Eau de Toilette vs Eau de Parfum vs Extrait: The Difference

The short answer

The difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum is concentration. An eau de parfum holds more perfume concentrate, so it usually lasts longer, wears fuller and changes more slowly on skin.

Between eau de toilette and parfum, also called extrait de parfum, the gap is wider still. Parfum holds the most concentrate of all, sits closest to the skin and lasts the longest.

More is not louder. A higher strength changes the shape of a fragrance as much as its size.

The strengths of fragrance at a glance

From lightest to richest, the strengths of fragrance are eau fraîche, eau de cologne, eau de toilette, eau de parfum, and parfum or extrait de parfum. Each is defined by its concentration: the share of perfume concentrate, the aromatic materials a perfumer composes, dissolved in alcohol with a little water.

Treat every number here as a convention. The ranges vary by house, sources disagree at the edges, and no law fixes them. Some guides put eau de parfum as low as 10%, so one house's eau de parfum can hold less concentrate than another's eau de toilette. The label tells you what was intended, not what is inside.

What changes on skin

Strength changes three things you can feel: how long a fragrance lasts, how far it carries, and how its opening and drydown are balanced.

Alcohol is the carrier. It lifts the fragrance off the skin and evaporates within moments, which is why a spray smells sharpest in its first seconds. The concentrate is what stays.

• How long it lasts. More concentrate usually means more hours, because more of the slow, heavy materials remain once the top notes have gone. Skin, weather and the formula move that number too, as the guide to how long perfume lasts explains.
• How far it carries. Projection is how far a scent reaches from your skin. Sillage, French for the wake of a boat, is the trail it leaves. A lighter strength can feel bigger in the first hour, then fall away, while a richer one starts closer and holds its ground.
• The opening and the drydown. The opening is the first quarter hour, when the top notes are brightest. The drydown is what remains hours later. Lighter strengths favor the opening. Richer ones give more weight to the heart and the base.

Eau fraîche and eau de cologne

Eau fraîche and eau de cologne are the lightest strengths, made to be worn generously and refreshed through the day.

Eau fraîche, French for fresh water, is a splash for heat and for after a shower. Eau de cologne is named for the German city of Cologne, where the first citrus waters of that name were made in the early eighteenth century. Classic colognes are still built on citrus and aromatic herbs.

In the United States, cologne often means any fragrance worn by men. On a label, it names a strength, not a gender.

What is eau de toilette?

Eau de toilette is the bright, everyday strength: lighter than an eau de parfum, easy to wear and built to shine in its first hours.

The name has nothing to do with the bathroom. In French, la toilette is the act of getting ready, and an eau de toilette was the scented water for that moment. It suits heat, offices and mornings, at the cost of a lighter base and a shorter day on skin.

What is eau de parfum?

Eau de parfum is the middle strength: concentrated enough to give the heart and the base real weight, light enough to carry in the air.

It is the strength at which a fragrance has room to change. The opening still lifts, the heart has time to show itself, and the base holds enough to stay for hours.

What is extrait de parfum?

Extrait de parfum is the most concentrated strength of a fragrance, commonly cited at about 20 to 40% perfume concentrate. Extrait is French for extract.

It is also sold as parfum or pure perfume. It traditionally came in small stoppered bottles, dabbed on a drop at a time, and it is still usually sold in the smallest bottles at the highest price.

In classic usage, parfum and extrait de parfum are the same thing, though many people say parfum and mean eau de parfum. Some houses now use parfum for a version between an eau de parfum and a true extrait, and words such as intense and elixir have no fixed meaning. When the strength matters, read the full name on the label.

Why an extrait is not simply stronger

An extrait is more concentrated than an eau de parfum, but it is not a louder version of it.

With less alcohol to lift it, an extrait often projects less in the first hour and sits closer to the skin. What it gives instead is density: a richer heart, a deeper base, more hours.

