Inflation Busting Fragrances: it's still perfectly possible to have great fragrances without spending crazy money. Isn't it?

[slpfrsly]

The price of fragrances is going up. Yet demand for and sales of expensive, high end, niche, boutique, and artisanal fragrances were still sky high last time I checked. On basenotes, most discussion seems to veer towards these newer, more expensive, more desirable, and more scarce fragrances on the whole. The threads with (by far) the most comments are discussing artisanal, indie, and the smaller boutique niche brands.

As a result, there isn't always that much room left for the rest of the pack. But to my mind there are plenty of really great fragrances that are still in production, are easily affordable to the majority of people in the Anglosphere, and (crucially) smell really great. That last point is why most of us are are here, after all. Cheap fragrances are one thing, but great-smelling, well-performing fragrances are another thing entirely. Something seems to get lost when talking about affordability, or cheap fragrances; namely, the mind (or the discussion) veers towards the bargain bucket, the £10 'cheapie', and (God forbid) the cheap and nasty clone imitation of the aforementioned expensive, desirable fragrances that garner so much attention.

This tendency to immediately go right down to the bottom of the price scale results in needless and painful sacrifices to one of the most important parts of fragrance: how it actually smells. Finding good or even great fragrances is easily done without spending a great amount of money. When you're trying to spend as little money as possible, it becomes much harder.

So I thought it would be interesting to see if other people would like to join in and try to do precisely that: find fragrances that are affordable, smell great, and will slake the olfactive thirst of even the most dedicated perfume enthusiast. When I say afforable, I'm using 3 figures (i.e. under £100/$100) as the cut off point, but ideally I'd like to keep things a little lower than that (£30-60 seems ideal). Second hand and discounter market prices are good to use, in fact maybe even better than retail.

I'm going to list 10 but you can choose however many you like. As a guide, I'm going to try to meet a few demands - again, you can choose to do something similar or not, it's up to you.

• The Colour Wheel
  Using Michael Edwards' wheel to cover most/all of the different notes and genres.
  
  
• Versatility
  Having both formal and informal fragrances, some that are more suited to casual wear and some that are better for work, events etc. Also leaving room for special occasion and/or more creative/niche scents. Also factoring in weather, time of year, day or evening. I'll also try to provide a balance of some of the smaller details, like texture and so on, but this will be off the cuff/by instinct rather than anything specific.

1. John Varvatos Artisan Pure
   
   
   
   
   Really lovely stuff, this is sought after but still very much in production/available at a good price, despite treading on the toes of so many niche fragrances. A soapy, clean, laundry musk type of floral fragrance that evokes Kurkdjian and Prada fragrances of recent years. It keeps the orris, fruity citrus, and laundry musks balanced, making for an easily wearable and clean masculine scent.
   Price: £30-45
   Colours: White, Cream, Pale Yellow, Light Pinks/Purples
   Versatility: All weather, Daytime, Casual to Formal
   
   
2. Ralph Lauren Polo Blue EDP
   
   
   
   There are numerous blue, dark blue, and aquatic fragrances on the market. It's harder to know what to exclude than what to pick, but I went for RL Polo Blue. Any of the flankers would do, but the EDP stood out to me as the best middle ground between the original Polo Blue and the subsequent fruity, ambroxan and amberwood, and marine trends that have occurred since its release.
   Price: £30-40
   Colours: Blues (!), Silver, Bitter Yellow/Green
   Versatility: Casual, Active, Possibly Clubbing
   
   
3. Montblanc Legend EDP
   
   
   
   I've come round to this style of bracing, silvery fougere after initially finding it offputting in Fierce. When done well it's great, and this style can be found in more formal scents like Chanel's Egoiste Platinum, as well as something much more sensual, like PdM's Percival. Legend EDP is closer to the latter with a thick, rich gourmand-ish aspect, but very much like a mullet, it retains enough 'business-friendly' formality to remain versatile, masculine, and clean. Very much a 'party fougere' without losing sight of its origins like a Le Male or Sauvage, this is a great type of fragrance that covers a range of needs and wants.
   Price: £30-40
   Colours: Amber/Orange, Green, Silver, Reds, Some Purple
   Versatility: Casual, Active, Evening
   
   
4. Lalique White In Black
   
   
   
   Lalique might be an obvious choice but they're an obvious house to go to for something like this for good reason. This is great stuff, it's Layton but for 20% of the cost. Unlike out and out clones, this is not merely some hackjob but a mostly identical replication of Layton with its own twist (more woods, less apple). A blend of designer fragrances from the last 30 years, this is sweet, smoky, spicy, fruity, fresh, and universally loved by women. A wonderful romantic fragrance for men in their 30s and 40s in particular, though this is still suitable for all ages.
   Price: £40
   Colours: Warm Yellows, Red/Orange, Green, Silver
   Versatility: Casual to Smart Casual, Evening to Night, Intimate, Cooler Weather
   
   
5. Floris Santal
   
   
   
