Ingredients · Musks · dry-down

Galaxolide

Say itguh-LAK-suh-lyde

Clean, sweet floral-woody musk with a fresh-laundry, slightly berry-milky softness.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab, first made by IFF in 1965.

When you smell it

Dry-down: hours later.

What perfumers do with it

Workhorse musk for volume and tenacity; often the largest single ingredient in modern fragrances and detergents.

Worth knowing

Its fresh-laundry smell feels familiar because it has been a leading musk in detergents and softeners for decades.

Rules

Limited. IFRA use limits; EU reviewing it as a reproductive toxicant.

Also called

HHCB; hexamethylindanopyran

On the label of 36 of the 232 perfumes read so far

Good GirlCarolina Herrera · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”Side EffectInitio · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”Absolute AphrodisiacInitio · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”Lift Me UpInitio · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”RehabInitio · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”Blessed BarakaInitio · printed “Hexamethylindanopyran”

See all 36