Eau de toilette vs. Eau de parfum: what’s the difference?

Are you also often perplexed by the multiple names of perfumes ? There is sometimes reason to wonder if the result did not come from a competition of linguists: “Name this bottle ten different ways. You have three hours”.

And yet, at the start, it was simple! There was :

1. Eau de toilette: this was the basic model, sold in a bottle with a spray bottle and it was with this that we perfumed ourselves “every day”.
2. The perfume: it was much more intense, sold in a small bottle that cost an arm's length, and you were supposed to religiously place 2 or 3 drops of this elixir on your neck and only put it on for "special occasions - mostly in the evening special occasions."

In short, we knew where we were going, but the path was very marked, and certain brands said to themselves that it could still be interesting to explore territories located between these two extremes.

This is how eau de toilette and perfume had a little baby , and called it... eau de parfum ! Until then, we still follow: eau de parfum is more concentrated than eau de toilette, and less than perfume . Little by little, eau de parfum dethroned its parents and became the most common name...

BUT THAT WAS BEFORE

Because now it's more like this:

“Hello, do you have Love is in the Air ?

"Yes, of course, which one? Eau fraîche, eau de toilette, eau de parfum, spirit of perfume, extract of perfume, veil of perfume, perfume, perfume of toilet ? (fortunately rarer, because there, still, you had to dare...).

We won't give you a recipe to get there, because there really isn't one!

Under these different names, we find variations - sometimes small, but sometimes radical - around an original olfactory theme. Their main use is of a commercial nature: to liven up the range, to make it evolve over time according to the presumed expectations of consumers, to occupy space on the shelves (if you are curious, we explain it to you through this article how mainstream perfumery has evolved in recent years). This is a bit in the same way as flankers, like Miss Dior, Miss Dior Chérie, Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, etc. do.

Moreover, this example is not cited randomly, because the variations of names around Miss Dior, the original version of which is legendary, have pushed more than one perfume saleswoman to resign! You should know that on average, a perfume identified as a "brand pillar" is now available 6 times... It is also a good way for brands to increase their margins: very often, we reuse the same bottle , the same muse, etc. to sell several variations of the same fragrance, which means lowering costs .

At Bastille, we like simplicity. We only offer you one version of each of our creations: eau de parfum , each concentration of which we have worked on so that it is perfect, depending on the different ingredients present in each of our fragrances.

Simple is Better!

Photo: unknown.
Source: Les Echos