What do you consider a cheap perfume?

[SisterAgatha]

I wear Dior Addict because I’ve loved it for years. A friend remarked recently that she thought it was a “cheap perfume”, I don’t think she knew that it was my favourite when she said this.

I don’t consider it cheap, and was a bit because I think it’s just around the normal range, maybe on the expensive side for everyday. When I was on maternity leave I wore Britneys Fantasy which I do consider cheap but I do like the sweet smelling ones. It’s more an everyday smell.

What do you consider to be a kind of average expense on perfume?

Cheap to me is gold sugar, britney, perfume parlour dupes, CK one type prices
Expensive is more than £70 a bottle so Byredo, Clean Reserve, maison Martin replica
I guess my boundaries are
Cheap - up to £25
Mid range - up to sort of £70
Expensive - over £70 (if not a giant bottle!)

Depends what you mean by cheap? Cheap as in didn’t cost much is easy to quantify, cheap as in doesn’t smell sophisticated? Well that’s totally subjective isn’t it and everyone is going to have a different opinion. Personally I don’t care, wear what you want op and if your friend makes similar comments again pull her on it and tell her she’s a snob! She’s perfectly entitled to her opinion on whether or not she likes a perfume but to say something is ‘cheap’ is pretty cheap of her frankly. Says more about her than the perfume

Personally I consider popular scents to be cheap…not cheap as in “affordable”, but cheap as in very commonplace/not unique/basic etc

Likewise, there are some affordable scents which smell expensive because they’re expertly curated

Also when it comes to price, all perfumes are cheap if you buy the smallest size.

With fragrance, if you constantly wear popular scents, you actually blend into the background. No one will be able to pick up your scent as it’s just a generic background scent. The only way they will smell you is if you overdo it, but then you will end up being more of a “scent nuisance”. That’s why I think perfumes like la vie est belle are basic and others will say “cheap”

She must have meant cheap smelling. Dior perfumes aren’t cheap.

I'd consider a cheap perfume to be one of the ones that teens commonly buy like So?, Ted Baker, Britney Spears & Ghost. Basically under £20 a bottle.

Dior Addict is most definitely an expensive perfume.

QueenPaw that’s kind of my definition too. I don’t think I could wear a perfume in the £100+ range without feeling like I was throwing money away.

Hexinthecity I know, I was a bit but then I wondered if maybe it was cheap and she meant it figuratively. I defo enjoy the smell of the cheaper ones at times, exclamation reminds me of being about 12

Also when it comes to price, all perfumes are cheap if you buy the smallest size.

This is me because I worry about it going off.

Depends whether she means cheap as in affordable or not very complex/ good quality.

So I'd say up to about £30 is quite cheap price wise, over about £80 is expensive. In terms of quality, I think all celebrity perfumes I've tried are on the 'cheap' side, although they can be very pleasant, they don't tend to wear brilliantly either too overpowering/ one note/ don't last.

I also think Cerruti, Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gauthier perfumes have a bit of an unsophisticated, foghorn type vibe even though they're not inexpensive so might think of those as cheap, as opposed to interesting and well put together.

No offence to anyone who wears these, just my 2p worth!

I definitely think she meant cheap as in inexpensive.

It’s subjective

Maybe she regularly spends £100s on Tom Ford private blends? 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think ~£80 is an average price (for me). My current favourite is YSL Libre intense and I buy a larger size, so it’s probably in line with what you pay for your Dior. I wouldn’t say it’s expensive, just an average price from my perspective as I know there are much more pricy items on the market.

She must be loaded then as I wouldn't have though of Dior as inexpensive!

I may go out and smell some Tom Fords this weekend as I don’t think I have ever smelled them, and since that comment I’m now debating whether I can actually tell the difference between an expensive or cheap scent

I buy EA Beautiful (original version) it's around the same price as yours. I like it, I can afford it. I always get people asking what perfume I'm wearing because it smells nice (well, I did when we could get close enough to people!!). For me it's an every day perfume, not cheap, but not expensive either.

It's whatever you like! I mean I wear anything, I have £5 perfume/body sprays and ones that are £100+ and I love them all equally

i wouldnt consider dior as cheap perfume for mass consumption - its mid range to me as i know some perfume companies can be £200 for a small bottle.

Likewise, there are some affordable scents which smell expensive because they’re expertly curated

Have you got any examples of these @wingsnthat? I'm currently on the hunt for new perfumes

@XiCi ah I don’t have many - sorry! The white company - Noir comes to mind - it’s amazing.

Lots of people rave about Zara perfume too, they have a huge range which apparently includes dupes for popular fragrances!

Thanks wingsnthat, I'll take a look at the white company one

My husband is part owner of an 'expensive' perfume company (Tom Ford is probably the top rival). I'm not an expert, just know what he tells me. Most of the 'brand name' type perfumes the cost is in the advertising not the ingredients, and also sometimes the bottle costs more than the perfume. Definitely for a lot of the celeb type ones. This doesn't mean they don't smell nice . Our brand is a lot 'heavier' in smells mainly because of our target market, but we also have more typical scents too. One thing I have to warn everyone about when they choose one of the scents is that because there is so much more ingredient in the bottle (not just alcohol type filler), the scent changes a LOT. So the same bottle can smell very different once on. You don't get that nearly so much with most perfumes. Also you don't need to use nearly so much plus it will last a lot longer.

That’s actually why I love the Dior one, I find in the afternoon the vanilla base notes are all that’s left and it’s just lovely.

Does it start with C notreallyblonde? I find that one lasts days and days.

Tbh I will continue wearing the ones I like, I just wondered for a moment whether perhaps I had underestimated what people pay for these things.

@SisterAgatha

That’s actually why I love the Dior one, I find in the afternoon the vanilla base notes are all that’s left and it’s just lovely.

Does it start with C notreallyblonde? I find that one lasts days and days.

Tbh I will continue wearing the ones I like, I just wondered for a moment whether perhaps I had underestimated what people pay for these things.

No, it's a range of perfumes (like Tom ford). Harrods, selfridges.

Were you thinking Creed OP?

I read something recently from a parfumier who said that some of the celebrity perfumes were surprisingly complex and amazing value for money. I think Ariana Grande Cloud was mentioned and one of the Britney ones.

This is interesting- it’s relative I guess on what she’s spending I guess. My perfume is an LV one which costs £200, so I guess I consider that expensive. Standard would probably be £50-£150? And “cheap” would be under £50- but I fully appreciate that’s not actually cheap, it just isn’t as ridiculous as £200!

Or maybe she means it’s cheap compared to the other Dior fragrances, the £220 ones?

Britney fantasy is one of my all time favourite perfumes though, it lasts longer than ones 5 times the price!

I always thought it was about the same price as the other Dior ones. I guess I always considered Dior as midrange/normal rather than expensive or cheap. Even as a child Poison was my favourite, I used to nick my mums to wear to school.

Britney Fantasy I find a good sound school run choice. I really like it as an every day (I’m SAHM so no need to smell fantastic everyday) Maybe I was wearing that the day she said it

Creed yes, I was thinking of that. But for that price you want it to last for days and days!

I wear Parfums de Marly,Fredrick Malle and Creed so to me designer perfumes are cheap.