   Similar to the above option, this is a faithful and good-quality recreation of Gucci Envy. It sort of smells like sandalwood, but what you mostly get from this is a creamy and buttery sweet woody heart, supported by dry powdered spice like nutmeg, and a few supporting aromatic notes. Masculine, alluring, but dry enough to pass as socially acceptable in most situations. One of the more expensive offerings, this is quite similar to #10 in this list, so could easily be swapped out with another Floris fragrance, perhaps something like Eucris from Trumper, or one of the better Aventus clones to give you a similar balanced-dark woody fragrance.
   Price: £50-70
   Colours: Greens, Browns, Cream
   Versatility: Cooler Weather, Smart Casual to Formal
   
   
6. CdG Incense (Zagorsk, Avignon, Kyoto, Jaisalmer, Ouarzazate)
   
   
   
   I'm including all of the incense fragrances in this one; it's very much a matter of preference which one of the 5 you/the prospective wearer enjoys the most. These were well ahead of their time seeing as niche houses are still imitating or improving upon the formulas that CdG put out 20 years ago. As these are all faithful recreations of sacred aromas, they go in to the category of special wear. This goes to show, though, that more creative scents are by no means impossible to find on a budget. Although they come in 50ml bottles, making the cost per ml quite high, at £65 they're worthy of special status in a list like this.
   Price: £65
   Colours: Mostly Reds, Browns, Black, Pale Yellow, Bitter Greens
   Versatility: Special
   
   
7. Houbigant Duc de Vervins
   
   
   
   We're now in to the true formal fragrances, starting with the fougeres. Much like the dark blues, there are so many affordable versions of the green, aromatic, fougere fragrance, but many have suffered from reformulation since their heyday. Duc de Vervins is the one I'd recommend. It's clean yet robust, masculine, smells very 80s without being horrendously dated or 'old mannish', and does the job it needs to do. I think the reason DdV retains its appeal has a lot to do with Houbigant's presence in the contemporary market; unlike so many of the brands with aromatic/powerhouse scents, they are still making good quality and desirable boutique scents (Fougere Royale etc), and so the reformulations have been kind to DdV. All said, it's a really good retro/vintage fougere.
   Price: £40-50
   Colours: Greens (!), Mild Purples/Whites/Reds/Brown
   Versatility: Formal, All weather
   
   
8. Vera Wang for Men
   
   
   
   There's not a great deal of discussion about pale woody ambers like Vera Wang for Men but this will stand the test of time far better than the vast majority of stronger, more distinctive fragrances that are currently en vogue (oud). This is the smell of masculinity with a clean and subtle depth, a formal/evening foil to the clean/light/fresh aquatic trend of the 2000s. Fruity fresh citrus, mild spices, soft warm amber, and some delicate woods and musks: there's not much to dig your teeth in to, but it's a very pleasant 'background noise' kind of fragrance that could easily be a signature scent. Everything about this is mild and sometimes that's a necessity without wanting bright/fresh/clean musks. A good daily work fragrance.
   Price: £20
   Colours: Warm Ambers, Oranges, Browns, Yellows
   Versatility: Most Weather, Casual to Formal
   
   
9. Guerlain Vetiver
   
   
   
   If you ever needed evidence that quality fragrance doesn't have to cost the earth, a scent like this proves it. Masculine, dry citruses, smoke, woods, dry mild spice, and of course an earthy yet still very clean vetiver. Slightly dated; if that's an issue you could easily lose this or one of the other vintage/retro scents. If not, vetiver makes for a great autumn to early spring scent - it's how to wear darkness without it becoming oppressive.
   Price: £40-60
   Colours: Greens, Browns, Some Reds
   Versatility: Formal, Evening to Night, Cooler Weather
   
   
10. Lalique Pour Homme (Lion)
    
    Another Lalique, and similar to Floris Santal in that it's based around a creamy 'sandalwood' buttery-sweet woody heart. There's more going on in LPH, however, with plenty of iris, spices, and enough aromatic and balsamic notes to make this part fougere and part chypre. This is quite a particular fragrance that is more suited to formal or even special wear but considering the alternatives from Creed and Nicolai don't appear to be using markedly 'better' ingredients, this is another fragrance where it avoids all the problems and baggage clones bring to the table. You need personality and confidence to wear this; if not, something on the drier, less powdery, more woody or leathery side of masculine would suffice, but this is a great fragrance priced at an absolute steal at £20ish.
    Price: £20-30
    
    
    Colours: Warm Yellows, Greens, Reds, Purple
    Versatility: Formal, Evening to Night, Special

You can see this as a bit of fun, if reading/contributing to list threads if your idea of fun. 😉
On the other hand, I think something like this can be useful to old enthusiasts and newcomers alike. The old heads get to reconsider what they value, what they're seeking from fragrance, but also then get to share their experience and understanding with people who don't know very much and who have just signed up to the site/are newly interested in fragrances. I'm convinced that boutique perfume especially is increasingly disconnected from material value - most niche perfume is in the same bracket as well (indies and artisanals be damned, sorry lads! 😄). For a lot of people that won't matter, they'll keep buying what they know, what they like, what others buy etc. But I think you could make 100 lists like the one above and have good/great affordable fragrances every single time. Anyway, that's getting off the point.

