To think dupe perfumes are ok ...

Crem de la mer is made of cheap paraffin and glycerin. I’m sure Boots make similar but cheaper

Stella McCartney have stopped producing their perfume so it can’t be bought new.

I do understand the point about copyright, artistry and ownership. I agree in principle. In practise I think huge companies like LVMH, who produce the perfumes and the bottles as a gateway drug for their otherproducts can take the hit.

Noted aromas smell absolutely amazing,just like the real thing at a fraction of the cost of the real perfume

The fashion and beauty industry for your average person is all about dupes. Whether it’s a handbag based on a Chanel bag, shoes based on Chloe shoes etc, or face creams made by Boots to liken Crem de la Mer. How is perfume different?
I love perfume. I buy what I like the smell of and what I can afford. Sometimes it’s a “designer” one, sometimes it’s high street. I really don’t care as long as it smells nice, I can afford it and it lasts.

i wear the real thing, but i use dupes as home sprays.

It's not about that for me. I'm vegan, so they would never have gotten my money in the first place if they use animal products. I'm increasingly finding that the dupes I use also last much longer than the more expensive perfumes I do have, so they're not even offering good value anymore.

It's a risk in a business where a smell can't be copyrighted.

I've given perfume houses enough money in my lifetime. Now they're increasingly fobbing me off with fragrance that barely lasts 30 minutes - and expecting me to pay near £100 for that? No.

The company who come up with the original fragrance spend a lot of time and money to create it, blending scents, designing packaging, marketing it....for someone else to come along and make a dupe of it.

How would you feel if it was your work & someone stole it?

Ok, so I’ve bought a few dupes since this thread was started. I didn’t like them AT ALL. They were like lighter fluid. I definitely prefer the real thing.

I have reported myself for over enthusiasm. I’ve got a shopping basket ready to go at Divian !

You STAR @IAmQuiteNiceActually thank you so so much.

The reason I moved over to dupes is that original perfumes now vanish really quickly. No point paying £200 for Guerlain or Chanel if you can't smell it an hour later!

In 1980s all perfumes had staying power - even the light, fresh ones. I used to love eau de Givenchy and Eau de Gucci and both of them would hold their scent even after you washed clothes, despite being very light florals. Now they last less than 30 mins. Don't know what has changed.

I have various Tom Ford dupes and a Portrait of a Lady dupe from EDEN because I'm vegan, and it's easier for me to just buy from them than it is to check the vegan status of every single perfume, and you know what? They're great. Smell almost exactly like the real thing, and last for ages, so I'm all for them.

Perfume Parlour's Jo Malone dupes last longer on the skin than the originals.

I don’t bother with branded anymore. I figured I wear perfumes because I like the scent not because they’re branded. If I like a scent and it’s as long-lasting as a high street/luxury brand then I will purchase it. The Middle Eastern brands are brilliant for this as they are mainly oil based, cheap and last ages.

I love dupe perfumes! I have some Brand ones that are lovely, but one of my favourites is Verset Soft and Young which is a Chanel dupe and it smells absolutely amazing, it's so good. I don't really mind paying for a Brand, but if I find a good dupe then I'll pick the dupe.

Yeah it always confuses me when people say they don't buy dupes because they don't last as long.

Fair enough if the dupe wasn't much cheaper but at £8 vs £120 you could buy 14 bottles so I think it's worth it!

Ive used the roll on oils from perfume parlour and actually find they last longer than "real" spray perfume.

This is obviously an old thread but noticed your post. Apparently, Divain do a brilliant copy of Stella....I've ordered it but it's not arrived yet. However, their Hypnose is brilliant and they also last much longer than other dupes (that have gone off within a year). I've had the Hypnose for 3 years.

I love dupes! I have really cheap dupes (£1.49 from home bargains, or £4.99 Milton Lloyd) and more expensive smell-a-likes from Next etc

my current favourite is from Lidl for under £5 but I can’t remember what it’s supposed to be a dupe for 😂 maybe Narcisso Rodriguez for her I think. I haven’t smelt the original to compare.

I don’t buy purely to dupe expensive fragrances, I just buy ones I like the smell of and then find after online that they often claim to be dupes. I can’t afford expensive perfumes even for Christmas, birthdays etc it’s just not doable.

In theory I'm all in favour of dupes as long as they aren't claiming to the authentic product. However I have never, ever found a dupe that smells exactly like (or even closely resembles) the perfume it is supposed to be like. Some of them smell good in their own right, though. The same applies to ALDI "dupes" - I don't think they are much good, and I can only think the people who believe they are good replicas don't know the original product very well.

So basically I have always been disappointed by dupes and prefer to have fewer original products.

Also, a little tip i found a few years back to help lighter perfumes last longer, spread a thin layer of plain, unscented vaseline on the skin where you want to spray your perfume, give it a minute to warm up, absorb slightly and still be a bit tacky, then spray the perfume on top. It definitely works in my opinion.

I'm definitely camp real thing, because the ingredients are more likely to be natural than synthetic, plus i like to display the fancy bottles. Not sure if they're also better regulated for ingredient safety, as i'd expect a portion of the price i'm paying to be for safety/quality control.

I decided to buy one "dupe" in December to try, because the perfume it was emulating, Dior Midnight Poison, was a favourite of mine that got discontinued about 10 years ago, maybe longer, and my original 30ml bottle was getting low, even with occasional wear. I did buy a new and sealed 50ml perfume and 50ml body lotion in makeup bag gift set of the origanal on Ebay (for £250, ouch) and it was the real deal, but i wanted to see if there was a decent smell alike for more every day use, as the real deal will last me for special occasions, but i'd like to wear it more often.

I saw 2 middle eastern brands made dupes with similar names (translated in english to night passion) who even modelled their bottle design off the Dior one, but they were manufactured in middle east, were £50 plus for the perfume, and who knows the costs of shipping then import VAT costs, plus i know nothing about their perfume manufacture regulations about ingredient safety etc.

So i checked UK companies like essence vault, EDEN etc, and settled on one from Blossom Perfumery who had a 30% off sale on, and got a 100ml bottle with delivery for about £25.

If you know what the Dior perfume smells like, you can quite easily tell what its an emulation of. It has a strange after scent at the very beginning but it wears off quickly, and as your body heat warms it up and the middle and base notes come through, it gets even nicer and more recognisable. Its not as intense though both are EDP, but it does last really well. As a day to day version its decent, but i'd always go for the real thing for any kind of occasion.

I don't regret buying it, but i don't think i'd buy a dupe again, as displaying the fancy bottles (both in use and empty) is part of my enjoyment of perfumes. Id rather rotate through more variants of "designer" perfumes than stick to dupes of one or two favourites.

I'm very happy with my 'Milton Lloyd Vogue' perfume because it's less than £5 per bottle and it's a good dupe for Chanel no.5.