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Buying guideLabels and concentration

EDT, EDP or Parfum?

What concentration does, and does not, tell you about the bottle you're buying.

By ScentsHuntPublished 3 min read

Three unbranded glass perfume bottles of different shapes, holding amber liquid of different depths, on a stone ledge in low sunlight.

The short answer

The label is a rough guide to how much perfume concentrate is in the bottle, usually lowest in eau de cologne, then eau de toilette, eau de parfum and parfum. It is not a fixed standard, it does not guarantee how long a scent lasts, and an EDT and EDP with the same name are different products with different prices.

In this guide · 6 sections

What the names mean

Fragrance names such as eau de toilette describe roughly how much perfume concentrate (the blend of aromatic materials) is dissolved in the alcohol and water that make up the rest of the bottle. From lightest to strongest, the usual order is:

  1. Eau de cologne (EDC)
  2. Eau de toilette (EDT)
  3. Eau de parfum (EDP)
  4. Parfum, also sold as extrait or extrait de parfum

You will also see names such as eau fraîche, body mist, intense or elixir. Brands use these inconsistently, so read them as part of the product name rather than as a measurement.

Published percentages disagree

Every source quotes a range, and the ranges don't match. For example:

LabelNCBI Bookshelf (Herz)DermNetMcGill OSS
Parfum15–30%(stronger than EDP)20–50%
Eau de parfum8–15%15–20%10–15%
Eau de toilette4–8%5–15%3–8%
Eau de cologne2–5%2–4%(grouped with EDT)

Perfumers interviewed by Marie Claire UK went further: they said there is no legal or industry standard for these levels, and that they had seen one brand call a given concentration an eau de parfum while another called it an eau de toilette. Brands rarely publish their exact percentages, so treat any number you read, including the table above, as a convention, not a specification.

What concentration does not tell you

  • How long it lasts on you. More concentrate usually means a stronger, longer-lasting scent, but the materials matter too. One perfumer's example: an EDT built on woody, musky materials can outlast a fruity-floral EDP.
  • That two versions smell the same. Brands often reformulate between versions, shifting the balance of notes rather than simply adding more concentrate. An EDT and an EDP that share a name can smell noticeably different.
  • Which one is "better". That is personal. Neither label is a quality grade.

Why the label matters for price comparison

Because EDT, EDP and parfum versions are different products, a fair price comparison only puts the same concentration side by side. On ScentsHunt, every concentration is its own product page: a 100 ml EDT is never ranked against a 100 ml EDP, and the lowest price on an EDP page only counts EDP offers.

If a listing does not say which concentration it is, we don't guess. It stays out of the comparison until it is identified.

How to choose between versions

  1. Already like one version? Buy that version again; the other may smell different.
  2. Choosing for the first time? Read the brand's own description of each version and, if you can, try a sample of both.
  3. Comparing sizes? Use price per ml, but only between bottles of the same concentration.
  4. Buying a gift? If you know what they wear, match the concentration on their bottle. If you don't, see how to choose a fragrance gift.

Next steps

Ready to compare?

Sources

Factual statements in this guide are based on these sources. Opinions are labelled in the text.

  1. Herz, R. S. (2011). Perfume. In Neurobiology of Sensation and Reward, chapter 17. NCBI Bookshelf
  2. DermNet: Fragrances and perfumes
  3. McGill Office for Science and Society: The Story of Perfume
  4. Marie Claire UK: The difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum, according to perfumers (2023)

Written by the ScentsHunt team. We compare prices; we don't sell fragrance or test products hands-on. How we compare · How we make money

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