 An aromatic aura around you is created by the perfume you use and the way you wear it. What impression do you make – challenge or intimacy, openness or mystery, how long does it last? All this depends directly on the fragrance and the type of aromatic product you used: Parfum or Eau Toilette, Eau de Parfum or Spray Cologne. All these kinds of aromatic products consist mainly of aromatic compound, alcohol and water and differ by proportions. Sometimes a small amount of colouring agents and antioxidants is added, but they don’t change the scent.
The most concentrated and intensive are substances called Parfum in the French manner or Perfume in the English manner, another somewhat obsolete name is Extrait. They are produced in small bottles, usually 7 or 15 ml (1/4 oz. or 1/2 oz. in the USA). Percentage of the aromatic compound here is 20 to 30%. Parfum is the most expensive kind of aromatic liquid, it is sold in refined packaging and exclusive bottle. Mixture of perfume oils often includes high percentage of the most expensive natural floral essences, which are partly present in other kinds of products in the form of artificial substitutes. Parfum is the best of the gifts, a symbol of advantage and the leader of the perfume series.
 Eau de Parfum holds a second place by concentration. Percentage of perfume oils here is 15 to 25%. Some manufacturers use another term Parfum de Toilette or, like Dior, Esprit de Parfum (lightly concentrated perfume, spirit or sense of perfume). Rochas house offers not only Eau de Parfum but also Eau de Parfum Intense. Eau de Parfum and all its variants are an optimum choice for a woman, who is used to wearing perfume and for whom perfume strength, longevity and volatility are important.
Then there is Eau de Toilette, where the percentage of perfume oils is usually 10 to 20% (6-12% in perfumes for men). Thanks to a decreased percentage of aromatic compounds, Eau de Toilette fragrance is more discreet and light if compared to Eau de Parfum and Parfum.
Name Åàu de Cologne (cologne) can be read on bottles with aromatic liquids for men mostly and it denotes the same as Eau de Toilette. Occasionally this name is used to denote perfumes for women and then it is the lightest fragrance of perfume.
 Perfumes produced in the USA are often named as Cologne. In these cases this name usually means concentration 12 to 25% and corresponds to the French Eau de Parfum or Eau de Toilette.
It is worth mentioning that in most cases After Shave Lotion is shortened to After Shave. Here concentration of perfume oils is very low - 2 to 4%.
All these kinds of perfume products are applied to skin with your hand. But most of them are also manufactured in another form – with a sprayer. You can guess it by additional marking: Spray, Natural Spray, Atomiseur, Vaporisateur. Spray denotes aerosol: a bottle is filled with dilution under pressure, using gas. It you press a cap, perfume will get spraying out in tiniest drops. Perfume is sprayed very thoroughly. And another advantage is almost unlimited shelf life, since the substance inside the bottle is protected against oxygen exposure.
Natural Spray – that’s what is written on bottles with spray dispenser. This perfume does not contain any gas, spraying is done with the help of a cap itself working as a pump, but the drops produced are not so small. If you can remove the dispenser that means you are using a Natural Spray. Inside one and the same product series, perfumes with higher concentration have a higher intensity and longevity. However it does not mean that when used they have an intensive and lasting fragrance. After all we wear different perfumes differently.
Whether we want it or not, but we wear expensive perfume - Parfum in a small bottle – in much smaller quantity than Eau de Parfum or Eau de Toilette in a large bottle with a wide neck. And a Spray asks to be used generously! Women preferring intensive fragrances usually buy not a Parfum, but a Spray Cologne or Eau de Parfum, Vaporisateur and Atomiseur. |
