It’s time to stop treating affordable perfumes like dirt and champion the must-smell-now scents for under £30.
In Westfield London and Stratford, the pop-up fragrance boutique Adopt is an Aladdin’s cave of affordable perfumes developed in France using over 90% natural ingredients and the very best high-tech synthetic molecules. Whilst names such as ‘Fairyland’ and ‘Midnight For Her’ won’t appeal to niche fragrance hipsters, who cares? They’re £9.99, there are hundreds to choose from, some are made by iconic perfumers such as Olivier Cresp and esteemed nose Daphne Bugey , and they really cling on.
At Boots, a new range by Scentology includes Vanilla Latte & Velvet Woods , which might not carry the gravitas of a Guerlain or Penhaligon’s masterpiece, but wow, it’s deliciouslastS ages. It has that suntan lotion escapism vibe from coconut cream and lickable vanilla, with a shot of fresh, nutty espresso that you’ll adore if you’re into YSL Black Opium.
As for the ick-factor, it seems like we’ve all been conditioned to think that low-cost perfumes are inferior when the truth is we’ve been peddled a lie to believe ‘the demand isn’t there’. It is there, 95% of fragrance-loving consumers proved it. So how can we inspire more of this creativity? “Transparency and education!” says Nick Gilbert. “As an industry, we owe it to our customers to teach them more about how wonderful and exciting our world is, and what materials smell like and do, so that people are more engaged and less intimidated by perfumery.”
“More transparency about ingredients,” echoes Marcia Kilgore. “It’s an outdated notion that fine fragrance has to come with expensive bells and whistles, the fancy department store counter and the glitzy gold packaging. Isn’t it what’s on the inside that counts?”the bottle matters too, says Frank Voekl. “The fragrance industry can become more democratic through size and through different formats.