Palmarosa oil
Under the IFRA Standards a rinse-off soap may hold up to 3.39 % of this oil, a limit set by its Geraniol.
IFRA maximum for soap
Restricted constituents, at the typical levels IFRA's annex gives:
- Geraniol
- 82.4 %
- Farnesol
- 1 %
- Citral
- 0.6 %
Worked out from typical levels. A supplier's certificate for your lot comes first, and its figure is the one to follow.
Check a blend against its IFRA limits and list its allergens in the fragrance and allergen calculator.
How essential oils behave in soap, and how much to use: Scenting soap.
Identity and labelling
Cymbopogon Martini Oil
- Botanical name
- Cymbopogon martini
- CAS
- 84649-81-0
- EC
- 283-461-2
The EU does not name this oil itself as an allergen to label, but some of its constituents may be: the fragrance allergen tool works them out for a recipe.
What it is and how it behaves in soap
Palmarosa oil is steam-distilled from the flowering shoots of a grass, Cymbopogon martini, grown mainly in India and Brazil (Sharma and colleagues). It is mostly geraniol and smells of rose and geranium with a light, grassy lift.
Faiola uses it at 1.8 % of the oils beside lavender, and Grosso finds it thinner than geranium; it makes a rosy middle note under lavender, cedarwood or citrus. In 1908 it was sold as East Indian geranium oil (Simmons and Appleton), and it is still used to fake rose oil (Cebi). The IFRA figure on this page is the ceiling.
Geraniol becomes a stronger sensitiser as it oxidises in air (SCCS), so keep the bottle cool, full and closed.
Recipes that use it
Sources
- CosIng, the cosmetic ingredient database: CYMBOPOGON MARTINI OIL, European Commission
- Sharma and colleagues, Modulation of growth, essential oil yield, and cytotoxic properties of Cymbopogon martinii through biostimulant application, BMC Plant Biology, BioMed Central (2026). Steam distillation of the flowering shoots; geraniol 70 to 80 %; India the leading producer, with Brazil
- Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking, Storey Publishing (2016). Palmarosa at 1.8 % of the oils with lavender
- Alicia Grosso, The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd edition, Adams Media (2013). Palmarosa: woody, rose-like, a thinner scent than geranium
- W. H. Simmons and H. A. Appleton, The Handbook of Soap Manufacture, Scott, Greenwood & Son (1908). Palmarosa, or East Indian geranium oil, distilled from a grass grown in India
- Cebi, Quantification of the geranium essential oil, palmarosa essential oil and phenylethyl alcohol in Rosa damascena essential oil using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics, Foods 10, MDPI (2021). Palmarosa oil as an adulterant of rose oil
- Opinion on fragrance allergens in cosmetic products (SCCS/1459/11), Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, European Commission (2012). Oxidation products of geraniol are potent sensitisers