Feel free to share your suggestions for a set or collection of affordable fragrances, whether according to your own personal taste or for an imagined collector. I'm interested to see what other people come up with. 👍

 

[ChuckW]

The price of fragrances is going up. Yet demand for and sales of expensive, high end, niche, boutique, and artisanal fragrances were still sky high last time I checked. On basenotes, most discussion seems to veer towards these newer, more expensive, more desirable, and more scarce fragrances on the whole. The threads with (by far) the most comments are discussing artisanal, indie, and the smaller boutique niche brands.

As a result, there isn't always that much room left for the rest of the pack. But to my mind there are plenty of really great fragrances that are still in production, are easily affordable to the majority of people in the Anglosphere, and (crucially) smell really great. That last point is why most of us are are here, after all. Cheap fragrances are one thing, but great-smelling, well-performing fragrances are another thing entirely. Something seems to get lost when talking about affordability, or cheap fragrances; namely, the mind (or the discussion) veers towards the bargain bucket, the £10 'cheapie', and (God forbid) the cheap and nasty clone imitation of the aforementioned expensive, desirable fragrances that garner so much attention.

This tendency to immediately go right down to the bottom of the price scale results in needless and painful sacrifices to one of the most important parts of fragrance: how it actually smells. Finding good or even great fragrances is easily done without spending a great amount of money. When you're trying to spend as little money as possible, it becomes much harder.

So I thought it would be interesting to see if other people would like to join in and try to do precisely that: find fragrances that are affordable, smell great, and will slake the olfactive thirst of even the most dedicated perfume enthusiast. When I say afforable, I'm using 3 figures (i.e. under £100/$100) as the cut off point, but ideally I'd like to keep things a little lower than that (£30-60 seems ideal). Second hand and discounter market prices are good to use, in fact maybe even better than retail.

I'm going to list 10 but you can choose however many you like. As a guide, I'm going to try to meet a few demands - again, you can choose to do something similar or not, it's up to you.

• The Colour Wheel
  Using Michael Edwards' wheel to cover most/all of the different notes and genres.
  
  
• Versatility
  Having both formal and informal fragrances, some that are more suited to casual wear and some that are better for work, events etc. Also leaving room for special occasion and/or more creative/niche scents. Also factoring in weather, time of year, day or evening. I'll also try to provide a balance of some of the smaller details, like texture and so on, but this will be off the cuff/by instinct rather than anything specific.

1. John Varvatos Artisan Pure
   
   
   
   
   Really lovely stuff, this is sought after but still very much in production/available at a good price, despite treading on the toes of so many niche fragrances. A soapy, clean, laundry musk type of floral fragrance that evokes Kurkdjian and Prada fragrances of recent years. It keeps the orris, fruity citrus, and laundry musks balanced, making for an easily wearable and clean masculine scent.
   Price: £30-45
   Colours: White, Cream, Pale Yellow, Light Pinks/Purples
   Versatility: All weather, Daytime, Casual to Formal
   
   
2. Ralph Lauren Polo Blue EDP
   
   
   
   There are numerous blue, dark blue, and aquatic fragrances on the market. It's harder to know what to exclude than what to pick, but I went for RL Polo Blue. Any of the flankers would do, but the EDP stood out to me as the best middle ground between the original Polo Blue and the subsequent fruity, ambroxan and amberwood, and marine trends that have occurred since its release.
   Price: £30-40
   Colours: Blues (!), Silver, Bitter Yellow/Green
   Versatility: Casual, Active, Possibly Clubbing
   
   
3. Montblanc Legend EDP
   
   
   
   I've come round to this style of bracing, silvery fougere after initially finding it offputting in Fierce. When done well it's great, and this style can be found in more formal scents like Chanel's Egoiste Platinum, as well as something much more sensual, like PdM's Percival. Legend EDP is closer to the latter with a thick, rich gourmand-ish aspect, but very much like a mullet, it retains enough 'business-friendly' formality to remain versatile, masculine, and clean. Very much a 'party fougere' without losing sight of its origins like a Le Male or Sauvage, this is a great type of fragrance that covers a range of needs and wants.
   Price: £30-40
   Colours: Amber/Orange, Green, Silver, Reds, Some Purple
   Versatility: Casual, Active, Evening
   
   
4. Lalique White In Black
   
   
   
   Lalique might be an obvious choice but they're an obvious house to go to for something like this for good reason. This is great stuff, it's Layton but for 20% of the cost. Unlike out and out clones, this is not merely some hackjob but a mostly identical replication of Layton with its own twist (more woods, less apple). A blend of designer fragrances from the last 30 years, this is sweet, smoky, spicy, fruity, fresh, and universally loved by women. A wonderful romantic fragrance for men in their 30s and 40s in particular, though this is still suitable for all ages.
   Price: £40
   Colours: Warm Yellows, Red/Orange, Green, Silver
   Versatility: Casual to Smart Casual, Evening to Night, Intimate, Cooler Weather
   
   
5. Floris Santal
   
   
   
