Mace Oil

What Mace Oil smells like

Mace oil, from the red aril around the nutmeg seed, is described by The Good Scents Company as nutmeg-like, sweet, spicy, aromatic, peppery and woody, with nut-skin, mastic and incense notes; a CO2 mace extract reads fresh, spicy, warm and balsamic. Beside nutmeg oil it is usually described as sweeter and more peppery. The FAO warns that the literature often does not distinguish the two oils. Fraterworks describes a warm, sweet-spicy, aromatic oil with a rich balsamic undertone and a quality approaching incense, sweeter and more refined than nutmeg, used for warm sweet-spicy depth in fougères, colognes and oriental compositions.

Leading note

Sweet nutmeg-spice

Supporting facets

Peppery, woody

Faint facets

Incense, mastic, nut skin

Character

Warm, sweet, rounded

• spicy
• warm
• sweet
• woody

What makes Mace Oil distinctive

Nutmeg's sweeter twin: more peppery and balsamic, with a faint incense-like note.

Where the descriptions disagree: The literature often does not distinguish nutmeg oil from mace oil.

How Mace Oil is used

Used in spicy, oriental and woody compositions and in flavours.

Typical role: modifier (used in small amounts to change the character of a blend).

How Mace Oil differs from similar materials

Nutmeg Oil*

Nutmeg oil is lighter and more terpenic; mace oil is described as sweeter and more peppery, with incense and nut-skin notes. (compared directly by a cited source)

An asterisk marks a difference that a cited source states directly. The others compare the published descriptions of each material. Smell varies with grade, supplier and dilution; compare them side by side on blotters before substituting one for another.

Formulation considerations

Contains myristicin and safrole in small amounts; check the IFRA position for your product category.

Identity and classification

Type

Essential oil

Origin

Natural

Odour family

Spicy / Woody

Note position

Heart note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Botanical source

Myristica fragrans

CAS number

8007-12-3

The CAS number was checked on 19 October 2026 against a PubChem substance record that gives it for this material. A natural material is a mixture, so it has no single formula; its composition varies with origin and processing.

Safety and compliance

This page is general information, not a safety assessment or a specification. Confirm identity, composition, IFRA status and allergen content from your supplier's documents for the lot you hold.

Materials it works with

• Nutmeg Oil

  Essential oil · Spicy / Woody — spicy, warm, woody, sweet

• Black Pepper Oil

  Essential oil · Spicy / Woody — peppery, spicy, woody, fresh

• Cardamom Oil

  Essential oil · Spicy / Aromatic — spicy, aromatic, fresh, eucalyptus

• Clove Bud Oil

  Essential oil · Spicy / Floral — clove, spicy, warm, sweet

Mace Oil is also suggested as a partner on the pages for Nutmeg CO2 Extract.

Used in formulas and accords

Not currently used in any published formula.

The Formula & Accord Library lists Mace Oil here as soon as a published formula, accord or base uses it.

Further reading

• Spicy Notes in Perfumery: Warm and Fresh Spices

  Warm and fresh spice materials, their key constituents, why cinnamon and clove are closely restricted, and how to build warmth within the limits.

Questions about Mace Oil

Sources

• PubChem — substance 135335805, checked 19 October 2026.
• The Good Scents Company — nutmeg flavour category (mace oil) — odour database.
• FAO — Composition and constituents of nutmeg and mace — published literature.
• Fraterworks — Mace Oil — distributor's description.
• Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 26 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.