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?

@MissBattleaxe

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

Yep. He's a bit Emperor's New Clothes IMO. I'm sure he'd get on with the owners of Jo Malone. They could sit and laugh about how much people are willing to pay for nice boxes.

@MissBattleaxe thanks I'll give this a try.
Another one I've just remembered about is Gio by Giorgio Armani...do you know of a dupe for this one? Sadly discontinued many years ago

I love dune too. It's my favourite but don't use it everyday as it's so expensive! I've tried some Avon perfumes and they're great and long lasting. I really love Amarige by givenchy but that's super expensive too but I have recently discovered Elizabeth Taylor's Emeralds and diamonds which smells so similar and lasts really well you can get 100ml for about £12!! Her white diamonds is good too but quite spicy, I like to layer them. I also love Calvin Klein's secret obsession it's about £20 for 100ml.
I've just ordered some of the Aldi ones to try. I hope they're as good as the hype!

I bought one of the Jo Malone Aldi dupes recently 'Blackberry Bay' and it is really nice. I was very surprised. Jo Malone scents never last very long on me so for £5 for almost the exact same smell I'm sold! The candles are also fab!

Well I may get told my place for this but I love Tommy Girl and I love Britney Spears's Toxic. They both smell lovely to me. My favourite perfume is Prada Candy.

Jo malone dupes from Aldi are amazing! Highly recommend for daily use then keep your more expensive perfumes for ‘best’

@userxx

A nice citrussy perfume (neroli) is the Zara Jo Malone Amalfi Sunray. It smells similar to Miller Harris Lumiere Doree.

@jiji7 You're not the first who has asked me this one! It must have a lot of fans. I haven't actually smelled it, but on Fragrantica, readers have voted of perfumes it reminds them of. Two that stood out for me was Giorgio Beverly Hills Wings and Estee Lauder Spellbound. You'd have to try them and make up your own mind, but I hope that helps.

Patchouli passion - Superdrug.
Gorgeous, cheap and cruelty free.

I picked up N&S Warm Neroli the other day, on a whim, and I'm in love!

@Phormiumjester

I picked up N&S Warm Neroli the other day, on a whim, and I'm in love!

I'm just on my way to M&S now for something else........ will be reporting back shortly :)

@Enzbear I agree about Patchouli Passion. I bought it for a friend and she loved it. It had a gourmand note and reminded me a tiny bit of La Vie est Belle.

@userxx 20% off this week too. So 5 whole pounds!

I just received the tutu woman from ebay, sorry I hate it. Love chanel coco have a bottle thats half finished

I bought Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds Rogue recently. I don't know why I would not usually sample ET scents, but I saw this on offer really cheap so went for a test. It reminded me of Modern Muse Le Rouge so I bought it. There were two bottles in the box, so it was a lot of scent for the money. Then I put it to the back of my cupboard, and forgot about it until this week. It's not the same as MMLR, but similar. It was like Christmas all over as I posted upthread about MMLR saying it's available again, but sadly it doesn't seem to be after all. I am still on the hunt for Dune as well, I can't seem to find a dupe at all (I'm not in UK so our dupe choices are not the same as yours). We do have the Zara dupes so I wish they would bring one out.

I have had a look at your blog missbattleaxe which is really great. I think I'm going to look out for a few of these.

I have a miserable amount of squirts left in my old Dune bottle, which I kid you not I have probably had for close to 20 years or so. I did get the familiar homely feeling when I sprayed it this morning, sadly the staying power is not too great now. It is quite amazing how a smell can make you feel though. I have felt quite nostalgic the whole day.

@MissBattleaxe thanks! I'll give them a try❤️

@isthismylifenow thanks for the mention. So glad you like the blog.
@jiji7 you're welcome!

@lindyloo57 oh no!! Sorry to hear that. Is it tutu woman, not mademoiselle? I’ve had numerous bottles and find them really good! Friends often mistake it for coco. Each to their own I guess.

@TiddleTaddleTat it's tutu woman, it smells of pepper

[quote Phormiumjester]@userxx 20% off this week too. So 5 whole pounds![/quote]

I ended up with ocean musk...... I've bought aftershave haven't I 🙈. Oh sod it, everything's gender neutral these days anyway!

Has anyone mentioned the Lidl perfume that smells like Coco Mademoiselle yet? It's a dead ringer but a little weaker.

This is the closest I can find to Dune- it's about £8 from Boots and smells amazing!

I've been trying out the new fragrances in m&S really nice. One of them smells totally like Chanel #5. I think it is Velvet rose. Not sure tho as I tried 4 liberally. Need to retry.

Agree about Fragonard. They are good. As well as the single frangrance line.

Aldi perfume - velvety rose is gorgeous and £5 or £6 a bottle???? Blackberry and Bay seems nice. I am not keen on the lime and basil, but I don't
like Malone's either.

I've bought the myrrh and Tonka and the bergamot oud from Aldi. I really thought I'd love the myrhh one but I'm not sure, the initial spray is very strong lavender it almost smells like TCP! But the dry down is nice and seems to last. The bergamot is really nice, it's citrusy without being fresh - I don't really like fresh fruity fragrances. I'm going to try out the sanctuary perfume as Dune will always be my favourite and at that price it's worth a try!

Id see if you can get some Avon samples.
Its hard to say what youd definitely like, or what smells expensive, but id say Next, M&s and Avon youre bound to find something.
If you really want Dune though then trying lots of others can be a false economy