Perfume Dilution Classes
What Are Perfume Dilution Classes?
Perfume-dilution classes, also known as perfume-concentration classes or perfume concentrations, are categories based on the amount of pure perfume oils in a fragrance.
The more perfume oil in a fragrance, the more potent the scent; it’s generally longer lasting too. The non-perfume-oil portion of a fragrance is called the solvent.
Solvent
The solvent is the portion of a perfume that isn’t perfume oil. The most commonly used solvent is denatured alcohol, otherwise known as ethanol.
Perfumes can be made without ethanol. Non-alcoholic perfumes use a carrier oil as the solvent in place of ethanol. Oils like sweet almond, wheat germ, jojoba, avacado, and coconut are commonly used as solvents in perfumes.
Solvents are used because undiluted perfume oil, or essential oils, can cause damage to skin. Also, some perfume oils smell horrible until they’re properly diluted.
The solvent helps disperse the fragrance once it’s warmed by human skin.
Solute
“Solute” is the term perfumers use to refer to perfume oil, also known as essential oils or aromatic oils; aromatic meaning fragrant. The solute can be a single perfume oil like rose oil, for example, or it can be a mixture of aromatic oils designed to create a single scent or note.
Perfume Notes
In perfumery, “note” is used to mean a single scent like the scent of a rose. Note is sometimes confused with accord. For example, the “amber accord” is a well-known component in oriental perfumes, but it’s not the scent of a single thing.
The amber accord is made by combining 3 notes or scents: vanilla, musky animalics, and resins, which are aromatic saps taken from trees. More notes can be added to the amber accord, but these 3 make up the basic and familiar amber accord.
Just to make this more confusing…
Notes can also refer to the combination of scents that make up the body of a fragrance. In this case, “notes” is always preceded by a descriptor: top or opening notes, heart or middle notes, and base or bottom notes.
- Top Notes are the first scents smelled in a fragrance. These are often citrus notes because citrus scents are typically punchy but don’t have much longevity. The first whiff of a perfume will often convey some kind of citrus and/or a delicate floral.
- Heart Notes make up the middle notes of a fragrance. When the top notes begin to fade, the heart notes emerge. Heart notes are used to soften the base notes.
- Base Notes have the greatest longevity and are the most potent notes in a fragrance. These are the notes you smell once your perfume has settled down. Base notes can be overwhelming or even offensive on their own and require milder, more pleasant-smelling notes to soften them.
Perfume Dilution Classes
The percentage of perfume oil in a dilution class is a range, not a definitive number. As you can see in the list below, some of the ranges overlap.
- Parfum/Perfume/Extract/Extrait – 15% – 40% perfume oil
- Esprit de Parfum – 15% – 30% This is a rarely used dilution class.
- Eau de Parfum/Parfum de Toilette 10% – 20%
- Eau de Toilette 5% – 15%
- Eau de Cologne/Cologne 3% – 8%
- Eau Fraiche 3% or less. This class includes aftershave, splashes, and mists.
Advertising And Perfume-Dilution Classes
It’s worth noting that in some countries, specifically the United States, the terms “cologne” and “perfume” are used for marketing purposes and don’t reflect a fragrance’s actual perfume-dilution class.
Perfumes are marketed to women, and colognes are marketed to men. A fragrance’s actual dilution class may, or may not, be listed on the perfume bottle or the box the bottle was packaged in.
