Perfume

Perfume Categories

* Perfume for kids
* Solid perfume rings
* What is an Eau de Parfum?
* What is an Eau de Toilette?
* What is an Eau de Cologne?
* What is the difference between Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum?
* How do you make homemade perfume?
* Should you buy perfume testers?
* Perfume types for men
* Perfume types for women
* What are the benefits of a solid perfume?
* What is the difference between body spray and perfume?

Perfume for kids

Disney perfumes

Kid’s perfume is a novel product created with the idea of letting your little ones feel and play like grownups. Kid’s perfumes work perfectly for playing dress up with your little ones. As long as the scent remains subtle and the perfume is alcohol free, it is safe for your child’s use.

Kid’s perfumes make excellent gifts for your little ladies who would like to believe they are all grown up. However, you need to be extra careful when choosing a perfume for your child. The perfume must be very mild because her young skin might be sensitive. Thus, a fragrance created especially for kids is the best option. Become.com provides you with great options on kids’ perfumes.

If you want to choose a fragrance for your glamorous little girl, nothing can beat the Barbie perfume. Your little girl will feel all grown up wearing this perfume. This charming fragrance has sweet, floral notes that she is sure to love.

A Disney perfume is sure to captivate your princess’ imagination! There is a wide variety of Disney perfumes – each one named after a popular Disney character. From Little Mermaid to Cinderella, your little girl can keep them all on her dresser. These fresh, clean fragrances are perfect for your little angel.

You need to be very selective when choosing a perfume for your child. Be sure to read through all fo the ingredients in the perfume before making your purchase. Alcohol free perfumes with natural ingredients may be best for your child’s young, delicate skin.

Solid perfume rings

Marc Jacobs Lola

In today’s fast-track world, the limited edition Marc Jacobs Lola Ring is the most perfect accessory to have for the multi-tasking girls. Not only the stylish cocktail ring best symbolizes free spirited modern girls, but also serves as a miniature perfume bottle that is no less than a piece of art in itself.

The Marc Jacobs Lola ring makes a special gift that you would like to splurge on yourself as well as someone you love. Your mother would feel very special and appreciate your excellent taste when you give it to her as a gift.

When viewed from the top of the bottle, the ring looks like a stunning rose flower bouquet blooming from a striking gold base. So if you are attending an informal cocktail party or a Halloween party, the Marc Jacobs Lola cocktail ring adorning your finger would look stunning with your classic black evening gown, fairy costume or such other dresses.

Not only that, any time you can flip open the ring with the subtle touch of your finger to release its delightful fragrance. You will be greeted with the notes of pear, ruby-red grapefruit and pink peppercorn. Then it will transform to blooming midnotes of fuchsia peony, rose and geranium and ending with notes of vanilla, creamy musk and warm tonka bean. Apply the ring to your neck and go through the day with the quiet confidence and playfulness that are the hallmarks of contemporary woman.

Finally, when you are not using the Marc Jacob Lola ring, store it in cute-looking Marc Jacobs Leather Pouch that comes exclusively with it.

What is an Eau de Parfum?

Dior Addict by Christian Dior

Eau de Parfum is a classification of how much extract is actually contained in a fragrance. Usually ten to twenty percent of the total fragrance is from extracts or essential oils. The rest of the fragrance is filler like alcohol or coconut oil.

* When shopping for fragrances, you will find that Eau de Parfum (EdP) is typically more expensive, since this classification contains the most amount of extracts, aside from buying Parfum.
* This fragrance will be stronger than most other mixtures, and will be the perfect fragrance to wear outdoors. Wearing such a potent fragrance indoors will be sure to get the attention of the people sitting around you.
* Eau de Parfum application should allow for the people who are within arm's length to smell you. Anything more than that is too overpowering.
* Even though Eeau de Parfum is more expensive, you will actually use less since the fragrance is stronger.
* Other names for this classification can be Parfum de Toilette (PdT), Eau de Perfume or Millesime which is an Italian female fragrance.

For some ideas, here are a few popular Eau de Parfum fragrances:

Women's Eau de Parfum

* Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden in the Water family features fresh fruity and watery floral.
* Dior Addict by Christian Dior in the Oriental family features fresh florals and light greens from Jamaica.
* Blush by Marc Jacobs in the Floral family features fresh jasmine and sweet white flowers.

Men's Eau de Parfum

* Be Delicious by Donna Karan features bold jasmine, grapefruit and berries with deep coffee and patchouli.
* Lalique for Men by Lilique in the Woods family features fresh citrus and jasmine with musky woods.
* Ombre D’or by Brosseau in the Aromatic Fougère family features a nice mix of greens, woods, vanilla and musk.

