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Ph

Phenethyl Alcohol

Phenethyl Alcohol · Phenylethyl Alcohol

A rose-scented alcohol found in flowers. It helps the preservatives keep a product from spoiling and adds a soft scent.

What it does

It fights microbes a little, so it helps the preservatives keep a product from spoiling, and it adds a soft floral scent. It occurs naturally in roses and other flowers. It’s there to protect the formula and add scent, not to change your skin.

The EU’s ingredient database lists it as a fragrance (adds scent).European Commission, CosIng (© European Union, CC BY 4.0) · uses put in plain words by Drop ↗

The evidence, graded

expert consensusUS safety reviewers (1990) judged phenethyl alcohol safe in cosmetics at up to 1%. Products use it as a fragrance and a preservative. In studies on people it caused neither irritation nor allergy, though in rabbits 1% or more irritated the eyes. They kept the 1% limit in a review published in 2008, and said raising it would need new data.Cosmetic 1990 · Journal of the American College of Toxicology ↗

Graded per the methodology: strong · moderate · emerging · expert consensus. A weak source on a strong claim gets the weaker label.

Also known as

2-phenylethanol

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