Cheap Smell-alikes - Cheaper alternatives to Expensive Perfumes
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Chair, Martin Lewis · Editor, Marcus Herbert
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Well done to the poster who suggested this company , very pleased indeed.
Eternity
Happy
Anais Anais
Tommy Girl
Paris
Shalimar
Orange Blossom
Violet
And they all smell as described I am very happy.
Next have a perfume called "Flowers" which is a total rip-off of Daisy by Mark Jacobs. Its £10 for 100ml or £10 for the gift set.
If you want the genuine articles, I got myself a bottle of Lancome's Miracle Forever 50ml EDP from Au Naturale for £16.20 this week. Its usually £18 but they had 10% off for mother's day. Boots sell the same bottle for £48! Au Naturale sell quite a few brands at good prices, Amarige, Very Irrisistible, Beckham, Burberry, Jade Goody, etc.
Will let you know how I get on.
I assume that you have used Perfume Parlour. I am sure you will be pleased. I have ordered several times and have never been disappointed.
Might never go back to paying £50 a bottle ever again.
I matched the smell of one of the oils to my regular perfume and it was nearly as exact match - and absolutely good enough to getaway with / wear to work etc etc.
The smell doesn't last all day - but then couldn't smell my proper perfume at the end of the day either.
But at these prices you can afford to reapply at lunch time - I might change my stance on this though once my spray bottles arrive as these are probably a lot easier to apply than the roller ball.
So you can imagine my chagrin when my brother said "Have you been running that swirly air freshener again?" (he meant my Goodsphere), "there's a really sickly sweet smell in the place".
*sob*
But there's something* in that scent that sends me :A and it's wonderful to get a whiff of it after 40 years, though it doesn't last nearly as long as the perfume did.
*From what I've read on perfume 'review' sites, it could be aldehydes that I'm a sucker for.
veronarona
Just wanted to share my experience with perfume parlour. I ordered a few 3ml roll-ons and am still trying them, However I have to say, it is quite hard to get the liquid out. My experience with the Stella smell-alike was disappointing. The scent is OK (all Stellas are similar, so this falls somewhere within the stella scope). However, it lasts less than 1 hour on my skin. And I tried to be pretty liberal with the scent on my neck and wrists. I have a stella body lotion from a Marie Claire offer and the scent lasts ages. So very disappoining. Will report back on the time the others last.
The service was nice, fast delivery.
Armani Code Woman: the roll-on lasts about 5 hours. and the scent is similar.
I also got a Alcohol Free Perfume Oil Spray for £6.
However this was stella again, so the scent seems to fade away quickly. However it came in a plastic bottle and with the spray bottle needing to be filled. I filled it and the plastic bottle still has about 4/5 left, so I will be able to fill it often. Even though the scent is not lasting and spot on, I intend to use it in my purse and for this is really convenient. There are not a lot of cheap smaller sprays to carry in the purse, so I think I will be using perfume parlour often - I spray the original one in the morning and them top-up with the smell-alike during the day.
I don't think anyone has mentioned this advantage of buying smell-alikes from M&S or Next or the sprays/ roll-ons from perfume parlour: you pay a lot for a 10 ml original spray to carry in your purse. For instance Estee lauder does 5 4ml miniatures for about £30, but you need to get 5 different ones, so they are only practical if you have the 5 big fragrances as well at home. The last time I saw their 10ml sprays they were about £20 :eek: So these are nice, cheap options to smell nice and the same throughout the day.