Myrcene ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is primarily a fragrance component, adding green, resinous, herbal, and citrus-like notes to perfumes and fragranced personal care. It can also appear naturally as part of essential oil blends.
What does Myrcene do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is primarily a fragrance component, adding green, resinous, herbal, and citrus-like notes to perfumes and fragranced personal care. It can also appear naturally as part of essential oil blends.
Is Myrcene clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, it has friction because it is a fragrance terpene with sensitization potential, especially after air exposure and oxidation. It may also be flagged by some standards due to fragrance disclosure policies and regional carcinogenicity-listing concerns tied to high-dose animal data.
Is Myrcene sustainable?
This material can be sourced from plant essential oils or made synthetically, so its footprint depends on feedstock and manufacturing route. It is volatile and generally expected to biodegrade, but it is also classified with aquatic-environment concerns in some regulatory systems.
Is Myrcene COSMOS-approved?
It can align with COSMOS-natural only when sourced and processed as a permitted natural fragrance material under the standard’s fragrance rules. Green Chemistry fit is mixed, with renewable sourcing possible and biodegradability favorable, but oxidation, sensitization, and aquatic classification concerns keep it from a clean green signal.
How does Myrcene work chemically?
The molecule is an acyclic monoterpene hydrocarbon with multiple double bonds, which makes it volatile, lipophilic, and prone to oxidation during storage and air exposure. In finished products it is typically present at low fragrance-use levels, and formulators manage it with airtight packaging, antioxidant support, and IFRA-style exposure limits.
Last updated 2026-05-13