What is the difference between cologne and eau de parfum ?

Everyone of us, asked himself at some point, after we bought a bottle of perfume, what is the difference between Eau de Toilette (EDT) and Eau de Perfume (EDP)? Today we will try to explain this types of perfume category and to find more informations about each one.

First of all, we should mention that there are 4 big categories : Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfume and Perfume or Extrait de Perfume.

Although we will get into details and we will give you examples for each one, shortly, the difference between all this 4 categories is the oil percentage in each one. The higher is the oil concentration that the product is in a more premium category

What is Eau de Cologne (EDC) ?

With german origins, the term “cologne” designates an oil concentration in the perfume within 2-5%. On the scale of parfume this category is on the bottom and we could say that represents the entry-level parfume. Although it should not be considered that if the product is Eau de Cologne should be very cheap. There are parfume producers that are making Eau de Cologne and those can be more exepensive that an Eau de Parfume from other producers.

We were saying that the term has german origins, but, we cand find it’s genesis in hands of an italian woman who established in Cologne – Germany. She found a recipe in 1709 which she said that bring her nostalgy and memories from her roots in Italy, but she chosed to name her product Eau de Cologne – the name of german city in which she lived.

To understand how expensive a bottle of Eau de Cologne was in that time, biographic sources confirm that those were costing as an anual salary of a civil servant. Obviously, on that time, the perfume was not something for everyone and not everyone could afford it. Also, being in permanent development almost every recipe with a fruit or aromatic smell was gorgeous, so it was often made for Royal Houses and impose respect and authority.

As we said in the beginning of the article, we should not evaluate the price of a parfume only comparing to the category in which is put by the producer. For example, Guerlain, french parfume producer, with a tradition over 180 years in making parfums, offers a bottle of Eau de Cologne du Coq at 100 ml for like 50$. We could tell you that are bottles with the concentration of Eau de Parfume which are found at this price range, although, from brands which are less known and newer on market. We will talk about the most know brands in this parfume industry on future articles.

In the end, the most important thing that we should have in mind when we buy an eau de cologne parfume type is that eau de cologne (even if it is expensive) will persist on skin less than an eau de toilette or an eau de parfume (from same category). The reason is that the oil percentage is reduced  and will evaporate faster.

In general, but not as an absolute rule, in eau de cologne are used notes of fruits and light notes, easy to obtain, as orange, mandarine, bergamota, rose, lemons etc. We shall see that for expensive eau de parfumes are used elements which are really expensive and even unknown to the regular people. As an example, ambroxan – which is maybe disgusting but in reality is whale puke and it is used for premium perfumes having a pleasant smell. You can check Dior – Sauvage.

Now maybe you ask yourself why don’t they use higher oil concentrations ? We can tell you that those are used but the perfume will belong to another category and will get more expensive. Also, a parfume won’t be possible to be made only from oils because the smell would be too extreme and will not be gorgeous anymore and it will give you headaches. This is why is combined with alchool (which has no particular smell is not strong – we reffer to pure alcohol, not whisky, rom or any other drinkable alcohol) and water.

Tipically, an eau de cologne parfume is persisting on skin somewhere to 2-3 hours, then you will smell it only if you are really close to the skin. Although, the products from high expensive producers, might pass this time interval.

What is Eau de Toilette (EDP) ?

This is probablly the most known type of parfume and you find most of them in shops. The oil concentration is bigger, in doses of 5-15%. As we see, it is a big improvement, especially if the product is using the maximum dose of 15%, being a premium product.

If in Eau de Cologne were italian (the producer) and german (the place) factors, at Eau de Toilette we have hungarian origins. Queen Elisabeth of Hungary made an interesting mixture, originally called Eau de la Reine de Hongrie, which has the primordial note of rosemary.

We mention that parfume (any type) can be made of any ingredient (in parfumery niche we refer at those as notes. Example : note of rosmery, note or ambroxan, note of vetiver etc).

This type is recommended as a daily-driver, and as a general rule, those are not very strong and they don't persist more than 6-12 hours. Obviously, there are eau de toilette products, called monster types, which are persisting even more and have very strong notes. We can say that there are parfumery products which may stand out from their category, even if the producer said that product is a certain type of parfume (for example a eau de cologne could stand out and the smeller could think it is an eau de toilette).

