PERFUME is always a festive top seller, with stores seeing a 40 per cent sales increase before Christmas.
But splashing out on scents doesn’t have to break the bank.
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Supermarket Aldi will tomorrow launch its new aftershave His Reign, which is being touted as a ringer for luxury £295 aroma Creed Aventus but for a budget price of £6.99.
Would you Noel the difference?
Laura Stott sniffed a selection of high street dupe fragrances and compared them to designer counterparts.
She then gave them all a replica rating out of ten.
FOR HER
H&M Sunray Eau de Toilette
£4.99 20ml hm.com
SMELLS LIKE: Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche £52 50ml boots.com.
Price difference: £47.01.
Replica Rating: 9/10
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H&M’s fragrance lasted well and smells far more costly than the price tag suggests, with no lingering chemical niffs.
Bronze Goddess is slightly more complex but I was impressed with how similar the two are once applied.
I’d happily wear the high street version and pocket the difference in price.
FOR HIM
Atelier Vetiver Arome Eau de Parfum
£11.99 50ml Superdrug.co.uk
SMELLS LIKE: Chanel Bleu Eau de Parfum 50ml £74 boots.com.
Price difference: £62.01
Replica Rating: 6/10
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Superdrug’s male fragrance dupes have been created as budget homages to more expensive scents and the price difference and with an aroma similar to popular Chanel Bleu, certainly can’t be sniffed at.
The smell of woody aromatics is good but Superdrug’s dupe is less subtle and more abrasive on the nose.
FOR HER
Lidl Suddenly Lovely Eau de Parfum
£4.85 75ml Lidl (in stores)
SMELLS LIKE: Dior J’Adore Eau de Parfum 50ml £89 boots.com
Price difference: £84.15
Replica Rating: 7/10
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Pastel pink and pretty these two curvy bottles look distinctly alike on the dressing table, and the contents smell pretty close too.
Lidl’s Lovely is floral, womanly, and long-lasting, just like J’adore which contains white floral notes, rose and ylang-ylang.
After a while on the wrist the supermarket budget pong is less potent, but personally I preferred this and found the stronger, pricier Dior niff cloying.
A very decent dupe with a huge difference in price, and you get more for your money in Lidl’s bottle too.
FOR HIM
Next No.85 Eau de Toilette
£10 30ml next.co.uk
SMELLS LIKE: Paco Rabanne 1 Million Eau de Toilette £75 100ml boots.com
Price difference: £65
Replica Rating: 8/10
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Next’s cost-cutting bottle might not be as dazzling but the spicy neroli niff is excellent quality and definitely ‘in the style of’ Paco Rabanne’s blingy best-seller.
Perhaps not as impressive a spritz to unwrap on Christmas Day but if you fancy an everyday alter-native dupe to save some cash this would be a brilliant cologne switch.
FOR HER
M&S Velvet Rose Eau de Toilette
£9.50 100ml marksandspencer.com
SMELLS LIKE: Chanel No.5 Eau de Toilette £90.95 50ml johnlewis.com (NOTE Chanel No 5 not available in 100ml Eau Toil)
Price difference: £81.45
Replica Rating: 6/10
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TikTok has been going crazy for this Eau de Toilette from the M&S fragrance range, with fans claiming it’s a dupe for all-time classic perfume bestseller – Chanel No 5.
The whiffs themselves are in the same scent ballpark, but for me on spraying, there was a distinction between the two.
The M&S floral niff is lovely, with notes of heady rose just like Chanel No 5 – but the high street aroma had more overpowering wafts of violet.
FOR HIM
Aldi His Reign Eau de Parfum
£6.99 100ml Aldi (in stores from 7th Dec)
SMELLS LIKE: Creed Aventus Eau de Parfum £295 100ml harrods.com
Price difference: £288.01
Replica Rating: 10/10
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Even scent connoisseurs would struggle to sniff out any difference between this bargain smell-a-like men’s Eau de Parfum imitation from Aldi and its budget-busting designer mentor, apart from the whopping £288 difference in price.
Both come in stylish silver and black packaging, with Aldi’s classy bottle resembling a sophisticated hip flask.
After comparing both aromas I’m hard pushed to tell them apart.
As dupes go, this whiff is pretty much a dead-ringer.
