Reading a perfume label: ingredients, allergens, batch codes, symbols

A perfume label tells you who answers for the product, what is in it, which batch it came from and, sometimes, how long it keeps once opened. On a bottle made for the European Union, those details come from Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, a text that counts perfumes, toilet waters and eau de Cologne as cosmetics.

Labels made for the US or Canada follow other rules, and one difference shows up in a single word: fragrance. Under the EU rules, two things never have to appear: the detail of the fragrance formula and a percentage of perfume oil.

What must a perfume label show in the EU?

Article 19 lists the details a cosmetic sold in the EU must carry on its container and packaging, in indelible, easily legible lettering. Some only apply in certain cases, and the ingredient list may appear on the packaging alone.

Detail	Article 19(1)	What it tells you
Name or registered name and address of the responsible person	Point (a)	Who answers for the product; imported products add the country of origin.
Nominal content, by weight or volume	Point (b)	How much went in at packing; not required under 5 g or 5 ml, or on free samples.
Date of minimum durability	Point (c)	Until when the product, properly stored, does its job; for products that keep 30 months or less.
Period after opening	Point (c)	For products that keep longer than 30 months: an open jar and a period, unless the idea is not relevant.
Particular precautions	Point (d)	Warnings required for certain substances.
Batch number or product reference	Point (e)	The production run; on the packaging only if the bottle is too small.
Function	Point (f)	What it is for, unless its presentation makes that clear.
Ingredients, preceded by the word "ingredients"	Point (g)	What is inside, in a set order.

So keep the box: it may be the only place the ingredient list appears. Language follows its own rule. Contents, dates, precautions and function are written in the language each member state sets, while the ingredient list uses the common names of an EU glossary, which is why the same perfume carries the same ingredient list in Dublin and in Lisbon.

How do you read the ingredient list on a perfume?

An ingredient list reads from top to bottom, heaviest first. Article 19 asks for the "descending order of weight of the ingredients at the time they are added", and anything under 1 % may follow in any order. Since a perfume is mostly solvent, typically ethanol or ethanol and water according to Wikipedia's "Perfume" article, alcohol normally heads the list.

The names come from the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, whose rules date from 1973 and are set by the US Personal Care Products Council, formerly the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association. That is why water appears as Aqua and fragrance as Parfum. An INCI name only identifies an ingredient: it does not, by itself, mean the ingredient is approved or safe in a given country.

A perfume list may also include colorants and antioxidants. Wikipedia's "Perfume" article says many perfumes contain both, the first for looks and the second for shelf life.

What does "parfum" hide, and which allergens get named?

"Parfum" stands for the whole fragrance composition and its raw materials: Article 19 requires that term, or "aroma", instead of the formula. Some substances must be named as well, when they exceed 0.001 % in a leave-on product such as a perfume or 0.01 % in a rinse-off product.

Those substances are fragrance allergens. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 on labelling fragrance allergens notes that 24 already had to be named, and adds 56 more identified by the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety. It also says who the list is for: people already sensitised, so they can avoid the substance they react to. Products that do not meet the new rules could be placed on the EU market until 31 July 2026 and can be made available until 31 July 2028, so two bottles on the same shelf may carry lists of different lengths for a while. The Class on allergens and IFRA goes further.

Several materials the club knows from their note pages now appear by name. Here is what to look for, spelt the way the regulations spell it.

Material	Name to look for	Text that requires it
Bergamot	Citrus Aurantium Bergamia Peel Oil	Regulation 2023/1545
Lemon	Citrus Limon Peel Oil	Regulation 2023/1545
Rose	Rose Flower Oil/Extract	Regulation 2023/1545
Jasmine	Jasmine Oil/Extract	Regulation 2023/1545
Lavender	Lavandula Oil/ Extract	Regulation 2023/1545
Sandalwood	Santalum Album Oil	Regulation 2023/1545
Vanillin	Vanillin	Regulation 2023/1545
Coumarin	Coumarin	Regulation of 2009, Annex III
Oakmoss	Evernia prunastri extract	Regulation of 2009, Annex III
Limonene and linalool	Limonene, Linalool	Regulation of 2009, Annex III

Do perfume labels in the US and Canada say the same thing?

No: in the US, a fragrance can still be listed as a single word. The FDA's page on fragrances in cosmetics explains that under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, fragrance ingredients may be listed simply as "Fragrance", because that law cannot be used to force a company to reveal trade secrets. The FDA's page on the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 lists fragrance allergen labelling among the rules the agency is required to establish.

Canada has moved towards the European list. Health Canada's industry guide to the labelling of cosmetics requires 24 fragrance allergens to be disclosed from 12 April 2026, then the longer list for new products from 1 August 2026 and for existing ones from 1 August 2028, with the same thresholds. It accepts "parfum" on its own or with "fragrance", but not "fragrance" alone.

Where is the batch code on a perfume, and what is it for?

The batch code identifies the production run your bottle came from. Article 19 asks for "the batch number of manufacture or the reference for identifying the cosmetic product", and allows it on the packaging alone when the product is too small. Look under the bottle, engraved or printed, and on the flaps of the box.

Nothing in the text says the code must show a date: it is an ID, not a birthday. It earns its keep when something goes wrong, because it lets you name the exact bottle.

What do the open jar and the ℮ mean on a perfume box?

The open jar and the ℮ answer different questions. The open jar, followed by a period in months or years, is the EU's period-after-opening symbol: how long the product stays safe once opened, required on products that keep more than 30 months unless the idea is not relevant. A spray may carry none, for reasons the Class on storing fragrance explains, along with what actually spoils a bottle.

The ℮ next to the volume is not about freshness. Wikipedia's article on the estimated sign explains that it declares the prepackage meets EU Directive 76/211/EEC on tolerances for package contents, and that the same mark is used on prepackages in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.

Eau de parfum or eau de toilette: what does the concentration tell you?

The concentration on the box tells you where a version sits within its own range, not a guaranteed percentage. Article 19 does not make it a required detail, and Wikipedia's "Perfume" article calls the terms quite imprecise: an eau de toilette from one house may hold more aromatic compounds than an eau de parfum from another, and two concentrations sharing a name can be different formulas. Mademoiselle Bulle ran a whole piece on those differences, label included. The figures and their limits are in the Class on fragrance concentrations.

Exercise: an ID card for one bottle

This exercise teaches you to read a label one detail at a time, with a fragrance whose box you kept and, if you have one, an older bottle. Nothing goes on your skin.

1. On a sheet of paper, copy out for each bottle the name and address of the responsible person, and the country of origin if there is one.
2. Note the contents, whether the ℮ is there, and the concentration, then where each one sits: on the bottle, on the box, or on both.
3. Find the batch code under the bottle and on the box flaps, and copy it exactly as written.
4. Note anything about shelf life: a date, an open jar with a period, or nothing at all; check whether the bottle is a spray.
5. In the ingredient list, circle the first ingredient and "parfum" or "fragrance". If you have two bottles, compare what follows that word on each.

A list does not tell you how much of a material is present beyond its rank, and two bottles of different ages may not follow the same rules: that is the limit of the exercise. Share your most surprising ID card in the Learning to Smell circle.