   Similar to the above option, this is a faithful and good-quality recreation of Gucci Envy. It sort of smells like sandalwood, but what you mostly get from this is a creamy and buttery sweet woody heart, supported by dry powdered spice like nutmeg, and a few supporting aromatic notes. Masculine, alluring, but dry enough to pass as socially acceptable in most situations. One of the more expensive offerings, this is quite similar to #10 in this list, so could easily be swapped out with another Floris fragrance, perhaps something like Eucris from Trumper, or one of the better Aventus clones to give you a similar balanced-dark woody fragrance.
   Price: £50-70
   Colours: Greens, Browns, Cream
   Versatility: Cooler Weather, Smart Casual to Formal
   
   
6. CdG Incense (Zagorsk, Avignon, Kyoto, Jaisalmer, Ouarzazate)
   
   
   
   I'm including all of the incense fragrances in this one; it's very much a matter of preference which one of the 5 you/the prospective wearer enjoys the most. These were well ahead of their time seeing as niche houses are still imitating or improving upon the formulas that CdG put out 20 years ago. As these are all faithful recreations of sacred aromas, they go in to the category of special wear. This goes to show, though, that more creative scents are by no means impossible to find on a budget. Although they come in 50ml bottles, making the cost per ml quite high, at £65 they're worthy of special status in a list like this.
   Price: £65
   Colours: Mostly Reds, Browns, Black, Pale Yellow, Bitter Greens
   Versatility: Special
   
   
7. Houbigant Duc de Vervins
   
   
   
   We're now in to the true formal fragrances, starting with the fougeres. Much like the dark blues, there are so many affordable versions of the green, aromatic, fougere fragrance, but many have suffered from reformulation since their heyday. Duc de Vervins is the one I'd recommend. It's clean yet robust, masculine, smells very 80s without being horrendously dated or 'old mannish', and does the job it needs to do. I think the reason DdV retains its appeal has a lot to do with Houbigant's presence in the contemporary market; unlike so many of the brands with aromatic/powerhouse scents, they are still making good quality and desirable boutique scents (Fougere Royale etc), and so the reformulations have been kind to DdV. All said, it's a really good retro/vintage fougere.
   Price: £40-50
   Colours: Greens (!), Mild Purples/Whites/Reds/Brown
   Versatility: Formal, All weather
   
   
8. Vera Wang for Men
   
   
   
   There's not a great deal of discussion about pale woody ambers like Vera Wang for Men but this will stand the test of time far better than the vast majority of stronger, more distinctive fragrances that are currently en vogue (oud). This is the smell of masculinity with a clean and subtle depth, a formal/evening foil to the clean/light/fresh aquatic trend of the 2000s. Fruity fresh citrus, mild spices, soft warm amber, and some delicate woods and musks: there's not much to dig your teeth in to, but it's a very pleasant 'background noise' kind of fragrance that could easily be a signature scent. Everything about this is mild and sometimes that's a necessity without wanting bright/fresh/clean musks. A good daily work fragrance.
   Price: £20
   Colours: Warm Ambers, Oranges, Browns, Yellows
   Versatility: Most Weather, Casual to Formal
   
   
9. Guerlain Vetiver
   
   
   
   If you ever needed evidence that quality fragrance doesn't have to cost the earth, a scent like this proves it. Masculine, dry citruses, smoke, woods, dry mild spice, and of course an earthy yet still very clean vetiver. Slightly dated; if that's an issue you could easily lose this or one of the other vintage/retro scents. If not, vetiver makes for a great autumn to early spring scent - it's how to wear darkness without it becoming oppressive.
   Price: £40-60
   Colours: Greens, Browns, Some Reds
   Versatility: Formal, Evening to Night, Cooler Weather
   
   
10. Lalique Pour Homme (Lion)
    
    Another Lalique, and similar to Floris Santal in that it's based around a creamy 'sandalwood' buttery-sweet woody heart. There's more going on in LPH, however, with plenty of iris, spices, and enough aromatic and balsamic notes to make this part fougere and part chypre. This is quite a particular fragrance that is more suited to formal or even special wear but considering the alternatives from Creed and Nicolai don't appear to be using markedly 'better' ingredients, this is another fragrance where it avoids all the problems and baggage clones bring to the table. You need personality and confidence to wear this; if not, something on the drier, less powdery, more woody or leathery side of masculine would suffice, but this is a great fragrance priced at an absolute steal at £20ish.
    Price: £20-30
    
    
    Colours: Warm Yellows, Greens, Reds, Purple
    Versatility: Formal, Evening to Night, Special

You can see this as a bit of fun, if reading/contributing to list threads if your idea of fun. 😉
On the other hand, I think something like this can be useful to old enthusiasts and newcomers alike. The old heads get to reconsider what they value, what they're seeking from fragrance, but also then get to share their experience and understanding with people who don't know very much and who have just signed up to the site/are newly interested in fragrances. I'm convinced that boutique perfume especially is increasingly disconnected from material value - most niche perfume is in the same bracket as well (indies and artisanals be damned, sorry lads! 😄). For a lot of people that won't matter, they'll keep buying what they know, what they like, what others buy etc. But I think you could make 100 lists like the one above and have good/great affordable fragrances every single time. Anyway, that's getting off the point.