It is often a different formula, too. Houses rebalance a fragrance for each strength, so an extrait and an eau de parfum of the same name can smell noticeably different, the extrait often warmer and darker. An eau de toilette, likewise, is rarely its eau de parfum diluted. Each is a sibling, not a copy.

Why price follows strength

Price follows the concentrate, because the concentrate is where the cost is.

Alcohol is inexpensive. The aromatic materials are not, and the ones richer strengths lean on, such as sandalwood, orris, rose oil and natural oud, are among the most costly in perfumery. Bottle for bottle, an extrait holds far more concentrate than an eau de toilette, and is priced accordingly.

Across houses, the quality of the materials matters more than the strength: an eau de toilette from a house that means it is worth more than an eau de parfum from a house that does not.

How to choose a strength

Choose a strength by when you will wear it, how close you want it to sit and how often you will spray again.

• Heat and daylight. Warm air makes fragrance rise faster and fade sooner. Eau de cologne, eau de toilette or a fresh eau de parfum worn lightly suit summer.
• Evenings and cold months. Cold air holds a fragrance down, so eau de parfum and extrait carry better.
• Close quarters. For offices, flights and dinners, an extrait or a lightly sprayed eau de parfum stays near you.
• Dry skin. Dry skin lets fragrance go sooner. A richer strength, or an unscented moisturizer first, helps it hold.

To wear two strengths together, see the guide to fragrance layering.

Where the house sits

Every fragrance of L'Arbre de Vie is an eau de parfum: eight unisex fragrances, 50 ml each, composed in house and hand finished in New Jersey.

The collection is read as a tree, from the bright crown down to the roots, and eau de parfum gives each fragrance room to move from its opening to its base. It gives the citrus of Hayal time to settle into white musk. It gives Royale Oud, the deepest of the house, time to change on the skin over the hours.

Strength is chosen for each composition. For these eight, the choice is the same.

Questions people ask about fragrance strengths

What is the difference between eau de parfum and eau de toilette?

Eau de parfum holds more perfume concentrate, commonly about 15 to 20% against 5 to 15% for eau de toilette. It usually lasts longer, wears fuller and changes more slowly on skin.

What is extrait de parfum?

The most concentrated strength of a fragrance, commonly about 20 to 40% perfume concentrate, also called parfum or pure perfume. It sits closest to the skin, lasts longest and usually costs the most.

Is extrait de parfum stronger than eau de parfum?

It is more concentrated and usually lasts longer, but it often projects less in the first hour, with less alcohol to lift it. Denser and closer, not louder.

Is parfum the same as extrait de parfum?

Traditionally, yes. Some houses now use parfum for a richer version that is not a classic extrait, so read the full name on the label.

Does eau de parfum last longer than eau de toilette?

Usually, by a few hours: commonly four to eight hours on skin against two to four, though a citrus eau de parfum can fade sooner than a woody eau de toilette.

Which strength is best for summer, and which for evening?

Heat makes fragrance rise faster and fade sooner, so summer suits eau de toilette or a fresh eau de parfum worn lightly. Evenings and cold weather suit eau de parfum and extrait.

Why is eau de parfum more expensive than eau de toilette?

It holds more perfume concentrate, and the concentrate is the costly part of any bottle. Alcohol is inexpensive; the aromatic materials dissolved in it are not.

Can you layer an eau de toilette and an eau de parfum?

Yes. Spray the richer one first, on skin, and the lighter one over it or at the neck, keeping the total to a few sprays.

How to judge a strength on your own skin

A strength on a label is a specification. On your skin it becomes a fact, and the fairest test is a whole day of wear, judged in the evening.

The Discovery Set holds all eight fragrances of L'Arbre de Vie in 2.5 ml sprays, in the order of the tree: the same eaux de parfum as the 50 ml bottles, never a lighter version. The set is $60 with complimentary shipping, and the $60 comes back to you toward any 50 ml bottle within 30 days of delivery.