Concern has been growing over the last few years that natural perfumery oils could be regulated out of existence because natural oils are complex mixtures of aroma chemicals and often contain chemicals that are limited by safety rules. A recent Perfumer & Flavorist article about a possible new way to safety test natural ingredients caught my eye, partly…
I’m making progress on all fronts here (dishwasher installation is in progress at this moment, I’m researching medical insurance, we’re hosting some family visits etc). I’m working on Amber Incense in my spare moments. I’m very appreciative to see that Robin included Incense Pure on her fall 2014 incense list yesterday along with some other…
I posted on Feb 13 about the latest round in proposed EU restrictions on perfumery ingredients, and I posted again shortly thereafter to give the address for emails to the EU commission for those who wanted to voice their concerns. There is now a petition you can sign on parfumo.net if you would like a…
The European Commission is accepting comments about restrictions and labeling of allergens in perfume. The following link takes you to a post that provides more information and gives the email and snail mail addresses for public comment. This is your chance to make your voice heard. Mark Behnke wrote a very interesting blog post on…
Here is an article today on the Reuters site about even tighter ingredient restrictions being discussed in the EU. It is quite depressing. This won’t have immediate impact on small indies in the USA (as long as they don’t want to sell in the EU), but I wonder where all this is going for the…
Here’s a link to a blog post by essential oils expert Robert Tisserand that offers more perspective on ingredient restrictions. He links to Personal Care Truth, which is a great source for information about ingredients in cosmetics. I’ve linked to Robert’s blog before, but it’s worth mentioning these resources again.
Tony Burford of Cropwatch gave a PowerPoint presention titled “Is excessive regulation destroying the perfumery art?” to the British Society of Perfumers at the Safety and Regulatory symposium on March 11, 2010. This link lets you download the presentation, but it’s only viewable if you have MS Office PowerPoint. If (like me) you don’t have…
Robert Tisserand, a well-respected expert in the field of natural essential oils and absolutes, has a blog post today about the way the EU decided which ingredients should be considered as potential allergens and thus disclosed on product packaging for items sold in the EU. It’s an eye-opening post, and I think you’ll find other…
I receive quite a few email questions about oakmoss and the IFRA regulations regarding moss, so I thought I’d take a moment to post again about the topic. Q: Is real oakmoss still allowed in fragrances? Yes, real oakmoss is still allowed under IFRA regulations as long as it is the new low-atranol moss that…
Here’s an interesting blog post where IFRA responds to questions bloggers have raised: http://graindemusc.blogspot.com/2009/05/ifras-stephen-weller-answers-grain-de.html Tomorrow’s installment should be interesting too.
The IFRA 43rd amendment restrictions for jasmine grandiflorum are sobering, but I want to clarify a few misconceptions that seem to be circulating. First, jasmine is not banned; the sambac and grandiflorum both have restrictions but can still be used within the limits. The jasmine grandiflorum limit is 0.7% in the finished product but the…
Many people want to have the informed choice whether to use products with natural oakmoss and other potential sensitizers, but to make an informed choice they need to understand the way a sensitizer works. You can use a product that contains oakmoss for years and then all of a sudden start reacting to it with…
The Now Smell This blog had a discussion yesterday about the 43rd amendment to IFRA and I made a couple comments that I thought could use further explanation. The 43rd amendment keeps the usage rate for oakmoss at 0.1%, but any oakmoss used must have atranol and chloroatranol levels of less than 100 ppm. The…
I’ve started working with the new Biolandes low-atranol oakmoss and it should be quite nice to use. I’m trying a bit of Evernyl in a new formula to see how the two work together, with both in small quantities. Evernyl, or Veramoss, is the only moss substitute I’ve tried so far that I’ve liked, though…
I just got my delivery of kilos from France with mimosa absolute, more labdanum, and a new low atranol oakmoss. Some kilos are hard to open, at least with my lousy wrists, so my kind Dad is in charge of opening evil kilo containers; I need to have him stop by to help with these….
Several things have put IFRA in my mind the last few days: a blog post I saw recently reviewing the room spray Massoia by Geodesis, an article in Perfumer & Flavorist online magazine, and the new low-atranol oakmoss now available. I’ll touch on all three briefly. Here’s a link to the article “Special Report: IFRA…