A bottle of a high-end fragrance could easily cost you $200, or more. Now, cheaper versions, known as dupes, are making a comeback.
These aren't knock-offs claiming to be brand-name perfume. Companies that make dupes openly advertise them as being "inspired by" more expensive alternatives.
"Some of the dupes are so close to their original that even professionals would have difficulty telling them apart," said Victoria Belim-Frolova, a perfumer based in Brussels.
She's seeing a growing number of scents that mimic more expensive originals — especially online.
"I think we see a lot of this explosion thanks to TikTok and YouTube and kind of the younger generation of perfume wearers who are using dupes almost as a way to rebel against the prestige established market," Belim-Frolova said.
Sergio Tache is the founder of Dossier, a brand that makes fragrance dupes, as well as original scents.
"The younger generation aspires to discover fragrance more and wear different perfumes in different circumstances," said Tache.
"It's hard to do that when if you want to buy three perfumes, you've got to pay a couple hundred dollars at your local perfume store to have that wardrobe of scents," he added.
Dossier's dupe of Maison Francis Kurkdjian's perfume, Baccarat Rouge 540, costs $49 — compared to $210 for the real scent, which comes in a smaller bottle. The dupe, Ambery Saffron, is marketed as "Inspired by MFK's Baccarat Rouge 540" on Dossier's site.
"Perfumers are artists. They are phenomenal creators, and we respect their work a ton," Tache said. "But I also think there's a place for companies like ours who create great perfumes for [a] more affordable price."
How can dupe manufacturers get so close to the original fragrances?
Fragrance makers have long used a technology called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) to identify the specific molecules in a competitor's fragrance – a crucial step to creating a believable dupe.
But Belim-Frolova says using it to basically copy another scent is going too far.
"It's taking advantage of someone else's creativity, of someone else's success, feeding on that," she said. "So it does not have any artistic value."
Ciaran Flanagan is an influencer who posts about cologne as Fragrance Flan on TikTok.
He says he spends a lot of his paycheck on fragrances — and he's not a fan of dupes.
"If their goal, when you hear them marketing it is, 'This is, one for one, it smells identical to this,' then I'm like, I'll just buy the other one at that point," Flanagan said.
If you're looking for a signature scent — dupe or otherwise — he recommends smelling the fragrance before buying it — or making sure you can return it if you're shopping online.
"I go to Neiman Marcus, I go to Nordstrom, and I will go and just sit and talk to the people because they'll give me opinions that are very different than mine," Flanagan said.
This story was edited for radio by Adam Bearne and edited for digital by Obed Manuel.
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