My collection of fragrance dupes and clones

Very recently I became more interested in fragrances ’to wear’. This actually occurred because of sniffing up those of others either when they passed me by on the street or because of the ‘sillage’ of a scent that was still lingering in the air after someone had been there previously.

One type of scent specifically piqued my interest the most. It was a sweet vanilla combined with a fruity sour note that I sniffed up more than once. But since not having bought perfumes in many years I had no idea where to start. Of course I should have simply asked the person but yeah, I did not think that would’ve been appropriate. Since then I’ve learned that people who are in to fragrances actually like other people asking what they’re wearing. I’ve actually quite often came accross posts or questions about ‘compliment getters’, like ‘which perfumes get the most compliments’, even with rankings! O my, I genuinely keep being amazed by the amount of parallel worlds we all know nothing about, until we dive into them!

Just like that I started searching, initially I started small en found some suggestions that may of might have been this scent I was looking for. I then set out to a store, I was told that the quite a big part of the scents on my list were actually considered ‘niche perfumes’, not being sold at that store but the nice saleswoman did also send me to a store in the same mall (which I had never heard about) which would sell those. Indeed they did. Later I learned it’s actually a company with multiple stores all over the country and some in the neighbouring countries..

While there I had already lost my ability to smell anything. “Nose blind” I later learned, because I had sniffed up too many in the previous store haha but I did take five or so paper strips with the fragrance sprayed on it home. The next morning, when I came downstairs, it was like a perfume store there.. even two weeks later some of the strips are still giving of the original scent!! One stand out example being Vanilla Powder by the French Matière Première. Not much later though I found out that one 100ml. bottle would set me back €240..ouch! 😀

Not sure how it happened but next I ran into the Arabian dupes & clones that are available for all on my list and since there’s a lot of 11.11 and Black Friday sales going on I created a list of the fragrances I dared to ‘blind buy’ and bought quite a few!

The resulting collection is already enough to last me a life time so I hope my interest fades quickly, since new perfumes/fragrances are being released every day.
I won’t rule out though that when I’ve found a clone or ‘inspired by’ dupe that I really like, I will buy it to ‘support’ the creators. In the meantime I will just enjoy the journey!

This is not a review by the way, a lot of these I’ve not even tested. Also I’ve learned that these dupe fragrances tend to ‘macerate’ over time. A process where they slowly develop into the thing they were meant to be. I am familiar with that ‘steeping’ process though I doubt if it applies to all types of oils in a formula. I’m sure e.g. fruits will be quicker than a vanilla for example.

So, that was an already too long intro, now to the list! I’ll post pictures, reference the brand and fragrance name, in alphabetical order and also mention the ‘inspired by OG’.

Still incoming (ordered but not yet delivered):
Maison Alhambra – Jean Lowe Immortal (EDP,100 ml) This is said to be a dupe of L’immensité by Louis Vuitton