Niche and Designer

The terminology "niche" and "designer" gets banded around a lot with regards to fragrance but what constitutes there terms?

I personally don't believe in using either of these terms i prefer using "mass market" and "high end" to describe fragrance, houses like Hugo Boss tend to produce mass market, crowd pleasing scents as opposed to say Roja Dove who produces fragrance of outstanding quality using only the best possible ingredients available.

Most "high end" perfume houses only produce perfume where as "mass market" producers are often designers of fashion, cosmetics, and other items!

But having said that i am not saying that higher end fragrances are necessarily better than mass market offerings but far from it in fact, its how a fragrance is produced, blended and the quality of ingredients used.
Nearly all fragrances are blended using a mix of aroma chemicals and natural oils, but its how and who is blending the ingredients, most high end perfume houses employ an in house perfumer of which are likely to be a very skilled and experienced perfumer.

High end scents tend to be of a better quality due to these factors, and most cater for a specific consumer audience which are most likely to be more accepting of some  very distinct and shall we say weird compositions at times.
Many many mass produced fragrances are composed of notes that are designed to catch the general public or the inexperienced nose, as a result i find them to be of a generic, boring and sometimes repetitive nature.
Many design houses also follow a trend and tend to release scents that are close to, in smell, to other scents from other houses that are popular at any given time, this results in mass releases of scents that are very similar to one another, hence why it becomes a over saturated market place for boring and bland fragrance with in the "designer" market.

Personally I will always lean toward the higher end of the fragrance market purely because of my own fragrance tastes, i prefer oriental, gourmand, amber/vanillic, and generally base note heavy scents, i find these to be more readily available in the "niche" market.

There is most definitely a place for all fragrances from all houses in all groups whether it be oriental, fresh/citrus, musky, chypre, gourmand, or fougere.
The choice is so varied now that i don't think anyone will struggle to fine something to suit there taste, but please don't judge a scent upon first spray, give it a chance and you may find that you love it!

 Michael Kors for men and Chambre Noire Olfactive Studio, Perfect examples of "designer" and "niche" fragrances but both are absolute masterpieces!

EDT's v.s EDP's

The two most common concentrations used in the fragrance industry are Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum.
EDT's contain anywhere from 8% fragrance oils to 15% oils where as EDP's generally contain between 16% and 25% oils in relation to the carrier agent which is usually alcohol.

Many fragrances come in both concentrations but which one to choose is often not a straight forward decision as both variants can differ greatly both in scent and performance and especially cost!

Below i would like to highlight both the pros and cons of both EDT's and EDP's, all in my own opinion of course.

Lets starts with EDT, these contain a lower concentration of perfume oils so therefor have a higher percentage of alcohol. This generally mean that projection and sillage are often better but they can lack the longevity of an EDP.
This is not always the case though as there are some EDT's that perform extremely well in all departments, the main reason for the potential lack of longevity is down to the ingredients used and the concentration, as alcohol evaporates it takes the scents molecules with it and body heat helps this process. EDT's will burn of the skin at a much higher rate than EDP's.  
EDP's on the other hand with there higher concentration of oils leave a residue on the skin, this oil often takes a fair while to evaporate away resulting better longevity. EDP's are often denser than EDT's and are more complex and of a richer nature and can and do often smell different to the EDT equivalent. Where as EDT's sometimes have better projection and sillage EDP's have better longevity due to them remaining on the skin for longer.  
I personally believe that EDP's are better for people who have  drier skin as lighter fragrances tend to have longevity issues on such skin types as they are less oily, EDP's are better in this instance.

EDP's tend to generally be more expensive than EDT's because of the higher concentration so hence they cost more to produce, the price can vary greatly from a few pounds to quite a bit more.

This is just my take on the subject, i hope you enjoyed reading and please fell free to comment!

Midnight in Paris by Van Cleef and Arpels

EDT on the left and EDP on the right