Ingredients · Florals · dry-down

Benzyl salicylate

Say itBEN-zil suh-LIS-uh-layt

Very faint, soft balsamic-floral with a sunny, slightly carnation-like sweetness.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab.

Where it comes from

also occurs naturally in ylang-ylang oil

When you smell it

Dry-down: hours later.

What perfumers do with it

Soft floralizer and fixative used in large doses; blends patchouli, eugenol and florals into the 'Mellis' accord.

Worth knowing

Many people cannot smell it at all, yet still notice what it does to a fragrance's texture.

Known in

Coco (Chanel, 1984); Poison (Dior, 1985)

Rules

Limited. IFRA limits since 49th Amendment (2020); EU-labelled allergen

Also called

Benzyl 2-hydroxybenzoate

On the label of 91 of the 232 perfumes read so far

No. 5Chanel · printed “Benzyl salicylate”MitsoukoGuerlain · printed “Benzyl salicylate”AngelMugler · printed “Benzyl salicylate”Acqua di GiòArmani · printed “Benzyl salicylate”Good GirlCarolina Herrera · printed “Benzyl salicylate”LibreYSL · printed “Benzyl salicylate”

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