I Always Get Compliments When I Wear This Expensive-Smelling Perfume

Gift me an hour alone in the department store and you'll find me sniffing and spritzing every perfume bottle in my vicinity. As it's a playground for scent lovers, being let loose on the myriad of new and classic perfumes, eau de toilettes and extraits is akin to Christmas morning. And as a fragrance-obsessed beauty editor, it never gets old. This is why, when I spotted more and more of this type of scent popping up, I was intrigued. Let's talk about perfume extraits.

So, what is an extrait?

Extrait, quite simply, means "extract" in French and refers specifically to the very concentrated oil extracted from the raw materials used to make perfume. Now, though, the term is usually used to refer to a fragrance with a high oil concentration.

"For context, an eau de parfum is around 20% to 25% oil concentration and an eau de toilette is around 10%," Alex Verier, perfumer and founder of fragrance brand Foras explained to me. "An extrait, on the other hand, is a fragrance concentration above 40%. It's bolder, more intense."

Are extraits more concentrated and stronger-smelling?

It makes sense, then, that an extrait would be louder and have increased longevity when compared to an eau de parfum. But that's not always the case.

"It's not as simple to say that a higher [oil] concentration will result in a longer wear time and stronger scent," Josh Carter, a co-founder of fine fragrance platform Fiole and fragrance expert trained under Roja Dove, says. "There are several factors that can affect a fragrance's performance. The main one is how the ingredients [in the fragrance] behave. Bergamot, for instance, is very volatile. While it has incredible projection, it evaporates very quickly, even at 100% concentration. Oud, though, has a softer and more intimate scent but can continue to emit scented molecules for a very long time."

Rather than think of extraits as the brash, overpowering cousin to elegant eau de parfums and delicate eau de toilettes, think of them as a third variation, a way to play with the way fragrance smells by tinkering with the concentrations. Some are even suitable for everyday wear, it just depends on the notes that come through strongest. An oud or leather-heavy extrait may be best suited to evening wear or events, while one formulated with citrus notes could transition between hot summer days and nights very well.

How do you pick an extrait?

As with all fragrances—highly concentrated or otherwise—my best advice is to smell it in person. First, by spritzing it onto a blotter, noting the time, and smelling it at 15- or 30-minute intervals for a couple of hours. As the scent develops, you'll discover the heart and base notes and find out if you like them once the top notes have sloughed off.

Next, pop some on your skin. The way it intermingles with your natural scent will be a good marker of whether or not you should go for it. It seems arduous, but in my humble opinion, there's not much worse than a full bottle of perfume sitting on the side going to waste, simply because the way it dried down was so different from the way it smelled at first spray.

The best perfume extraits

1. Byredo Casablanca Lily Extrait De Parfum
2. Byredo Tobacco Mandarin Extrait De Parfum
3. Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait de Parfum
4. Maison Francis Kurkdijan Amyris Femme Extrait De Parfum
5. New Notes Talco Extrait De Parfum
6. New Notes Queen of the Sea Extrait De Parfum
7. Maison Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale Extrait De Parfum
8. Guerlain L'art & La Matière Vanille Planifolia Extrait 21
9. La Bouche Rouge Rose L'extrait De Parfum

1. Byredo Casablanca Lily Extrait De Parfum

2. Byredo Tobacco Mandarin Extrait De Parfum

3. Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait de Parfum

4. Maison Francis Kurkdijan Amyris Femme Extrait De Parfum

5. New Notes Talco Extrait De Parfum

6. New Notes Queen of the Sea Extrait De Parfum

7. Maison Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale Extrait De Parfum

8. Guerlain L'art & La Matière Vanille Planifolia Extrait 21

9. La Bouche Rouge Rose L'extrait De Parfum

This post originally appeared on Who What Wear UK.