient quantity. The technically correct framing is "formulated without substances on the [named regulator] list of substances of concern." Read the exclusion list, not the adjective.
"Green chemistry"
A real engineering discipline — the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry codified by Anastas and Warner in 1998 — that addresses synthesis route, atom economy, solvent choice, and waste. As applied to fragrance marketing, it usually refers to plant-derived solvents, low-energy extraction (CO2 over hexane), and biodegradable end products. Worth asking the brand to specify which principle they are claiming.
"Botanical"
Means "derived from a plant." It says nothing about extraction method, solvent residue, or processing. A botanical extract may still be diluted in petrochemical solvent. "100% botanical" or "botanical, COSMOS-certified" is more meaningful than "botanical" alone.
Performance and anatomy
Top, heart, and base notes
The structure of a perfume across time. Top notes are the volatile materials you smell in the first 5–15 minutes — citrus, herbs, light aldehydes. Heart notes (also called middle notes) emerge as the top burns off and last 1–4 hours — florals, spices, fruit. Base notes anchor the composition and may persist 6–24 hours — woods, resins, animalic and musk materials. The pyramid is a 1880s-era teaching device, not a strict chemical hierarchy.
Sillage
Pronounced "see-yazh"; from the French for the wake of a ship. The trail a fragrance leaves in the air as the wearer moves through a room. High-sillage perfumes are detectable several feet away; intimate or "skin" scents have low sillage. Sillage is determined by the volatility and concentration of the aromatic compounds, not by the alcohol grade — and it is independent of tenacity.
Tenacity
How long the perfume remains detectable on skin or fabric. Driven by the molecular weight and vapor pressure of the base notes and any fixatives. Natural perfumes typically have shorter tenacity than synthetic-heavy compositions because plant-derived bases (labdanum, benzoin, vetiver, ambrette seed) are inherently more volatile than synthetic musks, which are engineered for persistence — the same persistence that makes them an environmental concern.
Fixative
An ingredient that slows the evaporation of the more volatile components. Traditional natural fixatives include orris root, oakmoss (now restricted under IFRA for atranol/chloroatranol content), benzoin, labdanum, and ambrette seed. Synthetic fixatives include the polycyclic and macrocyclic musks. "Phthalate-free fixation" usually means the formulator is using natural fixatives or newer biodegradable macrocyclic musks (ambrettolide, exaltolide) rather than DEP-as-solvent.
INCI list
The International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, the standardized Latin and English ingredient naming system required on EU and most North American cosmetic labels. INCI names are listed in descending order by weight down to 1%, then in any order. For fragrance, the line reads Parfum (Fragrance) followed by any of the 26 (soon 81) EU-listed allergens above the disclosure threshold. A short INCI list with named botanical extracts is generally a clearer signal than a long INCI list ending in parfum.
How to read a clean-fragrance label in thirty seconds
Find the INCI list. Look for parfum — is it followed by named allergens (good — disclosure) or naked (less information)? Scan for diethyl phthalate, HHCB / galaxolide, AHTN / tonalide, and any paraben. Check the carrier — alcohol denat. with no origin note is the most common opacity. Look for a certification mark (COSMOS Natural, COSMOS Organic, Ecocert, Nature et Progrès) issued by a named body. If the brand makes an exclusion claim — phthalate-free, musk-free, EDC-free — find where they publish the list.
Aimée de Mars formulates without phthalates, any synthetic musk compound, parabens, or ethanol of undocumented origin, and works to COSMOS Natural framing across the catalog.
Continue reading
- Our safety standards — the full exclusion list and certifications.
- Why natural fragrance — the case for ISO 9235 raw materials.
- Pregnancy-safe collection — the wedge in product form.
- Pregnancy and fragrance: what the evidence says
- Menopause and scent
- Anatomy of a chypre
Sources
- EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 (allergen list expansion)
- IFRA — Notification of the 51st Amendment, 2023
- COSMOS-standard — Documents (Version 4.2, 2025)
- ECHA — Phthalates hot topic (2024)
- ECHA — Endocrine disruptor assessment list
- ANSES — Galaxolide CLP classification proposal (2024)
- PMC — DEP toxicology systematic review (2021)
- FDA — Hypoallergenic cosmetics guidance
- Covington — MoCRA proposed rules timeline (2024)
- ALS Global — EU 2023/1545 labeling guide (2024)
