Eau de toilette vs eau de parfum, and the full fragrance concentration chart
EDT vs EDP explained, plus a concentration chart for cologne, eau de toilette, eau de parfum, parfum and elixir, and what each label does not promise.
Eau de parfum holds more fragrance oil than eau de toilette. That single difference is why an EDP reads richer, projects further and wears longer, while an EDT stays lighter, fresher and easier to over-apply without noticing. Both sit on one ladder alongside eau de cologne, parfum and elixir. The chart below places all of them, and none of those categories is a legally defined term.
What does the fragrance concentration chart look like?
From lightest to richest, the everyday wear strengths run eau de cologne, eau de toilette, eau de parfum, then parfum or extrait. An aftershave splash sits below all of them. Elixir is the newest label on the shelf and the one the industry has not settled on. The percentage column below describes how much fragrance oil is dissolved in the alcohol base.
| Name | Typical oil concentration | How long it tends to wear | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elixir | No defined range. Houses set their own. | Generally presented as wearing longer than the matching eau de parfum | A richer, base-heavy reading of an existing scent. The label is a house decision, not a strength. |
| Parfum / Extrait | About 20-30%, and sometimes higher. The highest oil load on the ladder, above eau de parfum. | The longest-wearing of the group | Maximum richness from a small amount, worn close to the skin |
| Eau de Parfum (EDP) | ~15-20% | Commonly most of a day | The apply-once, all-day choice |
| Eau de Toilette (EDT) | ~5-15% | Often wants a midday refresh | The versatile daily, brighter on the open |
| Eau de Cologne (EDC) | ~2-5% | Short-lived, reapplied through the day | A light splash, historically bright citrus and herbs |
| Aftershave splash | ~1-3% | Fades faster than an EDT | Scenting the shave, not the day |
Two things in that chart are easy to misread. The ranges overlap at their edges, so a juice sitting near 15 percent oil could be labelled an eau de toilette by one house and an eau de parfum by another without either being wrong. And the ranges are wide. An eau de toilette at the top of its band carries roughly three times the fragrance oil of one at the bottom, which is why two eau de toilettes can behave nothing like each other on the skin.
The order in that first column holds everywhere. The numbers do not. They are trade convention, and they move from house to house, which is the next thing to understand before you buy on a label.
Are fragrance concentration percentages regulated?
No regulator defines eau de toilette, eau de parfum or elixir by oil content, so every range in the chart above is industry convention rather than specification. That has two practical consequences worth more than the numbers themselves.
First, the same word means different things at different houses. One brand's eau de toilette can carry more oil than another brand's eau de parfum, so comparing labels across brands tells you very little. Comparing two concentrations of the same scent from the same house tells you a lot.
Second, some houses reformulate rather than dilute. An EDT is not always a watered-down EDP. A house may push citrus and aromatic top notes in the eau de toilette and musk, amber or oud in the eau de parfum, so the two can genuinely smell different rather than simply louder and quieter.
Where the ladder will let you down
If you are buying unsniffed on the strength label alone, the ladder gives you a direction and not a result. It will not tell you how a specific bottle performs on your skin, how a particular set of notes decays through the day, or whether a scent you love at EDT strength becomes too much at EDP strength. Sample first. The chart is for narrowing the field, not for picking the winner.
What changes between an eau de toilette and an eau de parfum?
Five things move when the concentration goes up, and only one of them is longevity.
- Longevity. More oil means the scent lingers longer. An EDP commonly lasts most of a day; an EDT often needs a midday refresh.
- Projection and sillage. Higher concentration generally projects more and leaves a bigger trail. An EDT sits closer to the skin.
- How the scent reads. Concentration shifts the balance. An EDT often feels brighter and more top-note forward, an EDP deeper and more centred on the heart and base.
- Whether it is the same juice. Covered above. Same name, two concentrations, sometimes two compositions.
- Price. Fragrance oil is the expensive part of a bottle, so the eau de parfum of a given scent is usually priced above the eau de toilette.
Spray count moves with all of this. An EDP reaches the same projection with fewer sprays than an EDT, so a like-for-like spray count over-applies the stronger one. If your scent keeps dying by lunchtime, application is usually the cheaper variable to fix before concentration is: see how to make cologne and aftershave last longer.
What is elixir perfume?
Elixir is what a house calls a more concentrated or richer version of a scent it already sells, usually built on an existing eau de parfum and weighted toward the base notes. It is a house term rather than a defined strength, so one brand's elixir and another brand's elixir tell you almost nothing about each other. The word is newer and looser than the rest of the ladder, no regulator polices it, and no agreed oil range sits behind it.
