To think FM fragrances are a scam

[prayingforrainbows]

Well maybe scam is a bit harsh but I just received my first pot of fragrances from FM purchased on Black Friday.

They all smell like cheap perfume... AIBU or has anyone has better experiences?

It’s worth watching the Secrets of the Multilevel Millionaires on BBC iPlayer. It features Younique and NuSkin but the scam is pretty much the same for them all; a recruitment device hiding behind a notion of “product”. Around 99.6% of sign ups to MLM lose money with the teeny tiny few making money from mass and continual recruitment (many have never been near the product). Your friend @prayingforrainbows is a customer.

FM World, Body Shop at Home and Avon have done some real damage to people over the course of the pandemic, well, all MLMs have, but these seem to have targeted a particularly financially vulnerable part of society. It sickens me that because this is a scam generally targeting poorer women with less options, no one is interested in sorting it out and holding MLMs to account for the pyramid schemes they are.

Perfume Parlour is excellent for dupes. Many of us on the Perfumista threads prefer some of the PP "versions" to the "re" thing.
If, for example, you like "classic" fragrances from before the late 90s, then the PP versions will be more like the original, as many many perfumes were reformulated.
Likewise, PP versions of colognes from places like Jo Malone are great, as they use more perfume oils and less alcohol (which can make up to 80% of a cologne, and is why they last such a short time)
I have about 80 PP dupes, and of most of them I also have the "real" thing. Of 70s and 80s classics, I prefer PP without a doubt. I've only really had a couple of PP duds, some Chanels which are very difficult to replicate, and a couple of Estée Lauders.

What I really hate is the 'thanks for supporting my little business' messages from the friends who sell them.

@Geamhradh does PP do a good dupe for the original Diorella do you happen to know? I wore it in the 80s but it’s definitely been reformulated and is now so heavy and powdery and not as nice. I was so disappointed when someone kindly bought me a bottle recently!

@SlashBeef

I've seen FM "ambassadors" say their stuff us made in the same factories as the high end designer perfumes

Well, they probably are, to be fair!

Means nothing though.

if they don't reach their targets they are liable for the payment which is normally ££ as they have to have the top of the range model I think.

More likely a boggo, small engined 1-series.

I got given some. It’s definitely not made in the same factory, as they claim. It made my throat burn and gave me a headache, horrible stuff.

@YouokHun I found Chance by Chanel really changed a few years ago. I always got so many compliments on it and loved the smell so much, wore it from when it was released for years, now it kind of smells of onions! Such a shame. Why do they mess with a perfectly good formula :(

@Staffy1

I got given some. It’s definitely not made in the same factory, as they claim. It made my throat burn and gave me a headache, horrible stuff.

The “made in the same factory” line may have a grain of truth in that I think FMW smells are made by Drom (now bought out by another company) who have a big factory in Germany making fragrances for anything from shite Polish pyramid scheme perfume to some high end perfumes to the mint fragrance of toothpaste to the pine smell of the aforementioned Toilet Duck. FM perfumes are therefore distant cousins of some expensive perfumes but much more closely related to the whiff of floor cleaner. Except if you buy floor cleaner to wear you won’t get into as much debt.

[quote YouokHun]@Geamhradh does PP do a good dupe for the original Diorella do you happen to know? I wore it in the 80s but it’s definitely been reformulated and is now so heavy and powdery and not as nice. I was so disappointed when someone kindly bought me a bottle recently![/quote]
Sadly not. Or Dioressence.
But! eBay is your friend. I've got a stash of both- as I finish one I get another just in reserve. You can find a lot of the 10ml bottles of both (such a nifty idea) but be careful they're sealed or you can see good feedback. I don't tend to buy from sellers who have 30 identical bottles, but if you find someone clearing out their gran's you can get some real treasures.

Super interesting to read the responses, I'll definitely be checking out the Eden dupes and be sure to avoid FM world from now on 😂

A friend of mine does a similar perfume range (not fm) and was given tons of samples for free so people could try them out. I have a couple of the armani ones and having tried against my genuine code one I honestly couldn't tell the difference.

'Lost Cherry'

Can’t get past the fact that there is a perfume called “Lost Cherry” .. classy!

Actually the FM perfumes are not really cheap for what they are. Next and M&S are much better value for money.
The FM drain cleaner is good though.

Tom Ford likes to shock with his names, Lost Cherry being slightly milder than Fucking Fabulous.
He's the perfumery equivalent of Madonna's self publicity machine in the 80s.

@chiefcha

Perfume parlour is fab.

I agree,try them instead.

Factories are just enormous facilities. They can make quality perfumes to a high specification, and they can also make FM perfumes to a 'FM' specification.

It's not uncommon for products to be made in the same factory - there aren't that many factories in the world!

A Michelin chef could come and cook in my kitchen. It wouldn't suddenly mean that everything I cooked in my kitchen was Michelin quality... (actually my cooking is definitely more at the MLM end )

I have an FM dupe of Chanel No5. It smells identical but when first sprayed on, there's a chemical tinge that the original doesn't have. I paid about £15 in an FM sale so am happy. I just wear it out and about, save my genuine stuff for special occasions as others have said. I got my DH some Oud dupes and he thought they were shit so gave them to DS1 who is less discerning.

I also like the FM mascara and the lipsticks.

I bought it from a colleague who at work is very no nonsense and hard edged. When I joined her FM FB group however, I was shocked at all the bolloxy Live Life Love memes and mantras because it just isn't her. . She says she makes about £500 a month from it, no reason to believe she's lying. Still not tempted to sell it myself though. Hell would freeze over..

@THisbackwithavengeance

I have an FM dupe of Chanel No5. It smells identical but when first sprayed on, there's a chemical tinge that the original doesn't have. I paid about £15 in an FM sale so am happy. I just wear it out and about, save my genuine stuff for special occasions as others have said. I got my DH some Oud dupes and he thought they were shit so gave them to DS1 who is less discerning.

I also like the FM mascara and the lipsticks.

I bought it from a colleague who at work is very no nonsense and hard edged. When I joined her FM FB group however, I was shocked at all the bolloxy Live Life Love memes and mantras because it just isn't her. . She says she makes about £500 a month from it, no reason to believe she's lying. Still not tempted to sell it myself though. Hell would freeze over..

if she really is making £500 clear profit a month after expenses on a consistent basis (which I doubt), then she isn’t doing it by selling product to end users who have nothing to do with FM, she’s doing it by recruiting new sellers who then buy product and then sign up their friends and family and so on. She may sell some product to genuine customers but there’s no way “direct selling” of product to real customers can provide consistent profit of £500. There are so many people trying to sell MLM product that it’s a totally saturated market. FMW doesn’t care about this because they’ve already made their money out of people. Therefore you can bet that somewhere in your friend’s circle people are losing money and she may well find that if she conducts a proper profit and loss exercise taking into account her expenses, she is losing money too. You’re right to swerve it @THisbackwithavengeance but you’re nicer than me because I wouldn’t buy from her at all regardless of whether the products are OK or not. I also have a problem with colleagues in a legitimate workplace being sold MLM product or recruited on the employers time, on the employer’s premises and using employee data (personal information lifted from colleagues that she wouldn’t have if she didn’t work there and has probably shared with FMW).