IFF has launched Aquascent, a vegan water-based fragrance carrier that holds fragrance loads from 10% to 25%, the company announced this week.

The proprietary formulation, developed by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), targets fine fragrance applications where alcohol-based carriers have historically dominated the category. IFF built Aquascent from biodegradable materials and engineered it to deliver two outcomes the supplier says matter to perfumers and to brand owners: enhanced olfactive performance and visual clarity in the bottle.

For fine fragrance houses weighing reformulation away from ethanol, those two attributes — projection on skin and a clear juice on the shelf — have been the recurring technical objections to water-based carriers. Aquascent is positioned as a direct answer to both.

What does Aquascent change for formulators?

The headline figure is the upper fragrance-load ceiling: 25%. IFF describes the carrier as supporting a load range of 10% to 25%, positioning the lower end for lighter eau-style compositions and the upper end for extrait-tier concentrations.

That 25% ceiling matters because most incumbent water-based carriers cap fragrance concentrations in the low teens. An upper bound at 25% effectively opens the door to extrait and strong-parfum formats that previously required alcohol as the solvent.

Formulation implications R&D teams should weigh:

• Skin feel: water-based systems feel less drying than ethanol-heavy carriers, a benefit that has driven parallel demand in adjacent categories such as post-shave care and skinified fragrance formats.
• Stability work: aqueous matrices typically require additional preservation and solubilization, so teams adopting Aquascent will need to validate the full preservative system under EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009 for the European market and FDA labeling rules for the US.
• Visual clarity: IFF calls out clarity as a deliverable, indicating the carrier solubilizes fragrance compounds without the haze that has historically affected water-based systems — a specific pain point in clear-bottle fine fragrance.

How do the label claims read for compliance?

IFF positions Aquascent on three label-relevant attributes: vegan, water-based, and built from biodegradable materials. Each claim carries a different documentation requirement for marketing and regulatory teams preparing product files.

• "Vegan" requires the absence of animal-derived ingredients throughout the formulation chain, including processing aids supplied upstream; IFF will need to back any third-party vegan certification with full supply-chain documentation.
• "Biodegradable" is a regulated claim in the EU under the Green Claims Directive framework, so brands adopting the carrier must verify which specific test method — typically the OECD 301 series — IFF has applied to substantiate the claim.
• "Water-based" is not a regulated descriptor in most jurisdictions, but it signals a clear formulation position to consumers and to procurement teams benchmarking footprint against ethanol-derived carriers, which carry a heavier agricultural and processing burden.

What is the supply picture for procurement?

IFF has not disclosed pricing tiers, regional availability, or minimum order quantities. Procurement teams evaluating the carrier should focus on three immediate data requests:

• Confirm availability across IFF's fragrance compounding footprint, which spans North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and identify which sites will compound Aquascent-loaded fragrances at commercial volumes.
• Request technical data sheets covering compatibility with common fragrance raw materials, particularly the citrus, aldehyde, and lactone families that have historically shown stability issues in aqueous systems.
• Benchmark reformulation cost against ethanol pricing, which has remained elevated relative to the 2019-2020 baseline and remains a key driver of carrier-substitution economics.

What to watch next

The data points worth tracking: IFF's first commercial customer disclosures once the carrier moves into mass production, any patent filings tied to the proprietary carrier chemistry, and stability results comparing Aquascent-loaded formulations against alcohol-based controls at both accelerated (40°C/75% RH) and real-time storage conditions. Given the 10% to 25% load range IFF has publicly disclosed, performance at the 25% ceiling — where solubilization pressure on the matrix is highest — will be the most informative test for fine fragrance houses weighing a full reformulation cycle.