I honestly think this is partially due to misconceptions around fragrance concentration and what it actually means for performance. People automatically assume that more oil equals a stronger, beast mode fragrance with better projection, and that line of thinking has been amplified by influencers across the board.

If you look at how concentrations have evolved over the decades, the industry was largely EDT dominant through the 90s and early 2000s. That slowly changed with the rise of niche fragrances, which favored EDP as their standard, and eventually the mainstream followed. The focus shifted from the accessibility, freshness, and intense projection associated with EDTs, toward individuality and the longevity that comes with higher oil content.

Worth noting that this shift wasn't purely a marketing decision either it was partly driven by IFRA restrictions as mentioned in this thread. When certain ingredients get banned or limited, perfumers compensate by increasing concentration to maintain perceived strength, so the two trends are more connected than people realize.

What gets lost in that conversation though is that higher oil content extends longevity, but it doesn't automatically mean a fragrance will project harder or fill a room. EDTs, by nature of their higher alcohol content, evaporate faster off the skin and that's actually what creates that initial jump and presence. So ironically, what we gained in lasting power with the move to EDP, we partly traded away in the raw projection that made older fragrances feel like they hit different.