- I don't sell any of the products reviewed here. You'll usually find them for sale on the internet anyway.
- I have tested each of the products I write about by myself, regardless whether I post images of them or not - as sometimes I just throw them away quite fast when they are crap.
- I'm not attached to any of these manufacturers in any way.
- I'd be happy for any suggestions or experiences you have, please leave them in the comments below the posts.
- I'm interested in how good these perfumes compare to luxury brand perfumes, so each review has to be understood in terms of how good a perfume is in comparison to luxury brand equiavalents instead of in relation to the low cost price. If a perfume lasts 30minutes, then it is crap regardless whether it costs 3 or 30 euros/dollars.
- I mainly review eau de toilette for men. Bought more than 40 of these over the last two years mostly on business trips all over the world- from europe to east asia. Many were complete crap, some were good and a few were also exceptional.
- About me: I am a 36 year old male living in madrid/spain with a background in the major brand perfume industry. I claim to have a certain degree of knowledge about the industry. I am happily married with one daughter. I use certain imitate perfumes as well as majaor brand perfumes. I don't want to show, that cheap perfumes are better than the expensive ones - they usually are not - but want to highlight and review the (limited amount of) gems that are available at a budget-price.
Posts mit dem Label imitates werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label imitates werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Sonntag, 11. Januar 2009
Criterias used for reviewing
Perfumes smell to some good, some bad, it's a subjective kind of thing. What is being described in each review:
- Scent (descriptive): what does it smell like? Does it closely imitate a well-known luxury brand perfume?
- Lasting power (descriptive): How many hours does it stick on clothes/skin?
- Packaging (descriptive): is the packaging attractive?
- Verdict (overall)
- Random: Everything that didn't fit in any of the other points.
- Scent (descriptive): what does it smell like? Does it closely imitate a well-known luxury brand perfume?
- Lasting power (descriptive): How many hours does it stick on clothes/skin?
- Packaging (descriptive): is the packaging attractive?
- Verdict (overall)
- Random: Everything that didn't fit in any of the other points.
Purpose of the Blog
There is a lot of interest in no-name perfumes, that cost around 3-8 Euros, respectively 5 to 10 $ and that usually try to resemble more popular luxury brand perfumes. They are often called perfume imitates, copycats or smell-a-likes. They are available everywhere but in regular perfume stores.
The quality of these products varies greatly. We can differentiate three types of imitates:
1. Frauds: An imitate claims to be some luxury perfume. Often found in tourist locations in eastern and southern europe. Near identical bottles and packaging. While the customer knows he is buying a fake due to location and price, the products obviously are fraud and a threat to the legitimate luxury brand. As they are also sold on the internet at a regular price to the user, frauds are a danger both to producers and consumers and therefore are not being reviewed in this blog. The quality of these frauds is nearly always low, that means lasting-power below 3 hours and minor sillage due to low oil concentration.
2. Imitates: Companies use a well-known luxury brand perfume as blueprint. The perfume is sold under a neutral brand name, not claiming to be the luxury brand but resembling it closely in terms of smell, sometimes also packaging and bottle. There have been various law suits against companies producing imitates with a broad range of verdicts. The quality of these products primarily depends on the manufacturer and the experience and equipment used.
3. Failures: There were countless smells produced, that did not end up under some major luxury brand. These smells are sometimes passed on to some no-name brand for production, therefore not explicitly being an imitate, as it once was supposed to be an original scent. While the term "original scent" is highly debatable, generally they don't resemble a well-known smell that closely as imitates - the line of seperation is thin.
The quality of these products varies greatly. We can differentiate three types of imitates:
1. Frauds: An imitate claims to be some luxury perfume. Often found in tourist locations in eastern and southern europe. Near identical bottles and packaging. While the customer knows he is buying a fake due to location and price, the products obviously are fraud and a threat to the legitimate luxury brand. As they are also sold on the internet at a regular price to the user, frauds are a danger both to producers and consumers and therefore are not being reviewed in this blog. The quality of these frauds is nearly always low, that means lasting-power below 3 hours and minor sillage due to low oil concentration.
2. Imitates: Companies use a well-known luxury brand perfume as blueprint. The perfume is sold under a neutral brand name, not claiming to be the luxury brand but resembling it closely in terms of smell, sometimes also packaging and bottle. There have been various law suits against companies producing imitates with a broad range of verdicts. The quality of these products primarily depends on the manufacturer and the experience and equipment used.
3. Failures: There were countless smells produced, that did not end up under some major luxury brand. These smells are sometimes passed on to some no-name brand for production, therefore not explicitly being an imitate, as it once was supposed to be an original scent. While the term "original scent" is highly debatable, generally they don't resemble a well-known smell that closely as imitates - the line of seperation is thin.
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