Ethylvanillin

Note Profile

Molecule

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

Sweet_vanillic is almost the whole note. Premiere Peau calls it 'intense, creamy vanilla, sweeter and more confectionery than vanillin', and all three suppliers lead with sweetness. Powdery comes from the same source's 'powdery-warm quality' and is echoed by Perfume Extract's descriptor list, 'Sweet, Vanilla, Vanillin, Powdery, Chocolate, Powerful'. Coffee_cacao is the facet that separates this molecule from vanillin, and two independent suppliers name it: Fraterworks reports 'chocolatey and caramel nuances' and Perfume Extract calls it 'slightly more chocolaty' than vanillin. Lactonic carries the word creamy, which two sources use. It is set below vanillin's own 0.45 because Premiere Peau describes ethylvanillin as 'purer and more one-dimensional' and Fraterworks as more transparent. Amber_resinous is zero, and that is a stated absence rather than an assumed one: the woody-balsamic pod quality is exactly what Premiere Peau says vanillin keeps and ethylvanillin does not.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~30h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Floral

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

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.