Feel free to share your suggestions for a set or collection of affordable fragrances, whether according to your own personal taste or for an imagined collector. I'm interested to see what other people come up with. 👍

Nice list, but Vera Wang for Men may be my least favorite scent of all time.

 

[Nastka]

Davidoff Hot Water is a cheapie but goodie fragrance that is perfect for winter.

Also, Karl Lagerfeld's series of fragrances are inexpensive. I bought Bois de Vetiver as a gift in the past, and it was very well received.

But one of my favourite inexpensive fragrances has to be Tommy Bahama's Set Sail St. Barts. It's hard to get in the UK, but I imported it via FragranceX for around 25 USD, which is an absolute bargain.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Great list, and I have at least half of what's on it. I usually bang the Avon gong in threads like these, but for folks outside the US, that can be difficult to find.

 

[Ken_Russell]

Great thread idea, thank you for the ones mentioned/shared so far.

Also humbly adding on a budget slightly above the 10 GBP/USD/EUR cutoff line and most of the following remaining stably-at least where I live-within the 20 to 35 price range (occasionally slightly below, other times slightly above this) while their consistent quality remains unaffected by their comparative inexpensiveness:
several of the l'Occitane male choices like Eau de Cade, Eau des Baux, l'Occitan, Faconnable pour Homme, Boucheron pour Homme EDP, Caron pour un Homme plus its l'Eau and Sport flankers, most of the current Aramis Gentlemen's collection, Roma Uomo, Rochas Man, to name only a few.

Most of these are classic and versatile enough to be suitable for almost any occasion.
And while their vast majority is on the rather smart casual, even semi formal inoffensive side and tending more to be timelessly elegant rather than compliment magnets for informal, clubbing, romantic etc. occasions, Havana, Eau des Baux, Roma Uomo, Rochas Man still have their fair share of lushly rich, almost indulgent playfulness and winter/cold wear appropriate masculine sweetness.

 

[Janjanjan]

Pushing it just under the $100 limit for a 30ml, so may not be considered affordable to all - but Euan McCall at Jorum Studios puts out some of the most inventive fragrances around for $95 a pop.

Also I am a big fan of the Elizabeth & James Nirvana Rose fragrance that runs around $16 when you find it at TJ Maxx (arguably unisex from the dark vetiver note and geranium nuances).

 

[sjg3839]

Nice list

 

[Foxsbiscuits]

I bought some of my Guerlains years ago with an average cost of £35 for 100ml. A mix of eBay and FragranceX testers - Habit Rouge, Guerlain Homme Intense, Heritage. Ideal Cologne was retailing 50ml for £28.

I think they've gone up since then but still represent good value/quality.
The cheapest one currently in my collection is Moustache Original.

 

[hednic]

These ones below from your list I own and love. The others I don't.

Montblanc Legend EDP
Lalique White In Black
Houbigant Duc de Vervins
Guelain Vetiver
Lalique Le Lion

 

[LiveJazz]

Agree with the original list, especially Guerlain Vetiver, the Lalique, CdGs, Duc de Vervins.

And, no thread like this can be complete with a mention of Azzaro Pour Homme. Typically available under $30, making it possibly more on the "cheapie" end of spectrum purely based on price, but it's not a compromise at all. It continues to be one of the best scents on the market at any price.

I'd also point to Polo (original). For awhile, apparently it was hollowed out, but last I heard it discussed, it was in decent condition again.

+1 on various options from Aramis - particularly the original and Havana. The others seem to be available more sporadically for whatever reason.

A couple of great Cartiers should be well under $100 grey market...Declaration and Pasha.

 

[ScentDane]

Lalique and Guerlain definitely have some great, cheap scents that are on par with a lot of niche perfumes.

I'd add Davidoff Zino to the list too.

 

[Bavard]

Some vintage fragrances I like that have been available on eBay for less than $100 every time I have checked are:

1. Versace L'Homme (e.g., thin script / tan box)
2. Polo (e.g., Cosmair)
3. Ho Hang Club
4. Chanel No. 5 (e.g., Eau de Cologne)
5. Bijan for Men (e.g., cologne / pre-five star edt)

 

[freewheelingvagabond]

I don't know. It has become much harder to find something great that's inexpensive at the same time. A lot of designers that hit the discounters are either poorly blended, smell sharp/synthetic, and many of the older ones have been reformulated for worse.

If one is spending no more than $30-$40 on a bottle, one could get something like Bogart (classic choice), or Varvatos Vintage which is surprisingly good and affordable, or any one from a few select others. If one is spending $30-$40 per fragrance and buying 10-20 bottles, then a much better idea to spend more and get something smoother & more well-blended. The vintages are all expensive now, so not much value there either. Something like Egoiste at retail is still one of the best values out there.

Completely agree on Guerlain Vetiver, and some of the other suggestions.

 

[tspencer]

Most of my fragrances are affordable, so yes I totally think someone can smell extremely nice with modest or even poor means.

