I've compiled a list of some of the common aroma chemicals used for creating fragrances in soaps, creams, balms and aftershaves. If you have known allergies/reactions from any of these, you can look at scent profiles before doing blind buys and have an educated guess if the product will contain an irritant for your skin.
Benzaldehyde - Sweet cherry, almond, marzipan.
Sylvamber - Woody, Floral, Ambergris. Smooth, woody, amber with unique aspects giving a ''velvet'' like sensation. Used to impart fullness and subtle strength to fragrances. Superb floralizer found in the majority of newer fine fragrances and also useful in soaps. Richer in the desirable gamma isomer than isocyclemone.
Ethyl Maltol - Sweet sugary, caramelised, jammy, strawberry-like odour reminiscent of candyfloss.
Ethyl Vanillin - Sweet, creamy, vanilla, with a root berry salicylate-like nuance.
Cashmeran - Musk-like, spicy, floral, fruity, rich, musty Solvent. Diffusive, spicy, musk-like odor with strong floral reinforcement. Powdery, velvet nuance. Long lasting. Aromatic, apple, earthy, woody, red fruit, pine.
Calone - Marine moss ozone floral heliotrope melon green fresh. This unusual odorant has intense ozone and marine notes with floral overtones. The ingredient is very trendy and has been widely used since the 1990’s. The ingredient is the basis of several perfumes.
Hedione (methyl dihydrojasmonate) - Sweet, fruity, floral, citrus lemon and grapefruit-like with woody jasmine and green nuances. Diffusive, powerful, floral, jasmine. Used primarily in jasmine fragrances.
Dihydromyrcenol - Fresh citrus floral bergamot lime. Powerful fresh Lime-like overall citrusyfloral and sweet. Blends with citrus-notes. Green Irish Tweed, Aspen, Drakkar Noir and Cool Water are based on this.
ISO E Super - Woody dry ambergris cedar old wood ketonic phenolic. Woody, Floral, Ambergris. Smooth, woody, amber with unique aspects giving a ''velvet'' like sensation. Used to impart fullness and subtle strength to fragrances. Superb floralizer found in the majority of newer fine fragrances and also useful in soaps.
Ambroxan - Ambergris old paper sweet labdanum dry. Ambery, Woody, Tobacco, Dry Ambrofix is a highly powerful,highly substantive and highly stable ambery note for use in all applications. Ambrofix is the most suitable material for obtaining an authentic ambergris note.
Ambrocenide - Woody amber agarwood. Extremely powerful woody-ambery note.
Coumarin - Sweet, stinging, coconut note. Sweet, hay, tonka, new-mown-hay. Arctander describes it as “Sweet, herbaceous-warm, somewhat spicy odor, in extreme dilution more haylike, nut- Iike, tobacco-like… Extensively used in perfumery to support herbaccous odors, Lavender, Lavandin, Rosemary, Citrus oils, Oakmoss, etc., and as a fixative in numerous types of fragrances; Almost a standard ingredient in Fougère types with Amylsalicylate and Lavender-notes, with or without Oakmoss.”
Linalool - Citrus, orange, floral, terpy, waxy and rose. Fresh, floral-woody, sweet, citrus. Arctander writes extensively about linalool: “Linalool is used very extensively in perfume compositions of almost all types and price levels. Basically a floral material, and originally a Lily-of-the V alley (Muguet) ingredient, it is now used in countless floral types, and in Oriental, Ambre, aldehydic, herbaceous and many other fragrance types. It may even form part of a Citrus fragrance or a woody complex, a Lily, Muguet, Honeysuckle, Lilac, Sweet Pea, NeroIi, Appleblossom, Frangipanni, Freesia, Peony, etc. etc. … Linalool should be the ingredient that gives the lift in an overall heavier composition.
Citronellol (dihydrogeraniol) - Floral, rosy, sweet, citrus with green fatty terpene nuances. A fresh, clean, floral (rose). Widely used as a clean, rose note in fine fragrances.
Cinnamal (cinnamaldehyde) - Cassia, cinnamon, cinnamon bark and red hots. Spicy sweet aromatic aldehydic honey cinnamyl resinous.
Geraniol - Very high quality rose/lemon. A widely used rose and geranium note. Floral, sweet, rosey, fruity and citronella-like with a citrus nuance.
Ethyl Fenchol - Earthy ground rooty damp musty camphor. A powerful earthy, ambergris odor with a patchouli topnote. Powerful and diffusive ambery earthy odor with undertones of patchouli and oakmoss. Blends extremely well with oriental compositions.
Oud Synth - Oud, woody vetiver sweet balsamic animal earthy amber smoky. Tenacious. Fixative. Odor: Woody, Balsamic Use: A reconstitution of agarwood oil. Intensely woody, reminiscent of vetyver, with sweet balsamic undertones.