What is an Eau de Toilette?

Envy for Men by Gucci

Eau de Toilette denotes how much extracts are concentrated within the fragrance. Typically a fragrance will contain anywhere from 5 to 15 percent extracts or essential oils, while the rest are fillers such as alcohol or jojoba oil. Because there is less extracts the price of the fragrance should be less expensive than that of the Eau de Parfum.

Eau de Toilette is perfect for wearing indoors and every day since the fragrance should not be too strong.

* The fewer extracts mean you might have to reapply after 3 to 5 hours.
* To get the most fragrance, try layering your Eau de Toilette with a body wash or aftershave.
* Be sure to apply to the skin, so your body's own temperature will heat the notes and mix with your own body's scents.

Here are some popular Eau de Toilette fragrances:

Women's Eau de Toilette

* White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor in Soft Floral family features fresh tuberose and lily with sweet patchouli and amber.
* Princess by Vera Wang in the Floral Oriental family features fresh apples, citrus, musk and vanilla.
* Curious by Britney Spears in the Floral family features crisp notes of vanilla, musk and fresh white flower.

Men's Eau de Toilette

* Polo Sport by Ralph Lauren in the Aromatic Fougère family features fresh lavender and amber with sporty florals.
* Eternity for Men by Calvin Klein in the Aromatic Fougère family features fresh sage, amber, jasmine, woods and fruity notes.
* Envy for Men By Gucci in the woody oriental family features fresh lavender, amber, ginger and woods.

What is an Eau de Cologne?

Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfigure

Today the word cologne means a men's fragrance, but in fact there are colognes for both men and women. Both have lighter scents and are less expensive. Eau de Cologne is an actual classification for the amount of extracts that are within the fragrance. Eau de Cologne has anywhere from 3 to 8 percent extracts, while the rest of it is filler, like alcohol. Because Eau de Cologne uses less real extracts, the prices will be lower than that of an Eau de Perfum which typically has more than double the extracts.

History has it that Eau de Cologne was started in the German city of Cologne. It quickly became popular with the people of royalty. Early cologne makers used a common ingredient that can still be found in common day colognes- lavender.

To find an Eau de Cologne today, sample these fragrances below:

Women's Cologne

* Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfigerin the Floral family features fresh notes of camellia, apple and citrus with some cedar.
* Exclamation Blush by Coty features fresh fruit, sweet woods and soft powdery musk.
* Jovan White Musk is in the Soft Oriental family featuring fresh white flowers, warm woods and a splash of spice.

Men’s Cologne

* Aspen by Coty is in the Aromatic Fougère family featuring fresh citrus notes with herbs and bold spice.
* Carlos Santana fragrance is in the Woody-Oriental family featuring fresh notes of clean rain, musk and wood.
* Brut by Faberge is in the Aromatic Fougère family featuring classic notes of citrus, woods and spice.

What is the difference between Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum?

Eau de Toilette vs Eau de Parfum

It's really common for designer fragrances to be labeled as being an Eau de Toilette or Eau de Parfum. Most people don't know what these terms mean, but more importantly there is actually a significant difference that makes each of these fragrance types unique - their composition.

To give you a better understanding of the differences in composition of these fragrance types, see below:

* Eau de Toilette has an extract concentration of 8 to 12%.
* Eau de Parfum has an extract concentration of 12 to 16%.

Besides the actual products' compositions, the more notable difference among these fragrance types is their prices. Obviously, the greater the percentage of extract contained within each fragrance, the more it will cost you.

When making a decision to choose either an Eau de Toilette or an Eau de Parfum, besides considering the cost, you should also think about how you wear your fragrances and what attributes you like about them.

Here a few tips to get you started:

* If you want your fragrance to last for hours or even all day long, you should definitely go with the eau de parfum, as due to its higher extract concentration, it simply lasts longer.
* If you do decide to pick an Eau de Parfum, be sure that you don’t spray it the same way as you do with an eau de toilette; a few drops are more than enough, you don’t want to overwhelm everyone in the room with your scent.
* Even if you pay more for your Eau de Parfum, you are more likely to use it less and more sparingly, so the bottle should last longer.
* For the summer, consider using an Eau de Toilette. Its smell is lighter and fresher and it gives you a more fresh feeling.
* For those with more sensitive skin or those with a history of allergic reactions to cosmetics, then Eau de Toilette with its lighter concentration may be the best choice with the least amount of risk.
* For children three years old and above, you should opt for Eau de Toilette and you definitely want to spray it on clothes instead of directly on the skin to avoid any bad reactions.

