Castoreum

At a glance

Castoreum in modern perfumery is a synthetic material built to reproduce the warm, leathery animalic note once sourced from beaver castor glands.

Origin

Synthesized in laboratories; historically derived from beaver glands, now rarely used

Extraction

Chemical synthesis

Profile

Warm, leathery, slightly smoky animalic scent

IFRA status

Regulated, category-dependent IFRA limits typical of synthetic animalics

Cost tier

Medium