Perfume has a vocabulary problem: the words are French, the marketing is vague, and the differences cost real money. Here is every term you actually need, in plain English.
Concentration terms
Extrait de parfum (parfum): the highest concentration made — roughly 20–40% fragrance oil. Every LXPERFUME bottle is a 30% extrait. Lasts 6–8+ hours.
Eau de parfum (EDP): 15–20% oil. What most designer “perfumes” actually are. 5–8 hours.
Eau de toilette (EDT): 5–15% oil. Lighter, brighter, shorter — 2–6 hours.
Eau de cologne / body mist: 1–5% oil. An hour or two of scent.
How a fragrance is built
Top notes: the first 15 minutes — usually citrus, spice, or something green. Designed to hook you.
Heart (middle) notes: the fragrance's actual personality, blooming from 15 minutes to about 2 hours — typically florals or fruit.
Base notes: the foundation that lasts the rest of the day — woods, amber, musk, vanilla.
Drydown: the final stage, when only base notes remain on skin. The drydown is what people standing close to you at hour six actually smell.
Performance terms
Longevity: how many hours a fragrance is detectable on skin.
Sillage (“see-YAZH”): the scent trail you leave walking past. Big sillage fills a room; a “skin scent” stays within a hug's distance.
Projection: how far scent radiates while you stand still.
Scent-family terms
Chypre (“SHEE-pruh”): citrus top over a mossy-woody base — the structure behind scents like our ROYAL LEGEND.
Gourmand: edible notes — vanilla, praline, coffee, cherry. See the gourmand collection.
Fougère (“foo-ZHAIR”): lavender + herbs + woods; the classic “men's fragrance” skeleton.
Amber / oriental: warm resins, spice and vanilla.
Aquatic / marine: sea-air freshness, like our fresh collection.
Shopping terms
Inspired-by (dupe): a fragrance built to evoke the character of a famous scent at a fair price — legal, and honest when labeled clearly, which ours always are.
Niche: fragrance from an independent house sold on scent, not celebrity.
Batch code: the stamped code identifying when a bottle was produced.
Now that you speak the language: take the 2-minute Scent Match quiz or browse all 45 extraits.
