Difference Between Perfume and Cologne

Perfume Vs Cologne

The difference between cologne and a perfume has been dimmed nowadays because of the common conception made by the society. Today, many may regard perfume to be the same as cologne. Other people have even come to associate perfume as the more feminine scent while cologne is typically stereotyped for use mostly by men. Yes, the contemporary societies have mandated these definitions. But what differences does cologne have compared to perfume and vice versa?

Foremost, cologne is a term with German roots while perfume has French origins. Perfumes have a greater essential oil concentration with respect to the alcohol content (estimated to be 30% by volume). By contrast, cologne only has about 5% or 8% max in some preparations. Because of the superior essential oil content in perfumes, it’s not a surprise that it is pricier than cologne.

The superior oil concentration also allows for longer lasting scents (6-8 hours) even when only a few drops have been applied on one’s pressure points. If you wear the cologne scent then chances are you have to renew or reapply cologne every 2 hours since the fragrance easily fades away unlike that in perfumes.

When you compare someone who’s using a bottle of perfume to another one who’s using the same bottle size cologne, you’ll realize that the former saves more perfume compared to the latter. This actually makes sense knowing that cologne is meant to be splashed and or sprayed while perfume is designed to be patted to the user’s skin in small amounts. If you try to see the bigger picture, you may even save more if you use perfume compared to using cologne.

Overall, the two products may smell the same but perfumes tend to be more expensive than most cologne. So if you are tight on your budget, you have to go for cologne. Nevertheless, if you can afford the simplest luxury of fragrance then go for perfumes. You can shop for free perfume samples anyway rather than purchasing the very expensive full-size perfume bottles.

1. Perfume has more essential oil concentration compared to cologne.
2. Perfume is generally more expensive than cologne.
3. The fragrance of perfume tends to last longer than that of the cologne.
4. It is expected that a bottle of cologne is consumed a lot faster compared to perfume of the same amount due to the manner the product is used (cologne is to be splashed or sprayed all over one’s body).

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