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Perfume for women, fragrance for men?

post #1 of 15
1/28/13 at 1:49am
Thread Starter 
Hi folks, I'm wondering about word definitions here. Is a scent a perfume for a woman and a fragrance for a man?
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post #2 of 15
1/28/13 at 2:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragmeister View Post

Hi folks, I'm wondering about word definitions here. Is a scent a perfume for a woman and a fragrance for a man?

No.

A scent is a perfume is a fragrance; all are interchangeable, and all mean pretty much the same thing.
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post #3 of 15
1/28/13 at 2:33am
Thread Starter 
I'm a bloke and I won't say that I wear perfume. I wear 'smellie', aftershave, fragrance or scent. To me, perfume has always been a fragrance for women. My opinion.
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post #4 of 15
1/28/13 at 2:58am
That's a social interpretation.

I think the correct definition of what we apply (other than aftershave) is perfume.
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post #5 of 15
1/28/13 at 4:30am
It's just semantics.
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post #6 of 15
1/28/13 at 5:38am
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Originally Posted by hedonist222 View Post

That's a social interpretation.

I think the correct definition of what we apply (other than aftershave) is perfume.

I agree with hedonist. Before joining this forum I was allured into that 'social interpretation'. But thanks to the OP for starting this thread. It will be of use to many newbies and clear up any misconceptions.
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post #7 of 15
1/29/13 at 1:00pm
Many shades of perfume.
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post #8 of 15
1/31/13 at 9:02am
Being a non-native speaker, I use both terms quite liberally and without any predefined rules, afterthoughts or extra meanings.
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post #9 of 15
2/1/13 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragmeister View Post

Hi folks, I'm wondering about word definitions here. Is a scent a perfume for a woman and a fragrance for a man?

Most people make the mistake of thinking scents for men are called cologne and scents for women are called perfume. In reality, regardless of whether the scent is marketed as being for a man, woman or both, it's all perfume.

It gets confusing at first because perfume is then broken down into categories based on how strong it is (or, to be more precise, how diluted the juice is)
- eau de cologne - the most diluted perfume, meaning the mildest, often sold as a splash.
- eau de toilette - the middle ground. It's what most bottles of perfume usually are.
- eau de parfum - the least diluted perfume, meaning the strongest, and usually most expensive.

Here's more info in case you're curious.
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post #10 of 15
2/1/13 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by L'Homme Blanc Individuel View Post

Most people make the mistake of thinking scents for men are called cologne and scents for women are called perfume. In reality, regardless of whether the scent is marketed as being for a man, woman or both, it's all perfume.

It gets confusing at first because perfume is then broken down into categories based on how strong it is (or, to be more precise, how diluted the juice is)
- eau de cologne - the most diluted perfume, meaning the mildest, often sold as a splash.
- eau de toilette - the middle ground. It's what most bottles of perfume usually are.
- eau de parfum - the least diluted perfume, meaning the strongest, and usually most expensive.

Here's more info in case you're curious.

I think that has more to do with Men and their thought process. If they wear perfume, they feel it may be too girly to call it by Perfume, so they call it cologne to feel better about themselves.

Also, if you look back in time, Men basically wore what is truly a cologne, when it wasn't called eau de . . . anything.

PS, missing from your list is Parfum and Extrait.
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post #11 of 15
2/8/13 at 3:19am
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Originally Posted by David Ruskin View Post

No.

A scent is a perfume is a fragrance; all are interchangeable, and all mean pretty much the same thing.

Agreed. And, a man does not usually want to say that he is wearing a perfume, but saying cologne does not sound as prestigious as saying "the fragrance I'm wearing tody is..."
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post #12 of 15
2/9/13 at 1:59am
I think fragrance is an umbrella term for perfume, cologne, splash, etc.
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post #13 of 15
2/9/13 at 5:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragmeister View Post

Hi folks, I'm wondering about word definitions here. Is a scent a perfume for a woman and a fragrance for a man?

Colloquially, feminine fragrances are referred to as a perfume and masculine fragrances are referred to as cologne. Whether a fragrance is marketed to be masculine or feminine is decided by the company who makes it.

Scientifically, a perfume means higher concentration of the fragrance (as opposed to the amount of water and alcohol diluting the fragrance). Cologne means a much weaker concentration. Typically, perfumes are stronger than colognes anyway.

But keep in mind, it's a just a colloquial term. Just like the words sweater or polo-shirt.
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post #14 of 15
2/9/13 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fragmeister View Post

I'm a bloke and I won't say that I wear perfume.

Same. I say that I wear parfum.
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post #15 of 15
2/9/13 at 4:25pm
This is how I have come to think about it. I have noticed that since I've been reading and posting here, I tend to use the more conventionally unisex terms of "fragrance" and "scent", rather than perfume/cologne. I guess a reflection of my thinking of all scents as being unisex, since by mental habit I still think of perfume as being feminine and cologne as being masculine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Ruskin View Post

No.

A scent is a perfume is a fragrance; all are interchangeable, and all mean pretty much the same thing.
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