 

[ChuckW]

You know, it is a lot harder than it used to be. Guerlain deals used to be killer, but not so much now. Dior and Chanel are excellent but relatively expensive. The market has gotten really pricey. Glad I’m pretty well stocked. I guess inflation has hit our little hobby pretty hard after all.

 

[LiveJazz]

You know, it is a lot harder than it used to be. Guerlain deals used to be killer, but not so much now. Dior and Chanel are excellent but relatively expensive. The market has gotten really pricey. Glad I’m pretty well stocked. I guess inflation has hit our little hobby pretty hard after all.

Caron is another big example. They used to be so absurdly cheap for the quality that I actually rooted for them to get their distribution strategy in order.

Now, apparently they have - being bought by private equity will do that - and I’m sad.

I’m still not sure how much of this is inflation in the classical sense vs the end of a unique era of perfume over-production and firehose distribution.

 

[Varanis Ridari]

Caron is another big example. They used to be so absurdly cheap for the quality that I actually rooted for them to get their distribution strategy in order.

Now, apparently they have - being bought by private equity will do that - and I’m sad.

I’m still not sure how much of this is inflation in the classical sense vs the end of a unique era of perfume over-production and firehose distribution.

Caron doesn't even distribute in the US anymore, at all.

 

[The Cologne Cabinet]

Thanks for the list 👌

A few more reasonably priced fumes that I own and enjoy -

John Varvatos Vintage EDT $30
Tabac Craftsman EDT $20
D&G The One EDT $40
Halston Z-14 EDT $20
Jacomo de Jacomo EDT $20

 

[LiveJazz]

Caron doesn't even distribute in the US anymore, at all.

Wow. I did a cursory check on EBay and was shocked at the slim pickings. That would explain it. Times have changed in this hobby, that’s for sure.

 

[LL Cool Spray]

There are so many of the classic fragrances that once graced the department stores, but now are not trendy enough to be offered a spot at the glass counters.
They were once fairly high-end fragrances that have never increased the price of admission. All have been reformulated, with some reformulations faring well, and others not.
Jacomo de Jacomo
Boss #1
Devin
Jaguar
Drakkar Noir
I could go on and on. A person can build an excellent wardrobe with exclusively budget scents.
One that I don't think survived reformulation well is Paco Rabanne. I repurposed my bottle as a bathroom spray because it was too harsh to wear on my person.

 

[mrcologneguy]

Jacques Bogart has a few collections that are fun, high-quality, and affordable. Most start with the One Man Show line. The more recent Red, Blue, and Green fragrances are fun. Riviera Nights and Arabian Nights — another treat.

One Man Show Gold Edition remains one of the most out-there, extreme fragrances I’ve ever smelled. It was around $20 when I bought it a few years ago. Certainly a winner in the Outrage For The Buck category.

 

[Toxicon]

$100 is an interesting threshold, as the vast majority of my wardrobe was purchased for less than that - just by shopping around, heavily relying on discounters and timely sales. For example, 9 of my Lutens bottles were in the $50-90 range from one discounter or another... but once the current gray market stock runs out, I assume they'll be back to full price. I also got a bottle of CdG Black for $80 on Black Friday; this stuff only rarely drops below $110, but sales occasionally happen if you're watching closely.

But in the spirit of the thread, I'll list things I think of as high quality and that are consistently easy to find under $100. Bear in mind, these aren't the ultra cheapies that smell cheap but I happen to enjoy. They won't be to everyone's taste, but I'd say all of these are very good quality fragrances.

Aramis Havana ($50-70.)
Azzaro Pour Homme ($30-40)
Bentley for Men Absolute ($35-45)
Burberry London ($30-40)
Cacharel pour l'Homme ($30-40)
Caron Yatagan ($45-55)
Cartier Declaration Essence ($60-75)
Dior Fahrenheit ($60-70 for 50 ml)
Gres Cabochard 2019 (EDT is $13-15; EDP is $15-20)
Guerlain Homme EDP ($50-60)
Guerlain Vetiver ($65-75)
Lalique Encre Noire ($25-35)
Lalique Encre Noire a l'Extreme ($30-40)
Lalique Encre Noire Sport ($25-35)
Mugler Cologne ($60)
Roger & Gallet Open ($15-20)
Salvatore Ferragamo pour Homme ($25-35)

 

[Renato]

I guess it depends on where one lives.
Down here the main components of inflation are building costs and food prices.
I haven't seen any huge rises in fragrance prices......yet.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Hugh V.]

If we're including discounters prices too here's my list:

John Varvatos Vintage
A very excellent fragrance, and I might have to get a back up bottle of it. It truly is a homage to the classics, but for modern wear. There's no bad parts of the dry down whatsoever, as it smells quality to the end, and even replicates the skin chemistry of greats like vintage Drakkar Noir and Azzaro PH. The original wave of JV fragrances are pretty quality for the most part. I disagree on Artisan Pure though, as there's something in the dry down that smells unpleasant to me. Maybe the weather just isn't cold enough for me, but I find it so far to be a flaw. Around $30-40.

