Decoding a cosmetic label
Coralie Frébourg
INCI, allergens, PAO, batch number… Deciphering a label has never been fun. No need to take two days off work: we'll walk you through it all, with a perfume label as our example.
What is labeling for?
All products on the market, whether food, fashion, cosmetics…, carry labeling to ensure their traceability.
Consumer safety is at the heart of all product development. An unlabeled product? Run.
What information is mandatory on a perfume?
Here's an example with our Extrait de parfum Gueule de Bois:
- Product name: Gueule de Bois
- Product description: Extrait de parfum
- Volume: 15ml
- Country of manufacture: made in France
- The responsible person and their address: Sensatile SAS, Paris
- EAN code: the barcode used to identify the product in stores and at retailers.
- Batch number: it indicates the day the product was packaged. If a problem arises, the entire batch must be withdrawn from the market.
- Ingredient list (INCI): the catch-all list! Ingredients are listed in decreasing order of quantity. First usually comes the solvent (alcohol, water or oil), then the word PARFUM (the formula is never disclosed because it can't be patented: brands only share olfactory pyramids so they don't get copied). Finally, the allergens, which must be listed from 0.001% of the formula for a leave-on product.
- Period of use: if the product has a shelf life of more than 30 months, a PAO (period after opening) is shown: the little open jar followed by a number of months.
Our PAO is 6 months: our products have a shelf life of more than 30 months from manufacture and remain good for 6 months after first use.
Pictograms and marketing claims
- You may also find pictograms: flammable, recyclable, Triman, "refer to the leaflet" (if the bottle is too small, the information can appear on the box).
- The cruelty-free claim (not tested on animals) is mostly a marketing argument: since 2013, selling cosmetics tested on animals has been banned in the European Union.
All this information must be printed legibly, indelibly and visibly.
At Versatile, we go further
Our labels follow all these rules, but we wanted to go beyond them: every formula is published in full on its product page, with the origin of the ingredients, the share of naturals and synthetics, and the allergens. See for yourself with Culot Thé or Dimanche Flemme.
Labels no longer hold any secrets for you: you can finally choose your products with peace of mind. To dig deeper, read our article No more fragwashing on naturals and synthetics.
Photo: Versatile Paris
