Understanding Perfume

Before you choose a perfume, it helps to know how to read one. Concentration, pyramid, family, longevity, sillage: these words appear on every product page, and they tell you a lot about how a fragrance will behave on your skin. This guide gathers our articles on how to read them, without unnecessary jargon.

The essentials in one minute

  • A perfume is a solution of aromatic materials in alcohol. The share of aromatic materials is called the concentration: the higher it is, the denser the perfume and the longer it lasts.
  • Materials do not evaporate at the same speed. The lightest ones leave first (top notes), the heaviest stay for hours (base notes). This is what perfumers call the fragrance pyramid.
  • A scent family groups perfumes that share the same character: woody, amber (also called oriental), floral, fresh, gourmand, fruity, green, spicy.
  • Longevity measures how long a scent lasts on skin, sillage the trail it leaves around you. They are two different things.
  • The same formula never smells quite the same on two people. That is why trying it on your own skin still matters.

Concentration: extrait, eau de parfum, eau de toilette

The name on the bottle tells you the proportion of fragrance concentrate. An eau de toilette often contains between 5 and 15%, an eau de parfum between 15 and 20%, an extrait de parfum more, sometimes 30% or higher. These ranges vary from one house to another and are not set by law. Many of the houses we carry work only in extrait: one or two sprays are enough for the whole day.

The details are in our article Extrait, Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette: Understanding Concentrations.

The fragrance pyramid

Top notes are what you smell in the first few minutes: citrus, aromatic herbs, fresh spices. The heart settles in next and shapes the character of the perfume for several hours. The base, made of woods, resins, musks and amber, lasts the longest. On every Passion Parfum product page, the three tiers are listed separately, with an image for each note.

The model has its limits. Some perfumes are built to stay roughly the same from start to finish, and these are called linear. Others change a lot. If you judge a perfume in the first five minutes, you only know how it opens.

Scent families

Sorting perfumes by family lets you start from what you already like. If your favorite scents are all amber and vanilla, a niche amber fragrance is more likely to win you over than a citrus one. Our guide to the eight scent families describes each one and links to the matching selection: woody, amber, floral, fresh, gourmand, fruity, green and spicy.

Longevity, sillage, projection

Our product pages show three gauges rated out of five. Longevity tells you how long the perfume stays noticeable on skin. Sillage describes the trail it leaves as you walk past. Projection measures how far away people can smell it during the first few hours. A perfume can last twelve hours and still stay close to the skin. These gauges are observations made on skin, not promises: heat, skin hydration and clothing all affect them.

Articles in this guide

All the articles in this section are collected on the blog's Understanding page.

Frequently asked questions

Is an extrait de parfum stronger than an eau de parfum?

It contains more aromatic materials, so it usually lasts longer and needs a lighter hand. It does not necessarily project further: some extraits stay very close to the skin.

Why does my perfume disappear after an hour?

Often it is still there, but your nose has gotten used to it. Ask someone close to you, or smell your wrist after a break. If the scent really has faded, it may be a very fresh composition, or dry skin that holds fragrance less well.

Should I choose a perfume by its top notes?

No. Top notes last a few minutes. The heart and the base are what you will wear all day. Give the perfume at least two hours to develop before you decide.

How do I know which family is mine?

List three or four perfumes you have loved and look at their base notes. What they have in common points to your family. Our quiz does this work for you in a few questions.

To go from theory to skin, every perfume in the shop is available as a 2 ml sample. The other guides: perfume materials, niche perfumery, choosing your perfume and perfume houses.