"I only buy the sprays," "All i wear is oils,' "I like to buy the perfume for my dresser", "I like to spray the perfume and wear the oil to bring it out and last longer"... just some of the different preferences I have come across while selling fragrances throughout the Washington, DC area.
Since I first began selling oils and incense years ago on the metro trains of DC, this question would often be asked by customers curious as to the difference between my product, perfume body oils, and name brand perfume, you know your Versace's and Dolce and Gabbana's and Creed's and Chanel 5's of the perfume world. I would say for starters, perfume body oils are stronger and last longer but pretty much the same fragrances without the alcohol at a cheaper price than the name brand perfume but without the box, spray, and packaging.
This is not to slight name brand perfumes and their high-end luxury retailers. Name brand perfumes can be more consistent in quality and they're like a trophy and elixir; decorative and rewarding, with every spray and compliment.
But back to the basics, the big difference, is--- there are no big differences outside of alcoholic content, packaging, reputation, credibility, and branding. Perfume body oils are manufactured the same way as the parfum, using essential oils distilled from raw ingredients mixed with an unscented oil to counter strength and sharpness of the fragrance, minus the alcohol. There may be some variations in the origin of a particular essential oil used to replicate the name brand perfume type which may cause slight inconsistencies such as instead of mandarin orange being used as a specific ingredient, it may be just an orange scent used in the process of manufacturing.
Another huge difference not often thought about between name brands and their body oil counterparts, is the variety of fragrances available to you compared to Name brand fragrances. Since many name brands use the same ingredients with slight differences to mixture, there can often be replicas between the different name brand fragrances like Polo 67' and Creed Virgin Island Water being similar to Davidoff's Cool Water. With body oil fragrances, you can often find the concentrated essential oils that are used to create the various cool water types, as well as the fragrances types themselves. There are also many raw fragrances and underground mixes that are not in retail stores. If yo u only like frankincense or sandalwood, you can get these fragrances in an affordable oil base form, but if you want a more popular underground fragrance, you can choose from Pink Privacy, Sex on the Beach, and even celebrities like Cardi B.
At the end of the day, whether you like the actual sprays or you like the body oil types, fragrances can leave a lasting impression.