Is your fragrance bold enough? Highly concentrated scents labeled as “extrait” or “intense” are taking over the market. “It reminds me of fashion trends today,” says Delphine Jelk, a Fragrance Foundation Award winner for her work with Guerlain. People now spend “over $1,000 on sneakers or a jacket” and pair them with affordable brands like H&M or Zara—and “perfume is following a similar pattern,” she explains. The stronger the scent (or its lasting power, known as sillage), the higher the price.

“In a world that’s highly visual and increasingly uniform, a bold sillage makes a statement—it’s like an olfactory signature, an attainable luxury,” says Christine Nagel, Hermès Parfums’ creative director. “And more practically, it feels worth the investment because it lingers on the skin longer.”

Sometimes, it’s simply about concentration. Take Guerlain’s Shalimar, for example. “The extrait and eau de toilette versions are the same fragrance, unchanged since its creation a century ago,” says Jelk. Her work on Guerlain’s L’Art & La Matière line highlights raw ingredients like rose, iris, bergamot, vanilla, jasmine, and tonka bean, with concentrations reaching 30%—extrait strength.

Since “intense” can be vague in perfumery, Mugler defines strength by percentages: an eau de toilette contains 7–12% perfume oil, an eau de parfum 10–14%, and an eau de parfum intense 14–25%. Their new Alien ExtraIntense amplifies the original with “excessive florality” in top notes of “solar flowers” and a heart of “jasmine grandiflorum superinfusion.”

Lighter eaux de cologne, around 4–5% concentration, trace back to the 16th century, when they served as a hygienic alternative to infrequent bathing, infused with antiseptic ingredients like lavender and rosewater. “As perfumery became more luxurious, concentrations increased,” Jelk notes.

But “strength doesn’t define quality,” Nagel insists. When crafting Terre d’Hermès Eau de Parfum Intense, she avoided simply boosting potency. Instead, she explored “earth’s darker, fiery side”—volcanoes, smoldering rocks—and humanity’s “inner fire.” The result includes new mineral notes of “intense lava stone.”

“Every perfumer has their own approach to extraits,” says Aurélien Guichard of Matière Première, whose new collection reimagines bestsellers like Crystal Saffron in extrait form. His scents feature a “guest ingredient” that adds depth—like myrrh oil, which he describes as “luminous black.” Similarly, Nagel envisions “earth as dense rock.”

(Note: The last sentence was incomplete in the original, so I preserved the fragment as is.)The blackness is deep and absolute. While concentration may not be the main focus, a sense of richness certainly is.

The scent trail matters too. Last September, Dior perfumer Francis Kurkdjian introduced the Les Esprit de Parfums collection with five fragrances: Gris Dior, Ambre Nuit, Oud Ispahan, Lucky, and the recently released Rouge Trafalgar, which blends pink pepper and roses with red fruity notes. These higher concentrations are designed to be bold—Kurkdjian wanted their signatures to make a strong aesthetic statement with a powerful trail.

French perfumer Amélie Bourgeois collaborated with the fragrance house Les Eaux Primordiales to create their Collection Supermassive, a line of pure perfume extracts. One standout is an amber scent with base notes of black vanilla, amber, and tobacco, promising an “infinite magnetic trail.”

Aurélien Guichard, creator of Matière Première, values this concept for all his fragrances—whether eau de parfum or extrait—so they leave a noticeable yet subtle trail. “The kind of fragrances that, hopefully, make people stop you on the street to ask what you’re wearing,” he says.

That kind of attention is great for business. While I personally prefer the bright clarity of my original eau de parfum, I’ve received multiple compliments while wearing the deeper extrait version around town. Even on the day I rolled down my car windows along FDR Drive, wondering if the scent was too strong for morning meetings, an editor later asked me what I was wearing.

“It’s important that you get compliments,” says perfumer Jelk. “You’ll never repurchase a perfume if nobody tells you that you smell good—that’s the best compliment ever.”

Featured Fragrances:
– Guerlain Jasmin Grandiflorum Extrait – $630
– Hermès Terre d’Hermès Eau de Parfum Intense – $130 (Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue)
– Matiere Premiere Crystal Saffon Extrait de Parfum – $390 (Nordstrom)
– Dior Rouge Trafalgar Esprit de Parfum – $470
– Les Eaux Primordiales Ambre Supermassive Extrait de Parfum – $295 (Nordstrom)