Are your fragrances oil based? This is a question I get asked all the time and unfortunately the answer is not a simple one, mainly because everyone seems to have a different interpretation as to what an oil based perfume actually is.
So let me start by defining what an oil based perfume would be. In order for something to be oil based, the majority of the formulation would have to be fragrance oil. Let's assume that most perfumes are made up of two main ingredients (either ethanol and perfume oil or propylene glycol and perfume oil). The rest of the formulation would be minor ingredients that tweek the main formula slightly, such as butylated hydroxytoluene, bezophenone and denatonium benzoate. These minor ingredients will not make up more than 10% of the formula. That means that in order for a perfume to be oil based, the formula would have to contain more than 45% fragrance oil. This is very rarely the case.
So far I have found that customers ask whether a perfume is oil based for one of three reasons. The first reason is because they are looking for roll-on perfumes. These are normally a formulation which includes fragrance oil and propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is a fragrance-free ingredient that has an oil-like consistency so when it is mixed with fragrance oil the end product looks like 100% oil. The main ingredient in these formulations are normally the propylene glycol. These perfumes do tend to last a little longer because the propylene glycol takes longer to evaporate than ethanol would take to evaporate.
This leads me to the second reason customers ask whether our products are oil based - they have heard that oil based perfumes last longer than ethanol based perfumes. As I have mentioned, ethanol evaporates faster than propylene glycol. This means that the fragrance in a proylene glycol formulation will stick to the skin longer than that of a fragrance in an ethanol formulation - lasting longer.
The third reason customers want to know whether a perfume is oil based is for religious reasons.
So which of the above is better? That is completely up to you. If you want a perfume spray - it will have to be an ethanol based fragrance. The only other alternative is a water based fragrance, but these tend to be sold at a very low fragrance oil percentage. If you want to use a roll-on fragrance, these are normally propylene glycol based. If you are looking for strength, ask your supplier for the percentage oil in their perfumes. You could also look out for the type of fragrance - cologne has the least fragrance oil, eau de toilette (EDT) has a little more, eau de parfum has more still, and a perfume has the highest. KITA Fragrances is very proud of our formulation and we use 30% fragrance oil in all of our perfumes which qualifies it as a perfume and makes our perfumes one of the strongest and longest-lasting perfumes on the market - we guarantee it.