I have been using fragrance products since 2000, but perfumery via fragrance oils is a new found interest for me. I started bookmarking links to websites of vendors. While researching on YouTube, I came across videos on Rawaromachem’s channel and decided to explore their offerings.

Rawaromachem claims that their fragrance oils are IFRA compliant.  They do not provide any relevant documentation of fragrance oils on their website. You need to get in touch with their support team to obtain the documents.

In my case, they contacted me. I obtained the IFRA certificates and MSDS for LV Afternoon Swim and LV Imagination fragrance oils (both Identical grade).

From the outset, there were major red flags in their documentation.

Copy-pasted IFRA certificates

The numbers in IFRA certificates for both the fragrance oils were the same across all the categories. This is not practically feasible in real world that the IFRA limits for two different fragrances having different scent profiles and hence chemical compositions are exactly the same, down to the second decimal place across all categories.

Empty section 3 on MSDS

The MSDS for both the fragrance oils had no ingredient mentioned in section 3 citing that the fragrance oil is a mixture of fragrance ingredients and that it does not contain hazardous components above reportable limits.

Despite the documentation issues, I purchased the oils to evaluate performance. I created perfumes at a 22% concentration per their issued IFRA certificates with 80% perfumer’s alcohol and allowed it to mature for around 15 days.

Performance result

The opening notes were off and longevity was missing. I understand, that the fragrance oils that I have bought have citrus heavy notes and hence, will not last long, but having them disappear in 15 minutes is indicates severe quality or dilution issues.

Further requests

To conclusively prove to myself their questionable documentation, I asked them to furnish the documentation for LV Pacific Chill, Ralph Lauren Polo Sport and Dior Homme 2005. I was told that they would require a bulk order to furnish the documentation in entirety, although they offered the documentation of a single fragrance oil. I preferred LV Pacific Chill.

The same story repeated.

Same IFRA numbers as the previous fragrance oils across all the categories.

The MSDS of Pacific Chill fragrance oil did list the ingredients with Di Propylene Glycol (DPG) as the majority constituent with a concentration of 22%. DPG in this concentration is basically a dilutant.

I have asked pertinent questions to their support team and founder and await their response.

I am posting this here so other formulators and hobbyists can evaluate technical documentation critically before buying. Has anyone else requested SDS/IFRA sheets from them and noticed duplicate data?