Which means the honest answer to "parfum vs elixir" is that the two words are not measured against each other. Parfum or extrait has a long-standing conventional range behind it. Elixir does not. A given house's elixir may sit below its parfum, above its eau de parfum, or somewhere neither of those positions predicts.
For eau de parfum vs elixir, the useful comparison is the pair in front of you rather than the label. If a house offers both, treat its elixir as its own deeper reading of that scent and sample it as a separate fragrance rather than assuming it is the same juice turned up. Ask what changed between the two, because a house that adds an elixir has usually altered the composition and not only the strength.
WhollyKaw does not make an elixir. Our fragrance line runs to two concentrations, eau de toilette and eau de parfum, so nothing on this site is affected by where the elixir label lands.
What is the difference between eau de cologne and eau de toilette?
Eau de toilette is more concentrated than eau de cologne, so it is richer and longer-lasting, while EDC is the lightest of the everyday wear strengths. Both are the same idea, fragrance oil in alcohol, at different strengths.
- Longevity. An EDT carries into the afternoon; an EDC often needs a midday refresh.
- Projection. EDT projects more. EDC sits close and light.
- Use. EDC is the classic hot-weather, reapply-often splash. EDT is the versatile daily.
A note on the word cologne. In everyday American use, cologne just means a men's fragrance. Technically, eau de cologne is a specific low concentration, historically a bright citrus and herbal splash. So a men's scent labelled EDT or EDP is stronger than a true EDC even though people will call all three "cologne" in conversation. That loose usage is also why aftershave and cologne get confused with each other, which we untangle in aftershave vs cologne.
How does one scent work at two strengths?
The clearest way to see the ladder is one fragrance offered at two concentrations. WhollyKaw's Fougère Bouquet comes as both an Eau de Toilette and an Eau de Parfum. Same oakmoss and fougère composition. The EDT is the brighter, more wearable daytime version; the EDP is richer and lasts longer. Choosing between them is a question of how strong and how long, not of which scent you prefer.
Across the WhollyKaw fragrance line only two scents are offered in both concentrations, Fougère Bouquet and Vor V. Every other scent exists as one or the other, so for most of the line the concentration is already chosen for you.
Which concentration should you wear, by occasion?
Map the concentration to the moment rather than to a preference and the decision gets much easier.
| Situation | Usually better | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Office and close quarters | EDT | Lighter projection will not take over a meeting room. |
| Daytime, warm weather | EDT | Citrus and aromatic scents read well, and EDT does not turn heavy in heat. |
| Evenings and dates | EDP | It needs to last, and to register at conversational distance. |
| Cold weather | EDP | Cold air mutes fragrance, so the extra concentration carries. |
| Woody, spicy, oud, amber | EDP | Richer families are usually built to be worn at EDP strength. |
| Reapplying midday | EDT or EDC | Easy to refresh without overdoing it. |
As a default, an EDT covers the bulk of a normal week and an EDP is the move when presence and longevity matter more than subtlety. Summer is the one season where that default gets argued over, because heat changes both how fast a fragrance lifts off the skin and how much of it other people get: is EDP or EDT better for summer takes that apart properly.
Where does aftershave splash fit on the ladder?
An aftershave splash sits at the bottom of the ladder and carries the lowest fragrance concentration of anything in the chart and is meant to scent and refresh the skin right after a shave, not to perfume you for the day. That is why a splash fades faster than an EDT.
It is also why layering works. If you want the scent to last, put a matching EDT or EDP over the splash rather than reaching for more splash. Many WhollyKaw scents exist as a shaving soap, an aftershave splash, a balm and a toner, so the same composition can run through the whole shave and then be carried into the day by the spray.
How is the WhollyKaw fragrance line structured?
WhollyKaw builds each scent as a family rather than as a single product. A scent typically appears across the shaving soap, aftershave splash, balm and toner, and 17 of them are also offered as a spray. Eau de toilette and eau de parfum are the only two spray concentrations we make: 13 scents as an EDT, 6 as an EDP, with Fougère Bouquet and Vor V available in both. There is no WhollyKaw parfum, extrait or elixir. The composition is held consistent across the family, so the soap you lather in the morning is the same olfactory idea as the spray you wear for the day.
- Vor V (saffron, oud, amber)
- King of Oud (oud, rose, bergamot)
- Fougère Bouquet (oakmoss, lavender, bergamot)
- La Fougère Parfaite (citrus, geranium, lavender)
- Chypre Rose Concerto (rose, labdanum, oakmoss)
- Project Leather (suede, smoke, oud, bourbon)
- Dance of Agrumes (citrus, oud, vetiver)
- King of Bourbon (tobacco, bourbon vanilla, cypriol)
- Pasha's Pride (citrus, leather, tobacco, oud)
- Sandhurst (ginger, tobacco, plum, clove)
- Rebelle (oud, leather, tobacco, sandalwood)
- Hiatus (pina colada, coconut, rum, pineapple)
- Fougère Mania (neroli, lavender, amber, oakmoss)
- Entropy Man
- Timmermann Classic 1869 (oud, cashmeran, vanilla)
- Timmermann Green (rum, vanilla, cinnamon)
- Timmermann Red (rum, vanilla, cinnamon)
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum?
