Although it smells milder than a toilet perfume, eau de parfum lasts up to 8 hours on the skin. Its durability is due to its powerful base note. It gives off a deep, pronounced note that evaporates slowly and settles on skin, clothes, and hair.
Quality eau de parfum is generally obtained by dissolving natural plant extracts in alcohol. It is often made up of 50-60% 70° or 90° alcohol and 15-20% essential oils or other synthetic aromatic ingredients. Some formulas also contain glycerine, to reduce the aggressiveness of alcohol and enhance the essences of fragrant molecules.
According to the olfactory pyramid, three kinds of aromatic notes are blended to give an eau de parfum a pleasant scent:
● The top note. As its name suggests, this is the fragrance that is released first. It diffuses a light note that tends to evaporate quickly. As the first scent, it triggers the desire to buy the eau de parfum. Top notes correspond to citrus notes, fruity notes and sometimes floral notes.
● The heart note takes a few hours to reveal itself, and has a slightly lower scent than the top note. As the heart of an eau de parfum, it gives off an opulent scent with woody, gourmand, musky or floral notes. The heart note designates the particularity of the eau de parfum, and it should be noted that a quality eau de parfum is composed in a great part of the heart note.
● The base note. As mentioned above, this leaves a long-lasting fragrance in the air, as it evaporates slowly. These include woody, spicy and musky scents.