Before talking about concentration let's understand which elements a perfume is made of. Speaking
of vintage perfumery we can distinguish 3 elements that are always present, except in one case that contains
2
1) The base concentrate: a mixture of pure raw materials (essential oils, natural absolutes and in some cases fatty acids); 2)
Alcohol:
the base concentrate is diluted in alcohol to facilitate diffusion. the percentage of
dilution of the concentrate in alcohol. There are no regulations in this regard, so the concentrations vary according to the brand and according to the fragrances. o The perfume extract,
that
is the maximum concentration of a perfume also called essence or extract, with a percentage of raw materials that varies between 15 and 30% diluted in alcohol. The extract does not contain water. 3) Water: here is the
third
element, which is added in variable proportions to obtain more or less concentrated perfumes.When the perfume is sprayed, the
water and alcohol evaporate and leave only the fragrant essences on the skin. CLASSIFICATION: - Extract (or
PARFUM)
-
has
a percentage of essences between 15 and 30% .- Perfume water (or EAU DE PARFUM) has a
percentage of essences between 10 and 15% .- Bath water (or EAU DE TOILETTE) - its percentage varies between 98
and 10%. - Eau de Cologne (or EAU DE COLOGNE) - has a percentage of essences between 5
and 8 As already anticipated, these figures must be taken with a grain of salt since each brand can use different
standards and therefore find us with an EDT of the X brand being more concentrated than a EDP of the brand Y. In general it is a good example. LET'S RECAP: PARFUM% essential oils =
15-30% alcohol in water = 90 EAU
DE
PARFUM%
essential
oils
= 10-15% alcohol in
water = 80-90 EAU DE TOILETTE%
essential
oils = 8-10%
alcohol in water =
80-90 EAU DE COLOGNE% essential oils
=
5-8% alcohol in
water = 70 USE:
EDT (eau de toilette) with its
weakest
concentration, is often
favored during the summer,
or for one day use. However,
with
the
eau de toilette, you will have to re-perfume several times during the day. The EDP (eau de parfum) with its concentration and its duration are suitable for use in the daily or in
the
evening. It can be sprayed on the neck, or on clothes (take special care as they could stain light-colored clothes). PARFUM (EXTRAIT) this concentration is recommended especially on special occasions, you will surely be noticed and remembered for
a
long time. They are also recommended for collectors, as they are the concentration that deteriorates more slowly due to the passage of time, provided of course it is stored correctly, but we will discuss conservation in one of the next articles. In the images below some examples Now we know everything about
perfume
concentrations and we are ready
to
carefully choose our next strictly vintage fragrance. Have you already taken a look at our offers on the shop? Leave a comment to let me know if you liked this article
or
for suggestions and ideas for the next.
