Penhaligon's is a British perfume house. It was founded in the late 1860s by William Henry Penhaligon, a Cornish barber who moved to London and who became Court Barber and Perfumer to Queen Victoria.

The base of any perfume you can buy in the shops will be the 'perfume essence', this is what actually makes the smell. This is a combination of essential oils (cedar wood, lime, sandalwood etc), absolutes (jasmine, rose, neroli), animal extracts (musk, ambergris) and synthetic fragrance (this could be nearly anything).

This base perfume essence would actually not be that attractive by itself and in some cases would be actually unpleasant. It is too concentrated, so it needs to be diluted and this is done with alcohol and water.

Penhaligon's fragrances come in 3 categories as follows:

Eaux de parfums

Eaux de parfums have between 12% and 18% perfume oil. After the head notes have come off, 20-30% of the fragrance will linger on the skin for up to 18 hours.

Eaux de toilettes

Eaux de toilettes have approximately 8% to 10% perfume oil. They are lighter formulation designed to be refreshed more regularly. The word toilette is derived from the French word toile, a small piece of cloth laid on the dressing table in the morning.

Colognes

Colognes have always traditionally been perceived as a more masculine product, but this has changed so much in recent years, with more fragrance houses using the cologne structure to promote the idea of lighter more summery fragrances to women.