Words: Emily Venables
Choosing a fragrance for yourself or for your significant other can be a daunting task. How will you know which scent he will? What do all these abbreviations mean? What's the difference between all these types of cologne? Is a cologne the same as EDT? So many questions!
If you’re not quite sure where to start, you’re in the right place. Welcome to The Perfume Shop’s guide to cologne for beginners.
Lesson number one, not all male fragrances are actually colognes! Read on to find out more…
Selecting a scent
Let your nose be your guide when selecting a new scent and to help you on your way take a look at these common fragrance categories to see which may suit you best.
Floral
Florals are very traditional and a very popular scent family and have been growing in popularity with men. Think rose, jasmine, or gardenia notes.
Oriental
Oriental fragrances are rich, deep and warming. This category is made up of spices such as cinnamon, vanilla and cardamom. Musk will also fall into this category.
Woody
Woody scents are very masculine and centre around notes of cedar, sandalwood, pine and vetiver. Scents containing ‘oud’, the world’s most expensive and luxurious smelling wood, also belongs to this family group.
Aromatic
If you love the smell of freshly picked herbs, then aromatic fragrances should be right up your street. They focus on clean, green notes such as sage, rosemary and lavender.
Types of fragrances
As with female perfumes, male fragrances also fall under several types of fragrances. In every fragrance made, there is a certain level of aromatic compounds. A fragrance will usually contain 1-30% of aromatic oils, the rest will either be alcohol or water. If a fragrance has a lower concentration of oil compared to alcohol, this mixture is called an 'eau', which means water.
Parfum
Harder to find, often the most expensive option, 15-30% oil, should last more than 6 hours.
Eau de Parfum
Mostly female fragrances fall into this category, 8-15% oil, lasts 4-6 hours.
Eau de Toilette
Higher concentration for men, 4-10% oil, lasts around 4 hours.
Eau de Cologne
2-5% oil and lasts around 3 hours.
5 top tips for selecting a fragrance
- Choose a fragrance that works for YOU
- Consider where you’ll be wearing the fragrance before you purchase – i.e. work/exclusively for nights out/ date night/ general day-to-day wear
- Do NOT over spray. People will notice, for the wrong reasons!
- Test out a fragrance in the store and let it sit on your skin for a while before deciding - this way you can smell what it looks like after working with the chemistry of your skin
- Still unsure? Find inspiration or a match to your current favourite using our Fragrance Finder created by fragrance expert Michael Edwards.
Ready to find out more?
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