Parfum versus Toilette, Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette. What do these strange and sometimes gross sound words have to do with your perfume or cologne?
Before dropping your hard-earned cash for a perfume or cologne you’re going to want to know a little something about fragrances in general. As an example, what the heck does eau de toilette mean?
Before we head out to buy a car or new TV, we’re going to want to learn a little about the terms used in those industries.
The same holds true with a fragrance purchase which could set you back any from $25.00 to $300.00.
Before heading to the counter at your local large mall anchor store you will want to know how to determine how strong a scent you’re buying is based on three little words.
You will want to know the best way to determine what works for you and how to wear it for the best results. My fragrance 101 is meant to give you a basic understanding of what’s going on in that expensive bottle of oils, alcohol, and water.
The first thing we’ll want to know is how strong the scent in that bottle we’re looking at, this is known as the concentration. Scent concentration is the amount of good stuff that makes your potential perfume or cologne smells great as opposed to the other stuff used to fill up the bottle.
Fragrance compounds are usually diluted with alcohol or water. The percentage of actual perfume compounds versus the dilution solution (I rhymed). The more scent oils, the more expensive the fragrance will be.
The three most common scent concentrations from high to low are:
Parfum/Perfume-This is the daddy (or momma) of concentrations. A fragrance with a Parfum concentration may contain anywhere from 20% to 40% essential or fragrance oils suspended in some type of solvent.
This concentration is intended to keep the Base Notes going a long time and is more expensive than the other concentrations. Parfum concentrations generally don’t come in spray form. These are presented in a bottle intended to prompt you to dab on the scent.
Eau de Parfum/Perfume (EDP)-This concentration is the most common and popular fragrance concentration out here. EDP contains anywhere from 7% to 14% essential or fragrance oils along with the solvent or alcohol. This scent will lose 70% of its punch after a few hours but will hang with you for a while. This is a good cost-effective alternative to cologne with Parfum concentration.
Eau de Toilette (EDT)-EDT is another popular fragrance concentration. This concentration only contains from 1% to 3% essential or fragrance oils. The rest is alcohol or water meaning this spray-on concentration will evaporate fairly quickly taking the scent along with it.
The biggest complaint with this concentration is the scent just doesn’t seem to last very long.
Fragrance Notes
After settling on a concentration, I picked up a bottle of. The One by Dolce & Gabbana. My first thought was “this smells good on me, I need to get out and try it on the world and women at large.” So I headed to the shooting range (yes, there are ladies at the shooting range).
The longer the scent stayed on me, the more whiffs I took, I came to think there was more to this than my nose knew. My first thought was this cologne was a single scent only to discover the cologne seemed to change slightly over time
I noticed the initial blast of fragrance when I sprayed it on. Later I noticed a new layer of scent coming on the scene and finally, after a few hours or so, the scent matured.
Top Notes are the first blast of fragrance that comes when you spray on perfume or cologne. Cologne makers know this is made or break time when it comes to selling a cologne. This is the first thing you smell when applying perfume or cologne. Depending on the concentration this blast can last from a few moments to a half hour.
Middle Notes -are called by some the heart of the scent, these scents startup as the tops wisps away. They aren’t as strong as the top aromas but they are noticeable.
Base Notes are the finale of the symphony. When these appear we finally discover the theme of the cologne. These base scents bring the cologne or perfume together.
The scents used in the base are usually deeper rich scents than the first two rounds of aroma. Depending on the cologne or perfume, the base can appear around a half-hour after squirting on the cologne.
With my understanding of fragrance notes, I had to find out what made up the scent, Dolce & Gabbana The One. Here’s what I found:
- Top Notes-Grapefruit, Coriander, and Basil
- Middle Notes-Cardamom, Ginger, and Orange Blossom
- Base Notes-Cedar Wood, Ambergris, and Tobacco
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