Ethylvanillin

Note Profile

Molecule

Drag to turn On Note Island

About

Ethylvanillin is the sweeter, stronger cousin of vanillin. It reads as confectionery vanilla with a clear chocolate and caramel edge, and without the woody pod character vanillin keeps.

Scent Profile

Ethylvanillin smells like a sweeter, more confectionery vanilla than plain vanillin, intense and sugary rather than woody. A powdery warmth runs alongside the sweetness. A clear chocolate and caramel edge sets it apart from vanillin, and a light creamy note runs through it, though thinner and more one-dimensional than a true dairy note. It carries none of the balsamic wood that vanillin keeps.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~30h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Floral

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

WorldSee it in Note Island

ScentArt

What is ScentArt?

Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can use this material directly to make Ethylvanillin.

Ethylvanillin 3-ethoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde vanilla · creamy · vanillin

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use this material, or something else.

Origin

Ethylvanillin, CAS 121-32-4, is a separate molecule from vanillin, CAS 121-33-5. It is not a stronger grade of the same material. It is made synthetically and does not occur in the vanilla pod. Fraterworks puts it at 'about four times stronger than regular vanillin but it has a slightly more transparent effect' and 'less inclined to bulk up or thicken a scent'. Premiere Peau states that 'vanilla experts and perfumers can reliably distinguish ethylvanillin from vanillin in blind testing'.

Usage in Perfumery

Measured 2026-08-30: 3 Fragrantica placements, filed under natural and synthetic materials, and none on Parfumo. Use it where a gourmand needs vanilla sweetness with reach and without weight. Its strength means it is dosed far below vanillin.