Designer Perfume Copies

The Rise of Copy Perfume Companies

You may have noticed the increase in companies offering perfume dupes, fragrance copies, smell alike scents that smell just like your favourite designer brand for a fraction of the cost, today we will look at how they can do that and is it worth your money or not?

How can they copy a perfume?

Perfumes are complicated and it would be almost impossible for even the most talented perfumer to copy a fragrance simply by smelling it. So the lab will use a bit of equipment called a Gas Chromatographer, the GC can break down the perfume into its different components. The components are then run through a Mass Spectrometer to calculate the molecular weight and various other characteristics which, in turn can give a clear image of the full perfume composition.

How close are these perfumes to the brand names?

Using this method can yield differing results depending on how complex the perfume is, whether you have access to the quality of ingredients used in the original composition and whether there are any captive ingredients used - A captive ingredient is an aroma chemical created by large fragrance houses, they retain the right to use this ingredient, so it cannot be copied. All in all, the results can be great and some manufacturers can get very close but you will not get a 100% carbon copy. 

Price point - Are these perfumes cheap imitations?

Not always, some designer style perfumes are very cheap to manufacture, when you start to move into the luxury market with brands such as Creed, Tom Ford and Kilian then the cost of materials can go up but unless some really expensive materials are used like Authentic Oud, Orris Butter or Real Ambergris then the actual cost of the perfume isn't huge. The main costs perfume companies incur are the packaging, distributor costs, retailers cut and manufacturing. By manufacturing in-house, using functional packaging, not using distributors and selling direct to the customer smaller companies really can give the same quality perfume for a much more affordable price point.

Will they last as long as the designer brands?

All perfumes work differently on different people, what may last forever on your friend may simply not work on your skin. The subject of longevity and projection is so personal it is very difficult to even broach this subject with any degree of accuracy. If you look at any fragrance from any price point on www.fragrantica.com you will see even the most potent perfumes like Amouage's Interlude Man have 100's of people voting that it has weak longevity! and vice versa, perfumes like Creed Virgin Island Water that are known as a more summery fresh, light fragrance have plenty voting that it is long lasting. In short, if the perfume is constructed properly by a professional perfumer, uses quality ingredients and is at a decent concentration level it should last as long as the designer brand perfume.

Do Pocket Scents make copy perfumes?

Our aim at Pocket Scents is to deliver high quality perfumes of all different styles and prices, some of our perfumes are inspired by well known perfumes but they are not like for like and are not intended to be. Our perfumes are created with a view to letting you get to know the difference between different price points and styles of perfumes - our £15 range is based on the quality available on the High Street for around £30-60, our £25 line equates to High St price £60-120 and the £35+ line (Ne Plus Ultra) uses ingredients  usually found in £120 + perfumes. We professionally manufacture our perfumes in a small purpose built lab in Scotland, all of our products are tested and verified safe to use under European Cosmetics Legislation by an industry qualified chemist with over 30 years of experience in the world of perfume. Finding the right style of perfume is a very personal choice and can be very expensive to buy and try everything that is out there, even samples are not cheap to buy, we feel we can help you find what really works for you without leaving a huge dent in your bank account.