Original data on allergens in cosmetics
We analyze the ingredient labels of every product in the AllerNote catalog against a dermatologist-informed contact-allergen database — and publish what we find. Real counts from real labels, recomputed weekly. Free to cite with attribution.
Based on 4,442 products with parsed ingredient labels in the AllerNote catalog, as of 2026-07-16.
Reports & datasets
The EU fragrance-allergen shake-up, measured
Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 makes ~80 fragrance allergens individually declarable. We measured how many of 4,442 real products are affected — and how many labels still say only “Parfum”.
Allergen prevalence in cosmetics
How often each of the 113 allergens in our database appears across the catalog, by product category.
What people actually scan
Aggregate data from products AllerNote users checked in the real world — the shelf, not the catalog.
Sunscreen report card
726 products · 13.1% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Moisturizer report card
601 products · 17.3% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Cleanser report card
468 products · 21.6% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Serum report card
380 products · 12.1% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Body Lotion report card
201 products · 24.4% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Makeup Remover report card
181 products · 12.2% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
Day Moisturizer report card
157 products · 33.8% contain an EU-declarable fragrance allergen
From the AllerNote community
Community data comes from a small sample — 45 registered users with saved allergen profiles and 246 anonymous scans. Shown for transparency; not representative of the general population.
Most common allergens among our users
- Fragrance Mix I — 7 of 45 users
- Nickel Sulfate — 6 of 45 users
- Hydroxycitronellal — 5 of 45 users
- Fragrance Mix II — 5 of 45 users
- Isoeugenol — 5 of 45 users
- Cinnamic Alcohol — 5 of 45 users
- Eugenol — 5 of 45 users
- 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate — 5 of 45 users
Fragrance mixes and nickel topping the list mirrors what dermatology patch-test clinics report worldwide — small sample, familiar pattern.
Most-flagged ingredients in anonymous scans
- Fragrance — flagged 81×
- Lye / Caustic Soda — flagged 39×
- Linalool — flagged 37×
- Limonene — flagged 33×
- Phenoxyethanol — flagged 31×
- Citronellol — flagged 23×
- Benzyl Alcohol — flagged 21×
- SLES — flagged 21×
Methodology & limitations
- What we analyze: the parsed INCI ingredient list of every active product in the AllerNote catalog. Ingredient names are normalized (lowercased, trimmed) and matched against our curated allergen database — including INCI names, synonyms, component allergens, and local-language names — and against the 81 declarable entries of Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 (with parenthetical botanical variants, e.g. “Cananga Odorata (Ylang Ylang) Flower Oil”).
- Prevalence counting: each allergen is counted at most once per product, no matter how many of its synonyms appear on the label.
- What this is not: ingredient labels don't disclose concentrations, so presence ≠ risk for any individual. These are label-data statistics, not safety verdicts, and not compliance claims about any brand — EU sell-through for existing stock runs to July 31, 2028.
- Freshness: every number on these pages carries its computation date and sample size. Aggregates are recomputed weekly.
- Citation: free to reuse with attribution and a link — “Source: AllerNote Research (allernote.com/research)”. CSV downloads are on each report.