Finally, you should also be aware that Eau de Toilette has more of a selection than Eau de Parfum. Since, Eau de Toilette is cheaper to make, manufactures can afford to make different perfumes instead of putting all their money into few expansive Eau de Parfums and their superior oils.

How do you make homemade perfume?

Do-it-yourself, Make your own perfume kit

With so many perfumes available for sale during any given year it could be hard and overwhelming to step foot into a perfume store and walkout ten minutes later with a perfume you won’t regret. Why not take those ten minutes to make your own customized perfume in your own home? There are two ways that you can make homemade perfumes:

* From pre-derived essential oils or fragrance oils
* From living plants and fruits

The quickest way to make your own perfumes is to use pre-made essential oils. Essential oil vials can be purchased individually at your local craft and health food store or in a variety pack within a perfume making kit that can be purchased online or at your local craft store. Perfume making kits come with recipes and tips on how to create your own perfume concoction created for you, by you. If you are interested in learning other perfume recipes, check out these websites:

* The House Cyclopedia
* Ehow's Aricle on Homemade Perfumes

The cheapest way to make your own perfumes is to extract the essence of living plants and fruits that are growing in your own garden. With distilled water or high volume alcohol, you can soak plants, flower petals and fruit rinds for a day, then drain for homemade organic essences. To get the exact measurements, try these perfume formulas:

* Making Perfumes From Flowers
* Making Perfumes From Plants

Should you buy perfume testers?

Perfume Testers

If you are the type of person who looks for money saving deals on perfume, this will be an interesting tip to consider. Wholesale websites and very few brick-and-mortar stores offer the public the ability to buy name brand perfumes at a discount of 10% to over 50%, by selling the perfume “testers.” If you are wondering what the differences are in buying a perfume tester versus buying an unopened full bottle of perfume, here are a few answers:

Pro:

* Absolutely no difference. Wholesalers get testers for free or can specially order them when they agree to sell mass quantities of that perfume.
* Full-bottle unopened testers can be sold at wholesale prices.
* Buying used counter testers have less perfume, so will be cheaper.

Con:

* Department store employees or sneaky shoplifters could have stolen the tester for a 100% profit.
* Testers could have been exposed to direct sunlight or air to promote spoiling.
* Sellers could have filled bottles with water to make it look like you’re getting more.
* Can be refilled from numerous tester bottles to make one full bottle.
* May have missing parts or visual blemishes.

Stores that have on the counter perfume testers are directed to throw all of their unwanted testers into a bio-hazard bin for the city to dispose of, or send the testers back to corporate. If you find that the tester you’re about to buy looks used and is from the floor display, the person selling you the tester is acting against the perfume manufacturer’s directions.

If you are still interested in saving money on name brand perfumes by buying the perfume testers, try Become.com/Perfume-Testers to find your next perfume.

Perfume types for men

Unforgivable by Sean John

If you are looking for a men’s fragrance for yourself or for a gift, you will be pleased to know that there is a wide variety to choose from. Similar to female fragrances, men can choose from a variety of note families; floral, oriental, woody, fresh and a combination aromatic fougère. By far, the most produced men’s fragrance is from the aromatic fougère and woody note families. Which consist of deep earthy notes of moss, musk and woods with lighter notes of lavender and citrus.

When looking for a male perfume keep these tips in mind, to help you in your selection:

* “Pour Homme” in French translates to “for men”.
* Cologne does not necessary denote for men. Eau de Cologne actually means the fragrance contains about 3 to 8% fragrant extracts and the rest is filler, like alcohol.
* Men’s fragrances can also be made from Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette.
* Layering the aftershave and fragrance makes the scent last longer.

For some male perfume suggestions, here are the past two years’ winners of the Fragrance Foundations’ fragrance of the year awards:

* Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme won in 2008, featuring notes from the water family.
* Intimately Beckham Men won in 2008, featuring crisp woody notes.
* Vetiver Babylon won in 2008, featuring fresh citrus notes.
* Driven Black won in 2008, featuring citrus and woody notes.
* Terre D’hermes, won in 2007, featuring fresh woody notes.
* Unforgivable by Sean John won fragrance of the year 2007, featuring rich water notes.
* Black Walnut won fragrance of the year 2007, featuring classical woody notes of cedar.
* Antidote by Victor & Rolf won fragrance of the year 2007, featuring crisp woody oriental notes.

