Safety & CLP labelling

Home fragrance products contain chemicals. Even when they're sold as "natural" or "essential oil based", the concentrated fragrance oils used in wax melts, room sprays, and carpet fresh contain compounds that can trigger allergic reactions, irritate skin, and (in some cases) cause more serious harm if mishandled.

UK and EU law requires every home fragrance product sold to a consumer to carry CLP-compliant labelling — a standardised hazard panel showing exactly what's in the product, what risks it carries, and how to handle it safely. This page explains what CLP is, why it matters, and how we apply it.

What CLP stands for

CLP = Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures. It's the regulation that standardises how chemical hazards are communicated on consumer products, derived from the UN's Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of chemical labelling. In the UK, CLP is enforced under retained EU law — broadly mirroring the EU's CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008.

The CLP label on a product tells you:

• The supplier identification — name and contact details of whoever is responsible for putting the product on the market.
• The product identifier — name and (where required) batch number.
• Hazard pictograms. The orange-and-white diamond-shaped icons indicating the type of hazard (flammable, harmful, irritant, etc.).
• Signal words — either "Warning" or "Danger" depending on severity.
• Hazard statements — short standardised sentences (e.g., "May cause an allergic skin reaction").
• Precautionary statements — what to do (or not do) to handle the product safely.
• Allergen disclosure, for fragrance products specifically, a list of any of the 26 EU-regulated fragrance allergens present above the disclosure threshold.

Why it matters for wax melts

Three reasons:

• Legal sale. A wax melt without CLP labelling is, strictly speaking, not legally sellable in the UK or EU. Authorities can require recall or removal from listings (Etsy, Amazon, and major UK marketplaces enforce CLP requirements on home fragrance sellers).
• Allergic reactions. The 26 regulated fragrance allergens include compounds like linalool, limonene, citronellol, and geraniol — found in almost every floral and citrus fragrance oil. Buyers with allergies or asthma need to know which are in a product they're considering. Without CLP labelling, they can't.
• Pets and children. Wax melts and carpet fresh products can cause harm if ingested by pets (cats especially are sensitive to certain essential oils) or accessed by small children. The CLP precautionary statements warn against this clearly.

What our labels look like

Every wax melt clamshell and every carpet fresh tub from us carries a full CLP-compliant label including:

• Our supplier name, address, and contact details
• The exact fragrance name and net weight
• The batch number, so we can trace any single melt back to its production batch
• The hazard pictogram (typically the exclamation mark for "irritant" — wax melts are generally not flammable when used as directed, but the concentrated fragrance oil concentrate has handling hazards before pouring)
• The signal word ("Warning")
• Full hazard and precautionary statements
• The full allergen disclosure for that specific fragrance

Labels are larger than the aesthetically-optimal size for the product. That's deliberate. We'd rather a label look slightly busier than leave out information you need.

What we do behind the scenes

• Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for every fragrance oil. Our oil suppliers provide SDS documents specifying the hazard profile and allergen content. We file these for every batch.
• CLP calculations. The hazard classification depends on the concentration of fragrance oil in the finished product. We calculate this per recipe rather than assuming.
• Batch records. Every batch has a record showing the oils used, percentages, pour date, and labelling generated.
• Insurance. Public and product liability insurance with a UK underwriter, conditional on CLP compliance.

For other makers — a note

If you're starting a UK home-fragrance business and you've found this page while researching CLP, a few practical notes:

• Calculate CLP per-recipe, not per-product line. The same scent at 6% fragrance load and 10% load will have different hazard classifications.
• Use a UK-registered CLP calculator service (there are a few. We use one but won't link them here to avoid recommending one we haven't been paid by). Don't try to do the maths yourself unless you have a chemistry background.
• Public and product liability insurance is non-negotiable once you sell to anyone outside your immediate family. Brokers familiar with the candle/melt industry can quote competitively.
• Etsy and Amazon will require evidence of CLP compliance on any listing review.

The cost of doing this properly is small. The cost of not doing it (recalled stock, refused insurance claims, regulatory fines) is real.