Perfume has become Ridiculously Expensive

[likeamillpond]

A few years ago 30ml bottles were around the £35 - 40 mark and people expected to pay £60 - 70 for a 50ml bottle ,
But now it's difficult to find anything of quality for under £80
And that's for the smallest size.
Now I realise that there's inflation, but surely not this big a jump.
It's pure greed and I won't be buying any mote perfume for myself or presents for family for a long time. I cant afford to any more and i speak as a perfume lover.
Usually I've bought lots from Boots and HoF by now.

They're taking the piss surely?
Are people really willing to fork out over a 100 quid on a small bottle of, lets face it, chemicals
and we can't even test before we buy !

I've had some excellent dupes from Perfume Parlour. Also, the Lidl dupe of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle is very good.

I worked for Clinique and then Chanel for over 15 years. The 65% discount I used to get made it worthwhile to buy the fragrances (with Clinique we got the discount across the whole of the Lauder brands) but I would never spend that normally. I actually think some of the cheaper ones like Britney Spears and Next ones are lovely. My current favourite is the Jimmy Choo purple one which you can buy for half price at Boots (if the offer is still on its now £29).

I think you have to have mega bucks to spend £70 plus on something you spray on and wash off everyday...!

Of course they want average people to buy it...look at big fashion houses,very very few people will be buying the couture fashion. They'll be selling perfumes by the shedload though...who do you think is buying it?

Bagels one of the Britney ones gets rave reviews.
I can't remember which one now.

Yanbu
I used to buy perfume. I just dont any more.
Well Innis
Or a 4.7.11 body spray.
Used to wear a splash of cristalle every day.

I think you have an odd idea of what average means if you think average people are spending £100+ on perfume.

Of course there are enough "ordinary" people earning sufficiently above average to pay it, but if they decided they wouldn't/couldn't because of the price, the price would change.

@likeamillpond

Bagels one of the Britney ones gets rave reviews. I can't remember which one now.

Fantasy? I quite liked that.

Yes Fantasy is one
and Midnight?

I wish i could find a next scent i like. Cashmere is nice but i want a fresh day one.

Lolling at the great perfumer Serge Luton

I've just bought some perfume from an FM seller, same perfume but no label and it's smells exactly the same, got the ladies creed one for £16.90 rather than £200 a bottle.

Lolling at the typo police.
Luten.

Are we happy now?

I agree, it used to be that only Chanel, guerlain and very high end house had eye watering prices but now they all are.

I get a lot in TK maxx but they often aren’t cheap still £40-60 but what I am willing to pay.

Since the new allergen regulations came in they can’t even use large quantities of the very expensive ingredients so it does fell like a massive con.

it used to be that only Chanel, guerlain and very high end house had eye watering prices but now they all are.

Even the designer/ celebrity ones are at eyewatering prices.

M&S does reasonably recommend priced ones in scents similar to the designer brands. Also don't forget there's duty and vat on perfume. Designer branded perfume is all about getting you to know their aspirational brand, the ingredients (few exceptions aside) cost no more than an M&S one (disclaimer, the rose petal ones for instance cost a lot to make). Like clothes really.

Ive heard Avon do some nice ones too.

Lutens actually ;-) But you must understand my tone I was just laughing at the mashup between high end perfume and the town of Luton.

I bought my niece Jimmy Choo perfume from Superdrug recently cost me £45.
In savers last week the same perfume was £25.

Yanbu!
You are paying about £1 for the perfume. The rest is bottle, packaging (couple of quid?) , Then a shed load of money for Johnny Depp/Charlie Theron/etc to walk through a beautiful landscape, quite a lot of money for marketing and, the vast majority of the price tag £££££ to a fashion house, to bolster their profit for their less profitable main business of couture and making beautiful clothes for people who can afford them.

I'd rather spend the money on something of material value that someone with years of experience has crafted. You could buy a hand knitted cashmere scarf for that, a handmade piece of porcelain, a beautiful piece of artisan jewellery.

I'd even rather buy an item of clothing from the same designer, the quality of that will be good and it will have value for me in years to come.

I can highly recommend Eden Perfumes, vegan “smell-alikes”. I have 2, and they're great, they really do smell li,e the originals (L’eau D’Issey and Chloe).

Based in Brighton and also have an online shop. £24 for 50ml.

he vast majority of the price tag £££££ to a fashion house, to bolster their profit for their less profitable main business of couture and making beautiful clothes for people who can afford them.

Disturbing.

This is one reason I love 4160 Tuesdays - she is an artisan perfumer and doesn’t spend money on advertising so much more of the price goes into the ingredients.

agree and Sarah has mentioned that due to things like bad harvests and different regulations, some of the raw ingredient prices have gone through the roof recently

I usually buy a bunch of travel sized ones when I visit the US, of course not been this year. Noticed I was at the end of my fave yesterday and can't get the travel size here unless in a set of 4 and the 30mil is crazy priced.

I'm glad it wasn't just me being out of touch. No good sets this year either.

My daughter likes Light Blue.
Previous years I've bought her the 30ml gift set for £35.
This year it's doubled and you don't even get a body lotion with it.

It's ludicrous. You're paying for packaging, the ingredients cost next to nothing. The same scientists who make Creed's perfumes make Lynx deodorant. It's all just branding. I'm a big perfume fan but only buy samples on eBay anymore.

Luca Turin's perfume book is excellent for finding quality scents outside of the regular big brands. Also just a great read.