Perfume types for women

Dream Angels Desiree by Victorias Secret

Looking for a woman’s perfume for yourself or for a friend can be a little overwhelming. Having so many notes and blends to choose from, it’s almost hard to get started. Especially when the majority of the women’s fragrances come in very similar floral and oriental notes.

When looking for a woman’s fragrance keep these tips in mind, to help you in your selection:

* “Pour Femme” in French translates to “for women”.
* Cologne does not necessary denote for men. Eau de Cologne actually means the fragrance contains about 3 to 8% fragrant extracts and the rest is filler, like alcohol.
* Woman fragrances can be stronger as Eau de Parfum or lighter as Eau de Toilette.
* Layering the body wash and fragrance makes the scent last longer.

For some female perfume suggestions, here are the past two year winners of the Fragrance Foundations’ fragrance of the year awards:

* Daisy by Marc Jacobs won 2008, featuring notes of violet, gardenia, musk and woods.
* Infusion d’Iris won 2008, featuring oriental and woody notes of orange blossom, iris and vetiver.
* Christian Lacroix Rouge won 2008, featuring floral peony and water lily with deep notes of patchouli, wood and musk.
* Juicy Couture won 2007 featuring fresh fruits of watermelon and citrus with sweet vanilla, caramel and woods.
* Dream Angels Desire won 2007, featuring light freesia, plum with fresh wood and musk.

What are the benefits of a solid perfume?

Daisy Solid Perfue by Marc Jacobs

Perfume solids are not as popular as liquid spray on perfumes but smell just as good. With solid perfumes you have to take one extra step to apply. For potted solid perfumes, you use your finger to warm a bit of perfume then wipe on your skin. Powdered solid perfumes are applied with a dusting puff, brush or even shaken on like a baby powder. If you are interested in using solid perfumes, here are some benefits and perfumes that come in solid or powder form:

Potted Solid Perfume

* Portable containers make solid perfumes practical for purses and less expensive than most liquid perfumes.
* Easy to apply to specific points: behind the ear, inner elbow, behind the knee, near wrists, and even between toes for fresh smelling feet.
* Easy to make your own.
* Can be made for vegans. Usually solids use a bee’s wax but Lush makes their solid perfumes with vegan Japan wax.
* Apply to dry elbows, knees and heels for deep moisturizing and a beautiful scent.

Powder Solid Perfume

* Can have oil absorbing properties if it has talc or corn starch.
* Can contain calamine or sulfur powder which might reduce the symptoms of dry or itchy skin.
* Sprinkle all over body before putting on clothes for a fresh soft feeling during the summer.

Here are some solid perfumes that you might want to look into.

* Daisy solid perfume (necklace and ring) features fresh fruits of strawberry, grapefruit and light florals of jasmine and gardenia.
* Jean Paul Gaultier (necklace dog tag) features sets of wood, musk, orange and vanilla.
* Olive Branch Perfume Solid by Lush (potted tin) features notes of citrus and spicy woods.
* Silky Underwear Dusting Powder by Lush features notes of sweet jasmine and soft vetivert.
* White Diamonds Dusting Powder features floral notes of gardenia and lily.

What is the difference between body spray and perfume?

Body Spray

The difference between body spray and perfume is the amount of extracts or essential oils used. Body spray has the least amount of extracts with a 1 to 3 percent extract concentration, which is less than perfume which has about 15 to 40 percent extracts. Having less extracts means the fragrance will not last as long, is less expensive and is lighter in scent than a perfume.

Body spray, being less potent, will need to be refreshed every two to three hours, while perfume fragrance can last over five hours. Since body spray is less expensive than a perfume, you can actually afford to use it more and for alternative purposes also.

Here are some tips for alternative uses of your body spray:

* For school age children who want to be introduced to fragrance slowly.
* Spray on hair to mask food or smoky smells.
* Add a light fragrance to your sheets.
* Add fragrance to your luggage or workout clothes to help them smell fresh.
* Spray on car seats and carpets for an instant air freshener.
* Freshen upholstery and cloth furniture.

If you want to make your own body spray, you can use perfume samples, distilled water and a spray container. Just poor in the perfume sample into the spray container, then fill the sample vile twice with distilled water and poor into the spray container. For softer scents fill with more distilled water or for stronger scents, fill with less distilled water. This should keep for about 2 months.

Other common names for body spray can be; fragrance mist, body splash, after bath spray and Les eaux légères.