The Composition of Fragrance
Perfume oils, or the "juice" of fragrance composition, are diluted with a suitable solvent to make the perfume more usable.
This is done because undiluted oils either natural or synthetic contain high concentrations of volatile components that will likely result in allergic reactions and possibly injury when applied directly to skin or clothing.
Dilutions of the fragrance oil can be done using solvents such as jojoba, fractionated coconut oil, and wax.
The most common solvents for fragrance oil dilution is ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and water.
The percent of perfume oil by volume in a perfume is listed as follows:
It should be noted that different perfumeries or perfume houses assign different amounts of oils to each of their fragrances.
As such, although the oil concentration of a fragrance in eau de parfum (EDP) dilution will necessarily be higher than the same fragrance in eau de toilette (EDT) form, the same trends may not necessarily apply to different perfume compositions with different perfume houses.
To further complicate things, some fragrances with the same product name but having a different concentration name may not only differ in their formulas, but actually use different perfume oil mixtures altogether.
For instance, in order to make the EDT version of a fragrance brighter and fresher than its EDP, the EDT oil may be modified to contain slightly more top notes or less base notes.
In some cases, words such as "extreme" or "concentrate" appended to fragrance names might indicate completely different fragrances that relate only because of a similar fragrance content.
This is done because undiluted oils either natural or synthetic contain high concentrations of volatile components that will likely result in allergic reactions and possibly injury when applied directly to skin or clothing.
Dilutions of the fragrance oil can be done using solvents such as jojoba, fractionated coconut oil, and wax.
The most common solvents for fragrance oil dilution is ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and water.
The percent of perfume oil by volume in a perfume is listed as follows:
- Eau de parfum (EDP) : 10-30% Fragrance compounds
- Eau de toilette (EDT) : 5-20% Fragrance compounds
- Eau de cologne (EDC) : 2-3% Fragrance compounds.
It should be noted that different perfumeries or perfume houses assign different amounts of oils to each of their fragrances.
As such, although the oil concentration of a fragrance in eau de parfum (EDP) dilution will necessarily be higher than the same fragrance in eau de toilette (EDT) form, the same trends may not necessarily apply to different perfume compositions with different perfume houses.
To further complicate things, some fragrances with the same product name but having a different concentration name may not only differ in their formulas, but actually use different perfume oil mixtures altogether.
For instance, in order to make the EDT version of a fragrance brighter and fresher than its EDP, the EDT oil may be modified to contain slightly more top notes or less base notes.
In some cases, words such as "extreme" or "concentrate" appended to fragrance names might indicate completely different fragrances that relate only because of a similar fragrance content.