Cheap perfume that smells expensive?

[Andoffwego]

My favourite perfume (and the only one I have worn for years) is Dune. The scent really suits me and smells ‘right’ on my skin. However, it is £90 for a bottle and I just can’t afford that at the moment.

I have real trouble finding any other perfume that I like, but there MUST be a cheaper one that I find acceptable for short term use? I realise that cheaper perfumes are cheap because they have less complex notes and use more expensive ingredients rather than cheaper synthetics, but there must be a lovely smelling cheap perfume somewhere out there? I don’t like very sweet and fruity scents or anything too light and citrusy. Any contenders for me to have a sniff of?

Poundland perfumes are amazing, I would never have believed it until a friend told me about them.

Lush do smaller bottles of a lot of their perfumes and solid perfumes for about £10.00.

They last really well and make me smell like a modern day hippie, which is what I want to smell like!

I second the Eden recommendation, they have a list of famous perfumes they've copied, and they're cheap

Eden produce cruelty free perfumes including dupes of popular fragrances. I bought a couple of my fave scents when I switched to cruelty free a few years ago and they were indistinguishable from the originals.

This one is listed as being a dupe of Dune edenperfumes.co.uk/shop/perfumes/oriental/528-no-045

Another vote for Eden. I have a couple of their dupes and I can't tell the difference. They also last really well.

Would anyone know of a dupe for Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien please ?
It's lovely but expensive.

@LadyEloise1

Would anyone know of a dupe for Annick Goutal Eau d'Hadrien please ? It's lovely but expensive.

This is one of my favourite summer perfumes- I've got lots of summer citrusses but this is my n1. Never found an exact dupe- but I have a 100ml bottle bought from a German website a few years ago, it was about £40 because at the time Goutal were repackaging. You can also look on places like eBay for ex testers. eBay can be a pita, and you always need to check feedback etc (are they selling loads, and the price is too good to be true? Then it probably is too good to be true etc) but I've had some fabulous stuff. Ô de Lancome or Eau de Rochas are similar though not identical and usually a bit cheaper as easier to find in mainstream outlets.

I bought a couple of the Milton-Lloyd fragrances from Amazon - the one that smells like Chanel no 5 and the one that smells like J’adore. The Chanel-esque one is quite nice, more powdery than the real thing though. The J’adore one is bang on and really nice. That will see me through for a few months and hopefully by then I’ll be able to afford a bottle of Dune (and if not I’ve got a lot more suggestions to try on here).

Thank you @Geamhradh
It's odd but I really don't like Ó de Lancome. I'll check out Eau de Rochas.

L'Occitane Verbena and Tom Ford Neroli are similar but I prefer the Annick Goutal
Eau d'Hadrien.
Just Jack do a lovely dupe of Tom Ford's Neroli.
They also do dupes of other Tom Fords.

I’m also a fan of Next cashmere, and I’m delighted to see mentions of the Asda sea salt too.

I picked that up from Asda a few months ago and it was a lovely summer smell. Lots of comments on it too.

I must get some more.

@MissBattleaxe you have reminded my about Coty L’Aimant (sp?).

I used to wear that as a teen!

@andoffwego

I have half a bottle of Dune that you would be very welcome to have, if you would like it. I promise it's genuine - I used to like it, but just went off it slightly and prefer a more floral scent these days. It's been sitting unused on my dressing table for ages.

I don't want anything for it, just seems a shame to let it go to waste when someone else would like it. PM me if you're interested.

That's very kind of you @coronabeer
I hope the OP takes you up on it.

Also agree with Eden, I love the Tom Ford dupes. I switched because they are cruelty free but very much appreciate the money saving element too. They dont last as long on the skin as Tom Ford but at that price I just slap more on while knowing nothing died for it.

Dune is lovely and I've never found anything broadly similar. I too dislike very sweet fragrances. There's a new Next fragrance that is 'oceany' if you know what I mean and pleasant but I like the woody Enchantment. Rituals orientales collection may be worth a sniff too. I think they all smell 'expensive'. There is one that has something of the flavour of Dune - they're all gorgeous, but I love Roi d'orient and L'eclat. You can get a travel size bottle for £15 or two for 25 before committing to full size.

