Perfume: Concentrations Explained, and How to Buy Without Smelling It First

The labelling looks precise, but it is a convention

Terms like eau de toilette and eau de parfum suggest a fixed, regulated percentage of fragrance compound, and buying guides often quote exact ranges for each. In practice, these terms describe a traditional concentration band that most perfume houses follow, rather than a legally defined percentage enforced the way, for example, alcohol content on a drinks label is. A brand is not required to disclose the exact concentration of its own formula, so the terms are best read as a reliable rough guide to strength and longevity rather than an exact figure. A voucher code or coupon code narrows the price difference between concentrations, but it does not change what the label is actually telling you.

The main concentration terms, in order of strength

• Parfum, or extrait de parfum: the most concentrated common form, typically the longest lasting and the most expensive per bottle, though often applied more sparingly and in smaller bottle sizes as a result.
• Eau de parfum (EDP): a strong, widely sold concentration, usually lasting through most of a day on skin, and the most common format for higher-end fragrances.
• Eau de toilette (EDT): lighter than EDP, generally needing reapplication after several hours, and often priced lower for a comparable bottle size.
• Eau de cologne (EDC): lighter again, associated historically with citrus-led, refreshing formulas rather than heavier compositions.
• Eau fraiche: the lightest common category, with the smallest proportion of fragrance compound diluted mostly in water rather than alcohol.

Two bottles labelled eau de parfum from different houses can still differ noticeably in strength and how long they last, since the category describes a band, not a fixed formula, and the specific blend of aromatic compounds affects perceived strength as much as the stated concentration does.

Buying a scent you cannot smell first

Judging a fragrance from a listing alone is genuinely harder than judging most other products, since scent is not something a description or a photograph can convey directly. A few habits make it more reliable. Checking the fragrance family or main notes, commonly grouped into categories such as citrus, floral, woody, oriental or amber, and fougere, gives a rough sense of character before considering the specific blend. Reading reviews for consistent, repeated descriptions, rather than a single glowing or critical one, filters out an individual reaction that may not generalise. Ordering a small sample or discovery size first, where a retailer offers one, is a lower-risk way to test a fragrance on actual skin before committing to a full bottle, since the same fragrance can smell different depending on individual skin chemistry, and a description that matches someone else's experience will not necessarily match the buyer's own.

Batch codes and how they matter for perfume

Perfume bottles carry a batch code similar to other cosmetics, and while a fixed expiry date is uncommon for perfume, since alcohol-based fragrance is relatively stable, the composition does change over time, particularly with exposure to light and heat, and top notes, often citrus or light floral elements, tend to fade first, leaving a fragrance that smells different, and usually heavier or flatter, years after opening. A batch code does not give a readable date on its own in most cases, but a very old-looking batch code, or a liquid that has visibly darkened compared to how the fragrance is normally described, is worth treating with some caution when buying second hand or from an unfamiliar seller.

Authenticity and where to buy

Perfume is a category where counterfeit and grey-market stock circulates more than in many others, given how easily a bottle and box can be replicated compared to verifying the liquid inside. Buying from an established retailer, and checking that a listing's price is not dramatically below the range seen elsewhere for the same bottle size, is a reasonable safeguard, since an unusually steep price on a well-known fragrance is one of the more reliable signs something is wrong with the listing, independent of any discount code applied on top.

Comparing retailers once a fragrance is chosen

Once a fragrance family and concentration are decided, comparing bottle sizes and prices across retailers, and checking for a current code, is a reasonable next step. We check codes across 527 shops in 22 countries several times a day, with no account or cookies required, and current listings for perfume and beauty retailers sit under Health & Beauty for UK-based shops or the matching US category for a US-based retailer.