It is the concentration of fragrance oil. Eau de parfum (EDP) typically holds about 15 to 20 percent oil, while eau de toilette (EDT) holds about 5 to 15 percent. EDP is therefore richer, projects more and lasts longer, while EDT is lighter, fresher and shorter-lived. They are usually the same scent at two strengths, though some houses reformulate rather than dilute.
What are the levels of fragrance concentration?
From richest to lightest: parfum or extrait, eau de parfum (about 15 to 20 percent oil), eau de toilette (about 5 to 15 percent), eau de cologne (about 2 to 5 percent), and aftershave splash (about 1 to 3 percent). Elixir is a newer label with no settled position on that ladder. The percentages are industry conventions that vary by house, but the order is consistent.
Are fragrance concentration percentages regulated?
No. No regulation defines eau de toilette, eau de parfum, parfum or elixir by oil content, so published ranges are trade convention rather than specification. One brand's EDT can carry more oil than another brand's EDP. Comparing two concentrations of the same scent from the same house is meaningful; comparing labels across brands is not.
What is elixir perfume?
Elixir is a house naming choice rather than a defined strength. It is generally used for a richer, base-heavy version of a scent that already exists as an eau de parfum, positioned above the EDP in strength and price. There is no agreed oil range behind the word and no regulator polices it, so treat an elixir as its own fragrance and sample it rather than assuming it is the EDP turned up.
Is elixir stronger than eau de parfum, or than parfum?
Houses usually position an elixir above their eau de parfum, but there is no standard behind that. Parfum or extrait has a long-standing conventional range; elixir does not, so parfum and elixir are not measured against each other on any shared scale. If a house offers both, the only reliable comparison is the two bottles in front of you.
What is the difference between eau de cologne and eau de toilette?
Eau de toilette carries more fragrance oil than eau de cologne, roughly 5 to 15 percent against roughly 2 to 5 percent, so EDT projects more and carries into the afternoon while EDC sits close and often needs a midday refresh. EDC is the classic hot-weather reapply-often splash. In everyday American use "cologne" also just means a men's fragrance, which is why the word gets attached to EDTs and EDPs that are far stronger than a true eau de cologne.
Does eau de parfum last longer than eau de toilette?
Yes, as a general rule. Because EDP contains more fragrance oil, it lasts longer on skin, often most of a day, while an EDT frequently needs a midday refresh. Longevity also depends on the notes themselves, on your skin, and on how you apply it, so a specific EDT can outlast a specific EDP.
Why is eau de toilette cheaper than eau de parfum?
Fragrance oil is the costly part of a bottle, and an EDT contains less of it than an EDP. So the EDT version of a given scent is usually priced below the EDP version. It is normally the same fragrance, just less concentrated.
Which should I buy, EDT or EDP?
Pick EDT for a lighter, fresher scent you reapply through the day, for hot weather, for the office, or for trying a fragrance for the first time. Pick EDP when you want to apply once and have it last, with more projection, for evening or cooler weather. Some scents, such as WhollyKaw's Fougère Bouquet and Vor V, come in both, so you can choose strength without changing the scent.
How is an aftershave splash different from an eau de toilette?
An aftershave splash carries a much lower fragrance concentration, around 1 to 3 percent, and is meant to scent and refresh the skin right after a shave rather than perfume you all day. It fades faster than an EDT. If you want the scent to last, layer a matching EDT or EDP over the splash instead of reaching for more splash.
Can I apply EDP and EDT together?
Generally no. They are the same scent profile, so layering them adds strength without adding complexity. What does work is layering the scent across grooming products, so shaving soap, aftershave splash and balm in one scent, finished with the matching EDT or EDP. That stacks the fragrance at several points rather than piling on the same concentration.
Why does my fragrance smell different on me than on someone else?
Skin chemistry. Body temperature, skin pH, moisture level and your own skin scent all interact with the fragrance compounds and change how they project and dry down. A scent that reads rich and woody on one person can read sweeter and more powdery on another. Sample before committing to a bottle, whatever the concentration says on the label.
How should I store my EDP or EDT?
Cool, dark and dry. Fragrance oxidises with heat and UV, so a bottle on a sunny bathroom shelf degrades faster than one in a closed drawer or cupboard. The original box adds light protection on top of the bottle. Higher-concentration fragrances generally hold up better over time than lower-concentration ones.