As the fragrance boom continues to accelerate, beauty brands are looking for more ways to differentiate themselves, while many consumers are searching for long-lasting deeper, richer scents.
Enter the extrait de parfum, a fragrance with concentration beginning at around 20 percent and stretching as high as 60 percent in some cases, versus typically 15 to 20 percent for an eau de parfum.
The extrait de parfum isn’t a new concept. It was the main form of fragrance back in the 1920s, before taking a back seat for years amid the global commercialization of the industry when eau de parfums were king.
But that has been changing since the pandemic, as consumers became more interested, knowledgable and willing to experiment with fragrances than ever. According to data from Mintel, there were fewer than 100 extrait launches globally in 2020. By 2025 there were more than 600.
A report by Paris-based fragrance publishing and cultural platform Nez, supported by Amouage, said: “Since the pandemic, the trend has clearly accelerated, and the major houses are reviving a prestigious concept of the extrait de parfum: that of a creation elevated to its highest level of ambition.”
The report also noted that contemporary extraits often push the concentration far beyond historical norms, in line with market expectations. Indeed, extraits were about 20 percent concentration in 1920.
“Ten years ago, the extrait was almost an anachronism. Today, performance has become one of the main ways people judge a fragrance: longevity and sillage are what they review, share and compare,” said Valeria Acevedo, managing director of Nez. “After the success of niche perfumery, the whole industry went looking for perceived value, and the Middle East, where very high concentrations are the norm, has reset the benchmark. There’s also a less obvious factor: regulation has restricted many traditional sources of power in fragrance, so perfumers can use concentration to rebuild intensity.”
Fragrance consultant Paul Austin agreed with this sentiment: “The familiar eau de toilette-eau de parfum-parfum ladder gave customers a framework for concentration and trading up,” he said. “Today, extrait carries a wider set of expectations: greater presence, a richer interpretation, access to something more exclusive and a deeper understanding of the craft.
“It becomes a vessel, literally and metaphorically, for a consumer who approaches perfumery differently,” Austin continued, “as something to explore, discuss, collect and make their own. That gives brands more ways to engage the customer than concentration alone.”
Nevertheless, in today’s market, not all extraits are created equal, according to the Nez report, with some more about marketing than others. “We come back to the 20 percent of what? If a brand uses 20 percent concentration of fragrance oil in their perfume, but the fragrance oil is 50 percent solvent [due to solubility issues or cost control, for example], the real concentration of odorous material in the finished perfume is 10 percent,” it said.
Among the brands to launch extraits this year or expand extrait collections are Victoria Beckham Beauty, Merit, Horace, Chanel, BDK Parfums, Amouage and Guerlain.
Merit, a leading indie brand in the skin care and makeup space, chose to launch into fragrance with extrait rather than a more conventional eau de toilette. “It’s a unique first try into fragrances to go for the highest concentration, but it was always with this creative-led point of view,” said chief executive officer Philippe Pinatel. “We wanted something that lasts for the consumer, and extrait gives you that, but also personalizes on your skin. It’s more premium.”
The brand’s newest fragrance, New Wave L’extrait De Parfum, costs $92 for a 30-ml. bottle.
Speaking at the time of the launch of her fragrance Hotel Portofino, priced at $320 for a 50-ml. bottle, Victoria Beckham also cited performance as a motivator. “The longevity of this fragrance is really important to me,” she said, “and it’s always about creating the ultimate in luxury. This is the absolute best.”
Then there’s Thomas Saujet, who has taken fragrance concentrations to the next level with his new namesake brand Saujet, which has 60 percent concentrations. Its debut collection, Lumière d’Azur, is priced at $2,250 for a 76-ml. bottle.
“People are tired of fragrances not lasting,” Saujet said. “The problem is that some niche fragrance houses charge $300, $400, and you’re like, ‘Can anybody smell me?’ You can’t smell it by the end of the day.”
Even Paris-based men’s grooming brand Horace is getting in on the trend, with the launch of its first extraits de parfum: Vintage Vanilla, and Horace and Vetiver Primavera, $155 each. “Some clients were looking for fragrances that were even more powerful than some that we already have, even though they were really powerful,” said brand cofounder Marc Briant-Terlet. “At some point, the only way to be even more powerful is to make an extrait where the concentration is higher and you also change the notes to make it even more intense.”
Extraits de parfum also offer brands a path to higher pricing and a premium positioning. “It opens a higher price tier, and it gives brands a way to renew a fragrance whose success is already proven,” Acevedo said. “It can also win back people who didn’t connect with the original. The risk is that at a higher price, there’s no room for disappointment. If the word ‘extrait’ becomes just a label, consumers will stop trusting it, and the whole category will lose its value.”
Carson Kitzmiller, Mintel’s associate principal analyst for beauty and personal care, believes this is a category that will continue to grow in popularity, driven in part by younger consumers. Mintel’s research found that 40 percent of adults 18 to 24 knew about extraits, compared to just 7 percent of those aged 55 and over.
“The price point is a lot higher than something like an eau de toilette, where the fragrance load is a lot smaller,” Kitzmiller said. “But we do see that younger consumers are interested in these segmented or occasion-based products across many different subcategories in beauty, particularly as it relates to fragrance,” she said.
Kitzmiller added that while over all fragrance growth as moderated, extraits, alongside body sprays at the other end of the spectrum, will continue to be growth engines.
“This is certainly a premium price architecture and trade up that is showcasing value to the consumer,” she said. “Younger consumers know that compared to a different format, an extrait carries a higher fragrance load. This of appeal to consumers. What we see overall in the U.S. fragrance market is that one of the top factors for purchase is about long-lasting fragrance. Extraits plays directly into that, so I believe it is a growth lever, or a growth opportunity for brands.”