Banana Republic Metal Rain & Vintage '78 Green
The Metal Rain is like a Creed fragrance (Silver Mountain Water, Millesime Imperial), with a violet note that shows up for a minute reminding me of Fahrenheit. You need to spray liberally, but the scent quality is amazing.

Vintage 78 smells exceptionally high quality, and lasts till the next day. Not my favorite fragrance, but in terms of quality, it's an 11/10. Both around $20 at various discounters.

Drakkar Noir
Played out and dated, but just because it's so well known and became so over-used, even mocked in pop-culture, doesn't detract from the quality, imo. One of the few greats from that era, that not only successfully survived reformulation, but actually resulted in something different. Reformulated Drakkar Noir could easily have been a flanker called Drakkar Noir Sport. Around $30-40.

Azzaro L'eau
This has poor longevity and projection isn't great. But it's a very light fragrance in the vein of Armani Eau Pour Homme and Aramis Tuscany. The scent itself is better than both, imo, and it smells very sophisticated. I like to wear this with a crisp, white dress shirt. Compared to Onyx and the current PH, I feel this one smells far more luxurious and better put together. $20-40.

Polo Blue Eau de Parfum
I didn't realize it could be had for around $60, but then again, that's what I paid for Polo Black. Yes, a very high quality smelling fragrance. My only concern is that it may be a little too mature at the time.

 

[Zenwannabee]

A great thread and some fabulous suggestions already. Putting on the mantle of those earlier posters on this forum (like shamu1 and foetidus) who often extolled the virtues of the great but affordable fragrance, I’ll list 10 of my favorites:
—Tabac EDC
—Brut
—Quorum
—Shalimar EDP and EDT
—Boucheron EDT and EDP
—Jaipur EDP
—Versace L’Homme
—Aramis (and the entire Aramis Gentleman line)
—Joop!
—Montblanc Individuel

 

[Ken_Russell]

Glad to see quite a few Jacomo scents mentioned-great house within an affordable price category, included but not limited to Black Jacomo de Jacomo and Silences.

 

[the_good_life]

Speaking in broad brushstrokes, the neoliberal paradigm of the last five decades has destroyed much of middle class culture, from public infrastructure to the kind of "sturdy, long-lasting, affordable, but quality" product typical of the classic industrial era. Those structural developments began to engulf the perfume industry in the 90s and became a maelstrom in the 21st century. At this point hypersaturation, hyperacceleration, and image over product logic generate a deluge of dross for the mass market and fake niche for the upper middle class and beyond, while digital and logistical globalization have enabled the counter-culture of micro-entrepeneurial craft prefumery servicing "knowledge elites" and "hipsters."

But of course there are always outliers and residues of the older structures, though they can quickly disappear. Knize held out for some time (they killed their portfolio with reformulation, but I don't know the current state of the flagship, Knize Ten), as has Aramis, the epitome of a classical mid cult men's brand with excellent value for money. Still loving Geo. F. Trumper in Old England, too. Many countries still have nationally distributed trad brands that manage to fly under the radar of globalization or are maintained despite being gobbled up (thinking shaving/grooming brands like Floid in Italy, Alt-Innsbruck in Austria or Klar in Germany)

Sadly for members of my social stratum ("too much taste for their income," sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called us ;-) ) they grey market of the 2000s, when I acquired much of my collection, has contracted in some respects, yet the oddities of global production and distribution based on "hit and miss" still offer opportunities (like the quasi-immediately defunct Pierre Bourdon line of quite excellent perfumes that went straight to the bargain bin or year long phases when rebranded lines like Miller Harris or L'Artisan Parfumeur dumped their inventories online and through outlets like TK Maxx). Scavenging is a very real strategy, as is the trading and resale economy on perfume forums .

In sum running out of affordable perfumes is the least of my problems. More concerned about running out of a sustainable eco-system.

 

[DeathArrow]

Shameless self promotion, I started some lists here: https://basenotes.com/threads/cheap-fragrance-lists.534287/ and I hope people will contribute.

 

[DeathArrow]

Most of my fragrances are affordable, so yes I totally think someone can smell extremely nice with modest or even poor means.

Same for me. Smelling great is for sure possible even with a limited budget. And there are literally tons of options: from old designer fragrances, to new designer fragrances, less known houses, new houses trying to make a name for themselves, middle eastern houses.

The world of perfumery is greater than Dior, Chanel, Tom Ford and Creed.

Also, buying less expensive perfumes, means voting with your own money. You reward positive attitudes in the market. If cheaper fragrances are selling well, then some houses might lower the prices to follow the trend. Are you after that last sweet release of Parfums de Marly or Initio? Well, look around. Chances are that there is another sweet perfume that it will do just as well but cost less.

 

[Redneck Perfumisto]

Nice list, but Vera Wang for Men may be my least favorite scent of all time.

I have a bad love for this annoying yet tantalizing soapy wood. I refuse to satisfy it, until I find it at under $20 for 3.4 oz. with cap and box.

