This is the first post in our mini-series of “How To Choose A Beautiful Perfume As A Gift This Christmas”
Today’s post is about the question ‘What are the different types of perfume?’
When speaking about ‘types’ of perfumes, this can be answered in many different ways.
Oil Concentration
This question about ‘type’ refers to the concentration of fragrance oil within the perfume and we have the following types:
- Parfum
- Eau de Parfum
- Eau de Toilette
- Eau de Cologne
- Aftershave / Cologne
- Spritzer
We have detailed description of each of these on our website within ‘FAQs – which types of perfumes last the longest’:
https://www.pairfum.com/faqs-perfume-frequently-asked-questions/
Olfactive Profile
We categorising fragrances by the fragrance type, the perfume industry has created ‘categories’ and these the main ones:
- Oriental
- Floral
- Floriental
- Fougere / Fern
- Chypre
- Aromatic
- Woody
- Citrus
- Amber
- Fruity
We have a more detailed description of each of these categories on our website, towards the bottom of this page under ‘classification’:
https://www.pairfum.com/perfume-description/
Gender
This split of perfume types by gender is quite obvious and yet, the past 20-30 years have seen the rise of the ‘unisex’ perfume.
Today, it can be argued that these ‘types’ of perfumes are outdated, as modern women happily wear very masculine fragrances, as well as men wearing more feminine notes without hesitation.
Season / Occasion / Activity
Changing our perfume with the season / occasion / activity is still a quite modern phenomenon, as it requires that we have more than a single perfume. Many consumers now have a collection of perfumes from which the select according to:
- the Season: fresh in Spring / Summer and warmer for Autumn / Winter
- Activity: a light, invigorating note for a sporting activity but a unique/strong/long-lasting note for going to a party
- Occasion: an elegant fragrance for going to the Opera or a more assertive / confident note for a business meeting
Format
When it comes to perfume types, today we also have a large variety of perfume formats:
- perfume spray: the 100ml perfume spray is still the most popular type of perfume but we have seen the rise of the 30ml travel or trial size of perfume
- perfume rollers: they tend to be popular for non-alcoholic perfume oils
- perfume pen: this is a new format that competes with the roller but offers the benefit of the alcoholic perfume we love from the sprays.
- solid perfume: these tend to be perfumed waxes, an another new format. Its robustness, i.e. it can’t break, and compactness, i.e. small flat tin, make it very popular as a travel, handbag or sporting accessory.
