Perfumery Jargon

When you are choosing a perfume for yourself or your friends, you often come across terms like EDP, EDT, base notes on the package description. Do you know what do these terms mean? These are specific terms used to describe the characteristic of perfumes. Knowing the meaning of these terms help you decide which perfume to buy!

What is a perfume? A perfume is a bottle of liquid which is composed of 15 to 30 percent of parfum and alcohol as the remaining. Parfum is the essence that gives the scent of a perfume. Scent of a perfume may last for a whole day but generally it lasts for around 5 to 7 hours. Parfum is the most expensive component of a bottle of perfume and you spend most of your money on that.

Sometimes, you see Eau De Parfum or the abbreviation EDP when purchasing your perfume. This type of perfume contains 10 to 15 percent of parfum and over 80 percent of alcohol. The scent usually lasts for around 5 hours. The price is slightly above average.

The other similar perfumery term is EDT which stands for Eau de toilette. This type of perfume contains only 5 to 10 percent of parfum. As the parfum percentage is lower, its scent lasts for only 3 hours. Compared to EDP, EDT perfume has a lighter scent and more choices of scent. It is suitable for day time wear. The price is average and slightly lower than EDP.

Top notes are the scents that you first and immediately perceive upon application of a perfume. This quick perception is achieved by the small and light perfume molecules that evaporate quickly. Top note is the scent that gives you the first impression at the selling point but such scent does not last for a long time.

Middle note is the heart of a perfume and it emerges when the top note dissipates. The scents of middle notes are stable and last for around 4 hours. Whether a perfume attracts you or not depends mostly on this middle note.

Base notes are the last stage meaning it is the scent of base note is the slowest to be detected. But, they are rich, deep and last for the longest hours. Base notes are important to bring out the scents of middle notes. Common base notes are plant derived woods and animal derived musk.