 

[baklavaRuzh]

Also humbly adding on a budget slightly above the 10 GBP/USD/EUR cutoff line and most of the following remaining stably-at least where I live-within the 20 to 35 price range (occasionally slightly below, other times slightly above this) while their consistent quality remains unaffected by their comparative inexpensiveness:
several of the l'Occitane male choices like Eau de Cade, Eau des Baux, l'Occitan, Faconnable pour Homme, Boucheron pour Homme EDP, Caron pour un Homme plus its l'Eau and Sport flankers, most of the current Aramis Gentlemen's collection, Roma Uomo, Rochas Man, to name only a few.

I agree with these suggestions. I don't think it's hard at all to find fragrances in this category even if I'm not actively looking, there are entire brands and lines that are good in this price range. But they get less publicity because marketing costs money and high prices is a marketing tool in itself to create hype. So you miss out hyped fragrances by sticking to these fragrances.

If you include 50 or 30 ml bottles and occasional sales, the selection is even larger and will include a lot of Guerlain, Hermès and several other designers.

L'occitane is a great example, here are some others off the top of my head where a large proportionof the range is within that price range:

Le couvent des minimes
Molinard
Fragonard
Yves Rocher
Parfums et Senteurs du Pays Basque
Some Jean Paul Gautier fragrances
Montale (small bottles)
Parfums de Nicolai (30 ml)

I'm sure there are many more.

 

[ChuckW]

I have a bad love for this annoying yet tantalizing soapy wood. I refuse to satisfy it, until I find it at under $20 for 3.4 oz. with cap and box.

Kudos for holding out. But you give love a bad name. A bad name.

 

[freewheelingvagabond]

Kudos for holding out. But you give love a bad name. A bad name.

That's how I roll these days as well ..... it's like livin' on a prayer.

 

[DeathArrow]

I guess that's never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down.

 

[smellyjarhead]

Pushing it just under the $100 limit for a 30ml, so may not be considered affordable to all - but Euan McCall at Jorum Studios puts out some of the most inventive fragrances around for $95 a pop.

Also I am a big fan of the Elizabeth & James Nirvana Rose fragrance that runs around $16 when you find it at TJ Maxx (arguably unisex from the dark vetiver note and geranium nuances).

Most people when setting a price limit are normally setting it in relation to a normal 100ml size bottle, so that would put the first recommendation over
$300 for a full bottle. Not inexpensive to most people.

 

[Janjanjan]

Most people when setting a price limit are normally setting it in relation to a normal 100ml size bottle, so that would put the first recommendation over
$300 for a full bottle. Not inexpensive to most people.

The original poster did not specify a mL level. As a collector, I avoid 100mL bottles and buy small whenever I can, I think this is a strategy a lot of collectors follow. Also, Jorum's full sized bottles only come in 30mL. Hope that clarifies my intent for you, and as I said in my post, I did make the disclaimer that this may not meet everyone's specifications of affordable.

 

[cheapimitation]

Most people when setting a price limit are normally setting it in relation to a normal 100ml size bottle, so that would put the first recommendation over
$300 for a full bottle. Not inexpensive to most people.

I think it's a fair call, I'd rather have something smaller that I like more than 100ml of blandness. And concentration makes such a difference, 100ml of Eau de Cologne is completely different value wise from 100ml of extrait, so setting an ml standard doesn't exactly make things more fair.

 

[Toxicon]

I think it's a fair call, I'd rather have something smaller that I like more than 100ml of blandness. And concentration makes such a difference, 100ml of Eau de Cologne is completely different value wise from 100ml of extrait, so setting an ml standard doesn't exactly make things more fair.

I think this is ultimately a personal consideration, and my views have shifted drastically as my collection has grown. These days I'd almost always rather have a 50 ml bottle (perhaps smaller, if the juice is potent) since it's unlikely I'll finish most of the bottles I own anyway, or at least not for many years. Back when I only had a few fragrances and rotated through a small handful, I absolutely wanted 100 ml every time and can relate to that mentality, too. This might also be different for someone who prefers to spray heavier than I do.

 

[DeathArrow]

Doesn't matter if someone use 1 mililiter or 2 liters bottles. 100ml is a good reference since most people can relate to that. And considering price for the same quantity is normal.

 

[Bon et Copieux]

Naturelle Classique by Mont St Michel
Prix: € 30
Notes: bitter orange, bergamot, sandalwood, rosemary, and cedar.


Green Water by Jaques Fath
Prix: € 70
The original (1947) by parfumuer Vincent Roubert is an aromatic green and is not cheap. The 2015 reformulation is in a word, "fath-ful" to Roubert's masterpiece while adhering to IFRA regulations


Casbah by Robert Piguet
Prix: € 60
2012 release by parfumeur Aurelien Guichard. Spicy, amber, incense.


Cologne Extra-Vieille by Oriza L. Legrand

Prix: € 50
This authentic, ancient house was probably the inspiration for Creed's marketing shenanigans. Cologne Extra-Vieille is a cornucopia of citrus: bergamot, Sicilian lemon, citron, bitter orange, orange peel, neroli, orange blossom, rosemary, and lavender.

.