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Sweet-scented Battle: Expensive Perfume versus Cheap Cologne
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“Eau de Parfum”. “Eau de Cologne”. “Eau de Toilette”. Which one is yours?
Passing by a connoisseur of scents, he can readily tell if it is cologne or perfume you are wearing, despite its tongue-twisting foreign sounding names. But for most people, it is easy to confuse one with the other.
PERFUME or COLOGNE? How can you tell?
Hardly by the scent. Colognes today have “come to the heels” of perfumes when it comes to scents. You’d mistake one for the other, easy. However there are 4 factors, which can help you tell perfume from cologne.
Level of essential oils: Perfumes have a higher level of essential oils, about 30%; colognes, 3-6%. Eau de Toilette, 15 %. This level of essential oils gives perfume a “thicker” smell than cologne, which comes only like a whiff of scent in the air.
For men, however their cologne is somehow stronger. Sportsman cologne, for example has a musky appeal that is very masculine… effortlessly manly.
Cost. Perfumes are more expensive
than colognes, however name brand cologne may just prove to be as
costly. But there is often a wide array
of cheap cologne for the money-pinchers, who still want to smell nice.
Staying power. Perfumes have a staying power of 8 hours
while colognes have to be put on every two hours or so. Again, the higher concentration level of
essential oils gives perfume the hidden advantage.
Mode of application. A little dab of perfume on pulse points, or a
quick squirt will do; colognes, on the other hand, have to be sprayed on the
skin or clothing, liberally.
Eau
de Toilette, Eau de Cologne, Eau de Parfum.
They can smell the same, but each has a unique story to share, and a
character all its own.
Let’s take cologne.
Giovanni Paolo Feminis. His was a scented love story. It all started in a small town called Cologne, in Germany, when in 1695 he decided to try his hand on perfumery. Since then, his love affair with scents greased the wheels of a lucrative perfumed business. “Eau de Cologne” simply meant, “water of Cologne”, perhaps Giovanni’s way of immortalizing his little town in every bottle of cologne he manufactured during his day.
But his love affair with scents withstood time, more than his own lifetime. In fact, exactly 100 years after Giovanni labeled his first bottles “Eau de Cologne”, Jean Marie Farina, a descendant, formally introduced “Eau de Cologne” as a brand name.
Today, over three centuries since the first Eau de Cologne saw dawn in 1695, Giovanni’s “love story” continues – now, in more derivatives, and inside more shapely bottles… and still the same – with foreign sounding names.
Colognes,
other than what it is commonly known for, have other “extended” uses.
Colognes have “attitude-altering” effects. Try this when you are feeling gloomy or less enthusiastic to start your day. Spray on and feel the comforting bliss of cologne.
It can also serve as odor eliminator when you spray it in car compartments, and in other enclosed spaces. And since it has alcohol content, the anti-bacterial component of cologne’s essential oils is heightened, thus it can double as sanitizer – go, try to wash your hands with it.
Above all, since it is cheaper than perfume, you can have different variants in your purse.
Depending on your mood, you can spray on and let its scent trail you wherever you go. Grab a bottle of cheap designer cologne from a perfumeries store nearest you – it’s cheap but it has the stamp of approval of its manufacturer, who, most likely is identified with more known brands.
Beauty may entice for a while…but it’s always the scent of a woman, which enthralls the senses and makes the man do what she pleases.
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