Benzaldehyde - Sweet cherry, almond, marzipan.
Sylvamber - Woody, Floral, Ambergris. Smooth, woody, amber with unique aspects giving a ''velvet'' like sensation. Used to impart fullness and subtle strength to fragrances. Superb floralizer found in the majority of newer fine fragrances and also useful in soaps. Richer in the desirable gamma isomer than isocyclemone.
Ethyl Maltol - Sweet sugary, caramelised, jammy, strawberry-like odour reminiscent of candyfloss.
Ethyl Vanillin - Sweet, creamy, vanilla, with a root berry salicylate-like nuance.
Cashmeran - Musk-like, spicy, floral, fruity, rich, musty Solvent. Diffusive, spicy, musk-like odor with strong floral reinforcement. Powdery, velvet nuance. Long lasting. Aromatic, apple, earthy, woody, red fruit, pine.
Calone - Marine moss ozone floral heliotrope melon green fresh. This unusual odorant has intense ozone and marine notes with floral overtones. The ingredient is very trendy and has been widely used since the 1990’s. The ingredient is the basis of several perfumes.
Hedione (methyl dihydrojasmonate) - Sweet, fruity, floral, citrus lemon and grapefruit-like with woody jasmine and green nuances. Diffusive, powerful, floral, jasmine. Used primarily in jasmine fragrances.
Dihydromyrcenol - Fresh citrus floral bergamot lime. Powerful fresh Lime-like overall citrusyfloral and sweet. Blends with citrus-notes. Green Irish Tweed, Aspen, Drakkar Noir and Cool Water are based on this.
ISO E Super - Woody dry ambergris cedar old wood ketonic phenolic. Woody, Floral, Ambergris. Smooth, woody, amber with unique aspects giving a ''velvet'' like sensation. Used to impart fullness and subtle strength to fragrances. Superb floralizer found in the majority of newer fine fragrances and also useful in soaps.
Ambroxan - Ambergris old paper sweet labdanum dry. Ambery, Woody, Tobacco, Dry Ambrofix is a highly powerful,highly substantive and highly stable ambery note for use in all applications. Ambrofix is the most suitable material for obtaining an authentic ambergris note.
Ambrocenide - Woody amber agarwood. Extremely powerful woody-ambery note.
Coumarin - Sweet, stinging, coconut note. Sweet, hay, tonka, new-mown-hay. Arctander describes it as “Sweet, herbaceous-warm, somewhat spicy odor, in extreme dilution more haylike, nut- Iike, tobacco-like… Extensively used in perfumery to support herbaccous odors, Lavender, Lavandin, Rosemary, Citrus oils, Oakmoss, etc., and as a fixative in numerous types of fragrances; Almost a standard ingredient in Fougère types with Amylsalicylate and Lavender-notes, with or without Oakmoss.”
Linalool - Citrus, orange, floral, terpy, waxy and rose. Fresh, floral-woody, sweet, citrus. Arctander writes extensively about linalool: “Linalool is used very extensively in perfume compositions of almost all types and price levels. Basically a floral material, and originally a Lily-of-the V alley (Muguet) ingredient, it is now used in countless floral types, and in Oriental, Ambre, aldehydic, herbaceous and many other fragrance types. It may even form part of a Citrus fragrance or a woody complex, a Lily, Muguet, Honeysuckle, Lilac, Sweet Pea, NeroIi, Appleblossom, Frangipanni, Freesia, Peony, etc. etc. … Linalool should be the ingredient that gives the lift in an overall heavier composition.
Citronellol (dihydrogeraniol) - Floral, rosy, sweet, citrus with green fatty terpene nuances. A fresh, clean, floral (rose). Widely used as a clean, rose note in fine fragrances.
Cinnamal (cinnamaldehyde) - Cassia, cinnamon, cinnamon bark and red hots. Spicy sweet aromatic aldehydic honey cinnamyl resinous.
Geraniol - Very high quality rose/lemon. A widely used rose and geranium note. Floral, sweet, rosey, fruity and citronella-like with a citrus nuance.
Ethyl Fenchol - Earthy ground rooty damp musty camphor. A powerful earthy, ambergris odor with a patchouli topnote. Powerful and diffusive ambery earthy odor with undertones of patchouli and oakmoss. Blends extremely well with oriental compositions.
Oud Synth - Oud, woody vetiver sweet balsamic animal earthy amber smoky. Tenacious. Fixative. Odor: Woody, Balsamic Use: A reconstitution of agarwood oil. Intensely woody, reminiscent of vetyver, with sweet balsamic undertones.