One thing we would like to mention is that on internet you will find a lot of wrong informations as an eau de toilette could last for 3 hours. This is not true and there are eau de toilette products which could last till 12 hours (as an example check Ted Lapidus Pour Homme). The difference is the way the product is evolving, as in the first 2-3 hours the product may have a very powerful projection and sillage  and after this will calm down, but it will not dissapear! After a few hours the parfume will closer to the skin and it will be smelled only when you are really close to the person who wears it, as an example when you kiss him/her.

In Eau de Toilette there can be used any notes and, as a general rule, you will find more expensive notes than in Eau de Cologne. For example, we can find Eau de Toilette with notes of santal wood or casmir. Also, in Eau de Toilette you can find more combined notes than in Eau de Cologne. As an example, Van Cleef&Arpels Pour Homme has an roughly 27 notes. Obviously, all this notes can’t be smelled by a regular person, which is not trained to find all o those. We must say that the gorgeous smell of a parfume is not given by a particular note but by all of them combined in a very elegant way.

What is Eau de Parfume (EDP) ?

We are getting into premium concentration, where essential oil parfume is found in doses of 15-20%, combined with alchool and water.

Eau de Parfume is distinguished of the other categories as being more presistent, with a better sillage and a bigger projection. In other words, if you see a person who enter in a room and right away the room is flooded with a new smell, you may belive that person is using an eau de parfume. But, this is just an example to illustrate that Eau de Parfume has bigger quantity of essential oils than the previous two categories, but, there can be notes (even in Eau de Cologne) that are really powerful and persistent, which will attract your attention, even if that person is wearing an Eau de Cologne and not an Eau de Parfume.

Having a higher oil concentration, Eau de Parfume, in general, will persist a long time on skin, even more than 12 hours. If you spray on clothes (careful, having oil stains might appear) it will persist even long because the skin will not absorb it and there is no PH.

As we mentioned for previous categories, there are tons of informations which are not true, which are saying that Eau de Parfume could last for only 5 hours. If you have genuine Eau de Parfume not a fake one, this will last longer than this. We could say that the Eau de Parfume might have a powerfull projection for 5 hours, but, will persist on the person who wears it, for sure more than 5 hours.

The informations might be wrong because the articles are written by persons who are not using, in general, parfumes and are not testing (and we say testing we mean testing conditions as different skin PH or different seasons) but are only documenting and are validating any information they read.

The prices of an Eau de Parfume are much higher than for an Eau de Cologne or Eau de Toilette. As an example, an Eau de Parfume made by Creed House, can reach 500$ for a 100 ml bottle – you can check Creed Aventus for Men. This is because you reach to a bigger parfume concentration and at a higher production cost, but also because you can find more rafinate notes as patchouli (but this dosen’t mean that you could not find this note in Eau de Toilette – but it can mean that this note is more natural and original, where in an Eau de Toilette you could find this as being syntethic and not smelling natural).

What is Parfume?

This is the product being the most premium type having a concentration of oil parfume to 20-40%. The specialist considered that this is the maximum dose till which you could add oil parfume because higher than this could cause you to hate the smell and also headeaches and nausia.

Because it has so much oil into recipe, this makes this parfume less watery and very oily and you will find usually in small bottles of 7.5 and 30ml. Maybe you heared that strong essences are contained in small bottles.

We cannot add much to this category, the biggest difference is the oil concentration which is really high and makes it very expensive. This way the Perfume or Extrait de Perfume can last even more than 24 hours on skin.

Although,  you should ask yourself if you would like to wear a parfume that is so powerful and so hard to get rid of. Keep in mind that this type of parfume can last on your skin even if you take a shower.

Although are sold in small bottles, the price is very expensive and this is way usually general people are not buying. (You could say that this is for very rich people which are spending money after a liftime of hard work.) The houses whith tradition in making parfumes are still make this type of product, companies like Dior, Hermes, Guerlain etc

A few conclusions

Parfumes are something which can make us really happy and bring a lot of memories to us. We can smell something and suddenly remember a unique moment to us.

If you want to buy a parfume but you are not willing to spend a lot of money on it, you should go for an Eau de Toilette. If you want to get something richer, to smell richer, you should chose Eau de Parfume. As a general rule, we do not recommend Eau de Cologne or Extrait de Perfume. We will also write a list with top 10 parfumes wich you need to smell in your life.

As a final mention we want to add that if you read the entire article, you will find out that some doses of concentration might intercalate. This is because some producers might create an Eau de Toilette weaker than an Eau de Cologne made by another producer.