Citronella Essential Oil
Citronella Essential Oil has a fresh, lemony, grassy aroma with a bright herbal sharpness and a clean green character. Known for its refreshing and outdoor-inspired profile, it’s ideal for diffusers, candles, soaps, and personal care products where a crisp, functional, naturally vibrant citrus-herbal note is desired. This oil brings energy, clarity, and a clean botanical lift to formulations, especially when paired with citrus oils, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, cedarwood, or other green aromatic materials.
Ambiance: Fresh / Green / Lemony / Energizing
Please note
This is a pure, undiluted essential oil designed for crafting end products such as candles, diffusers, soaps, bath products, and other personal care items. Essential oils are highly concentrated and should not be applied directly to the skin without proper dilution in a carrier oil. All our essential oils are measured in grams, not milliliters. Bottle fill levels may vary due to differences in oil density, which affects volume.
For specific usage limits, please refer to the Citronella Essential Oil IFRA guidelines or consult the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) included in the “Related Documents” tab.
Olfactive Profile
- Note classification: Top to middle note
- Scent family: Citrus / Green / Herbal / Grassy
Citronella Essential Oil has a bright, fresh, lemony-green profile with grassy, herbal, and slightly rosy nuances. It feels sharper and more functional than lemongrass, greener than lemon, and more aromatic than sweet orange. Its character is crisp, clean, and immediately recognisable, making it especially useful in fresh, outdoor, botanical, herbal, and cleansing compositions.
The opening is lively, citrusy, and green, while the drydown becomes more herbal, slightly floral, and lightly woody. Compared to softer citrus oils, citronella feels more direct and assertive, making it valuable when a formula needs a strong natural freshness, a clean green lift, or a sharper aromatic edge.
Technical Data & IFRA limits
- Product type: 100% pure essential oil
- Botanical name: Cymbopogon Winterianu
- CAS number: 91771-61-8
- EC number: 294-954-7
- Plant part: Herb
- Extraction method: Steam Distillation
- Oil type: Java Citronella Oil
- Flashpoint: 94°C
- Density: 0.88–0.895 g/cm³ at 20°C
- Main natural constituents: Rich in geraniol, citronellol, limonene, geranyl acetate, eugenol, citral, isoeugenol, and related citrus-herbal aromatic constituents. Exact composition may vary by batch.
IFRA Maximum Usage Levels
- Candles: 82.50%
- Diffusers: 0.78%
- Perfumes: 1.09%
- Soaps: 2.13%
For full category-specific limits, refer to the Citronella Essential Oil IFRA certificate available in the “Related Documents” tab.
Formulation & Creative Uses
Citronella Essential Oil works as a bright green citrus-herbal modifier. It adds freshness, clarity, and functional cleanliness to a formula, helping compositions feel more energetic, crisp, and outdoor-inspired. It can support citrus oils, herbs, lavender, eucalyptus, woods, mints, and green accords while giving the final blend a sharper and more natural aromatic lift.
Common applications
- Diffusers: Useful for fresh, green, outdoor, herbal, cleansing, and energizing blends, always within IFRA limits.
- Candles & wax melts: Adds a recognisable citrus-herbal freshness, especially in outdoor, patio, summer, herbal, and clean botanical compositions.
- Soaps: Brings strong green citrus freshness, with testing required for scent retention and process stability.
- Bath & body products: Suitable when used within IFRA limits and proper dilution guidelines.
- Perfumery: Useful in citrus-herbal accords, green colognes, aromatic blends, natural freshness effects, outdoor-inspired compositions, and functional botanical structures.
Creative directions
Use Citronella Essential Oil when a formula needs a sharp green lift, a clean herbal freshness, or a more functional outdoor character. It works especially well in blends that feel too sweet, heavy, soft, floral, or dull, helping the composition become brighter, crisper, and more immediately refreshing.
For outdoor and summer-inspired blends, combine citronella with lemon, lime, eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, cedarwood, or pine to create a clean, open-air effect. For spa and herbal directions, use it with lavender, tea tree, basil, clary sage, or geranium to soften its sharper edges while keeping the formula fresh and botanical. For candles and wax melts, it can be paired with citrus oils, green notes, woods, and light musks to create crisp patio, garden, and summer evening compositions.
Citronella is also useful in cleansing, herbal, green citrus, aromatic, and functional freshness blends. Because it is strong, sharp, and highly recognisable, it can dominate a formula if overdosed. It performs best when balanced with softer citrus oils, florals, woods, herbs, or musky materials that round out its assertive lemony-green character.
Storage & Natural Variations
Citronella Essential Oil is classified as harmful if swallowed, causing serious eye damage, sensitising, hazardous if swallowed and enters the airways, and toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Always follow the IFRA guidance and SDS for the intended product category. The final safety assessment, dilution level, labeling, and regulatory compliance remain the responsibility of the manufacturer.
Essential oils are natural aromatic materials, and slight variations in scent, colour, density, and appearance may occur from batch to batch. These differences are normal and can be influenced by harvest conditions, climate, origin, plant material, and natural compositional variation.
Scent perception may also vary depending on individual sensitivity, dilution level, formulation base, and application method. Essential oils may not smell exactly the same in the bottle as they do in a finished product. We strongly recommend testing a 10g bottle before committing to larger quantities, especially for commercial production.
To preserve quality, store tightly sealed in the original container, away from heat, light, air, and moisture. Store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place, keep away from ignition sources, and avoid release into drains, surface water, or the environment.
Order processing times
Standard lead time is 1-2 business days. Processing times may be longer during peak holiday seasons—please plan accordingly.
Bulk Orders
For larger quantities, we offer bulk production starting from 5kg per fragrance code, with a 10% discount per kilogram. Customers who need more than 5kgs per scent, can contact us to arrange a proforma invoice. Bulk orders are produced in multipliers of 5 (5kg, 10kg, 15kg, etc.) and lead times vary depending on fragrance and time of the year, usually within the range of 3 to 8 weeks.
Why Choose Perfumedom
⚡ Swift Response Times
With a 97% stock uptime and our efficient order fulfillment system, your fragrance oils are delivered promptly, ensuring you meet your production timelines.
⭐ Consistent Performance
Our fragrance oils are sourced from established European manufacturers and designed for professional use, offering consistency and performance in every batch.
🛡️ Commitment to Safety
Every fragrance in our assortment is supported by up-to-date SDS, IFRA, and CLP guidance, and manufactured strictly only with REACH regulated substances.
Packaging note: 10g testers are supplied in PET bottles for affordable evaluation and are not intended for long-term archival storage. Production sizes from 50g upwards are supplied in premium aluminium bottles for improved long-term protection. Read more
Sander Sepp (verified owner) –
Fresh citrus scent, great for repelling insects. Highly effective, slightly strong for me.
Biljarica (verified owner) –
great oil