here's a guide

Perfume (Parfum)
This consists of a 15-30% concentration of perfume essence and is the strongest fragrance available. This means that not only do you need to use less, but also that the fragrance lasts longer, typically for up to 6 hours, depending on skin type.

Parfum De Toilette
This is usually between a perfume and an EDP in strength but a few companies use the term to describe an EDT.

Eau De Parfum (EDP)
This is lighter than Perfume, with an 8-15% concentration, and so is less expensive but still has long lasting characteristics, from 3 to 5 hours.

Eau De Toilette (EDT)
This is a lighter more delicate fragrance, with a 4-8% concentration of the essence, and is therefore most suited to everyday use. It is normally less expensive than Eau de Parfum, and lasts for 2 to 4 hours.

Eau De Cologne (EDC)
This is often referred to just as Cologne and has the greatest dilution of fragrances with a 3-5% concentration of perfume essence, lasting up to 2 hours.

So.. most of the ones for guys are EDT rite?
I know there's EDP for girls, haven't seen any Parfum though.

Depend on the brand it self, normally fragrances for men come in EDC & EDT concentration. Sometimes they come out in EDP as well, like Guerlain Homme, L'Instant, Terre d'Hermes etc..

For women side they also have the EDT, more cheaper..

Parfum in other word is Extrait de Parfum, which is the highest concentration. Normally they come in 5, 10, 15 & 30ML.. And it's very pricey per ml..

Although it's not confirm that EDP/ExDP will last longer on the skin, because some of them using natural ingredients which is not very long lasting compare to those that using synthetic ingredients..

They also have concentration in Oil and Water based fragrances. Depends on which type more suits you..

Synthetic which means not natural made or artificial ?

For normal perfume like erm... Burberry London, it's alcohol based?

Synthetic is artificial, which mean it been made from chemical to create scent that smell alike natural.. Of course it's more cheaper to compose than natural.. That why you have some fragrance that cost RM 100 and in the other hand cost whopping RM 1,000 or even more..

For natural ingredients the perfumer must buy a kilo's of roses (example) that cost thousand of dollars to made just a liter sometimes milliliter's of pure parfum. Sometimes they go to silly place's just to find the perfect ingredients, you can see their notes, sometimes they wrote Bergamote from Sicily or etc lol..

But if your nose is train, you can know the synthetic and the natural smell like..

Yes, normal fragrance's that in EDC, EDT, EDP & ExDP contain alcohol.. You can see on the box how many % alcohol they use..

lolz Sicily. Is Guerlain a niche ? I know Guerlain is the oldest perfume brand.

Now I understand... Haha

Yeah, sometimes they have weird & wicked note, especially on the niche side lol..

For me, Guerlain belong to designer since it's widely available and easy to get, some might think otherwise..

Their exclusive line like L'art de Maitre can consider a niche, which damn expensive and only available on selected boutique.. Yeah, Guerlain is damn old for sure lol..

I see......

Niche is not easy to get?

Can consider niche is not widely available, which in term of sales and advertising.. They just sell it in their own store or some selected retailer or even in city exclusive only.. If in designer market, you can found in anywhere, included discounters.. And you can see designer ads on TV, like yesterday i see Boss Bottled Night ads lol..

In Malaysia i believe you can get Amouage, L'Artisan, Different Co., Creed etc.. But the price is damn expensive here if compare to others..

For Creed IMO it's already going mainstream, since you can get a bottle for cheap on discounters. And beware Creed has lot's of fake..

I see.... So their ingredients is premium quality too?
Or some niche is not a premium perfume but it's hard to get so it's called niche?

Some of them is great & some of them just terrible and not wearable (ELDO fragrances)..

For example Comme des Garcons they release a synthetic series, which is very terrible scent IMO.. Smells so hideous, but it's kinda fun..

And some designer have the premium ingredients as well, i found out Encre Noire which have the best ingredients at designer price, it's very worth a full bottle.. And same with L'Instant Extreme..

Designer or Niche they have their pros and cons..

And have some of the niche is generic smelling and kinda cheap scent..

Lol. No guarantee a niche is premium haha

I noticed musk must be positioned at the base notes when I see musk in the ingredients.

I noticed musk must be positioned at the base notes when I see musk in the ingredients.

Yups, because they do a fragrances based on what they imagine or they like lol.. They don't care if the end-user will buy it or not.. And the different is, on designer part they will do test market run, and on niche they don't.. They just release it if the owner & perfumer agree lol..

But if you into niche, you already know what to expect for the fragrances.. Even it's a bad smelling, it could be a masterpieces lol..

For me, i always wears my Pure Coffee, which is designer fragrance lol..

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Added on May 1, 2011, 11:28 pmNot sure why musk always on the base, maybe the composition it's a must on the ending lol..

For me Musk is very animalistic, especially the civet..

This post has been edited by mrbs84: May 1 2011, 11:28 PM

Wow you understands alot, are you a perfumer too? lol

So designer perfumes are made for the market while some niche are made for the perfumer himself?

Lol Thierry Mugler Pure Coffee

Nope, i'm just a fragrance collector lol.. But at the same time, you can learn while you sniffing..

Something like that, example like edition de parfum.. Frederic malle gave the perfumer an idea of a scent, they the perfumer create a scent as they liking.. Same like lutens as well..

Yups, mugler one of my favorite houses.. I have a lot of back-up on pure coffee since it my signature scent lol..

Hi, i'm currently using aqua d gio and armani code
But recently im getting bored with this smell and thinking to try other smell..
Can you guys recommend me? Btw, i'm a college student

u should try armani diamond..or for masculine scent i suggest u burberry the beat

I see....

Haha, some people couldn't appreciate the beauty of A*Men though I haven't try it myself before, just read some review online.

I don't think The Beat is masculine enough, it's targeted for the youths. If you are still in college probably
The Beat is suitable for you.