Perfume Basics: Perfume Concentrations

Have you ever been to a perfume shop and seen that the fragrance you are looking for comes in various perfume concentrations? You are not the only one.

If that wasn't confusing enough, sometimes perfumes that come in Eau de Parfum (EdP) concentration smell completely different from their Eau de Toilette (EdT) or Extrait de Parfum (ExP) counterpart.

However, learning the difference between these strengths and concentrations can make your shopping experience a little better.

The terms refer to the oil concentration of the raw material that affects the longevity and projection of the perfume. Although EdP may have more perfume oils than EdT, it is not uncommon to find that EdT projects better than EdP.

This is because the perfume performs better when less perfume oil is diluted in alcohol within the fragrance bottle.

These are the most commonly used fragrance concentrations:

- Parfum or Extrait de Parfum 20-40%

- Eau de Parfum 10-20%

- Eau de Toilette 5-15%

- Eau de Cologne 3-5%

- Eau Fraiche 1-3%

Now, you might be wondering if the different strengths really matter. Well, that depends on a couple of factors such as how strong you want your perfume to be, your lifestyle, your hobbies, among others. For example, a pure Parfum (Extrait) is long-lasting and its scent can be very heavy, so it would not be recommended for daily wear in the office.

Otherwise, as the proportion of the perfume essence increases, it is common to see its price increase as well, which is an important aspect to consider depending on your budget.

Nowadays, the most popular concentration is Eau de Parfum, and sometimes it is the highest concentration in which some perfumes can be found. However, Eau de Toilette is very common as it is used to generate more affordable variants of more expensive perfumes.

Among the fragrance concentrations, there is also the so-called Esprit de Parfum (EsdP), which has a concentration of between 15% and 30%. This variant is rare nowadays, however, it is known for being the concentration of Dior's famous "Poison" in the 80s.

Eau Fraiche, on the other hand, unlike the other concentrations in which its proportion between essence and alcohol varies, is a fragrance with 1% to 3% and the rest is mainly water.

In the image, you can see more clearly how the proportions of the fragrance are distributed and based on that, their approximate duration.

Conclusion

We hope that with this article you have been able to understand the differences between perfume intensities so that you can make an optimal decision the next time you are looking for a fragrance.