I second Eden in Brighton. They are cruelty free as well.

@Geamhradh I love summery citrus scents. Can you give me some of the ones you have please ?

Does anyone know of a Marc Jacobs Decadence dupe please ??? I've read through all comments and it hasn't been mentioned

Just wrote a blog post about cheap perfume that doesn't smell cheap. Pop over and have a look if you like. I can't post a link but it's iscentyouaday.

[quote userxx]@Geamhradh I love summery citrus scents. Can you give me some of the ones you have please ?[/quote]
My absolute favourite is the Eau d'Hadrien mentioned above- it's lemony but with a hint of something a bit peppery. It just says hot summer holiday to me. Love it.

Also love Eau de Sud by the same house , a bit sharper, like the difference between a lemon and a lime.

Similar to Eau de Sud are Liz Earle 1 and Yardley Jade (cheap as chips and fabulous) These are all similar to Chanel Cristalle.

Yves Rocher do a brilliant neroli which is just like Tom Ford Neroli Portofino but much much cheaper.

Ô de Lancome and Eau de Rochas are also lovely cool citrus.

Grown up citrus (not sure if you can still get it) is Lemon by Mary Greenwell. That is a lemon chypre.

Boots do a lemon cologne for about £8 and of course good old 4711 shouldn't be discounted!

4160 Tuesdays do a few lemon/citrus perfumes, though I confess I'm not a massive fan- bit too sweet for me, one is lemon sherbert or something, and another is Sunshine and Pancakes. There may be more that I haven't tried.

Shay and Blue (available in M&S) do some great ones- Blood Orange is fab.

Atelier Cologne do some- you can get a sample set really reasonably.

Looking forward to swapping my winter perfume wardrobe for my spring and summer one now!

@Geamhradh Wow!!! I can see you have love for the citrus :) This is amazing, thanks so much.

As I wrote upthread, JustJack do a great dupe of Tom Ford's Neroli, called Neroli.
If you like a citrus scent you'll like it. €20 approximately.

To be honest when I tried Tom Ford Neroli Portofino it reminded me of 4711 and lasted about as long.

Zara crispy Gardenia is nice

@jiji7 I haven't come across a Marc Jacobs Decadence dupe. It's a saffron and plum fragrance. According to Fragrantica, it's smell like Next Be Decadent and judging by the similarities in packaging, it looks to be an accidentally on purpose dupe.

@MissBattleaxe

I totally agree with *@Geamhradh*

I'm a perfume blogger and I firmly believe that cheap perfume can smell good. I've been blogging for nearly ten years and I have loads of suggestions. I don't believe you have to spend a lot to smell expensive.

All perfumes are made by professional noses/perfumers, regardless of the price. Even Avon uses some very highly regarded master perfumers such as Olivier Cresp and Alberto Morillas.

So here's my pick of perfumes under £20 ( and thanks for giving me the idea for my next blog post)

Calvin Klein Contradiction - a frosty woody rose that's under £20.

Paul Smith Rose- a classic and under £20

Coty L'Aimant - really smells like Chanel No 5 but is about £6 and has been around since 1927

SJP Lovely and Stash- I find it very long lasting and to the PP upthread who said she could have picked a better perfumer than Coty- Coty are behind a lot more than you might think and is a highly respected mega brand.

Rihanna Reb'l Fleur- reminds me of La Vie est Belle and lasts HOURS.

Lanvin Arpege - a huge aldehyde floral classic for under £25 for 100ml EDP.

Obsession - a timeless spicy amber that's still great and still cheap.

Next Just Pink - reminds me of Ralph Lauren Romance

There's lots of great Avon ones too. Try Tomorrow- reminds me of Givenchy Organza and was made by Olivier Cresp (Angel, Black Opium etc)

I wear Coty L'Aimant in the Winter. I love No 5, but L'Aimant really does smell the same, and is a fraction of the price.