Some fragrances smell expensive. Why is that? Conversely, some perfume simply smells cheap. What’s that about? My expertise is in buying perfume — not making it — so I don’t have a professional’s response to these questions. I asked a few friends about what they thought expensive versus cheap perfume smelled like, and I got a few answers.
One friend said that cheap perfume smells synthetic. Although this friend probably assumed that cheap perfume contains a lot of synthetic materials, I don’t believe that necessarily to be true. But I can certainly see how a perfume that smells like a chemical concoction might smell cheap, no matter what it’s made of or how much it costs.1
Another friend correlated headaches with cheap perfume. Smell it, get a headache, it’s cheap…
