One afternoon last week, I sniffed my wrist, trying to remember which perfume I’d put on that morning. “Oh, Shalimar,” I thought, smelling the familiar animalic shellac of lemon, vanilla and amber. But, no. I’d actually worn Carthusia Ligea. Without too much of a stretch, it might have been Coty Emeraude or even Etro Shaal Nur.
It spurred me to think about perfume smell-alikes. It makes sense that a success in one grand perfume house would spark drugstore copies. One of my favorite vintage scents, Ciro Danger, is clearly a drugstore take on Schiaparelli Shocking with cinnamon. Or, to return to Shalimar, its success has led Guerlain to gin up copies of its own fragrance in flankers.
I thought it would be fun to look at a few perfume successes and see how they rippled through the fragrance ecosystem.1 The obvious place to start is Chanel No. 5. Its combination of aldehydes and florals was a hit. The respectable-but-relatively-downmarket Coty responded six years later with L’Aimant. Now every major perfume house has to have an aldehydic floral in stock, even though they haven’t been in fashion for fifty years. Witness everything from drugstore favorites Faith Hill by Faith Hill and Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds to the costly Amouage Gold Woman.
Jean Patou Joy advertised itself as the most expensive perfume on earth. Dana responded not long after with Platine, another rich floral, this one with specks of faux platinum in the cologne. Shake the bottle, and bits of metal float as if it’s a snowglobe. Platine seems to say, “Hey, Joy, go ahead and call yourself deluxe, but I bet you can’t do this.” I have to wonder if Bourjois Evening in Paris is Joy’s Woolworth daughter, too.
Then there’s Mugler Angel, which has inspired a whole industry of sweet, loud, patchouli-laced knock-offs. If it’s pink or purple and in a body spray at Walgreen’s or Victoria’s Secret, there’s a good chance it’s an Angel rip-off. Half the fragrances touting themselves as “sexy” at the department store are, too, although usually with Angel’s hint of armpit left out. Calvin Klein Euphoria and Lancôme La Vie est Belle are examples.
Sometimes the perfume influence machine works in the opposite direction, from drugstore to department store or even Paris. Coty L’Origan’s success supposedly influenced Guerlain L’Heure Bleue. Dana Tabu must bear some responsibility for Estée Lauder Youth Dew.
What favorite “spawn of” fragrances do you wear? And can you think of a successful perfume that didn’t spawn copies?
1. For a more comprehensive look at how a particular perfume might have inspired other fragrances, check out the “genealogy” section in Nez magazine. It maps out a family tree for one influential perfume per issue.
Oh, that’s a funny topic Angela.
I sure remember two pairs of fragrances that are so similar that difficult to distinguish which is which.
Nu_Be Helium and Hermessence Ambre Narguile is one pair.
MDCI Invasion Barbare and Histoires de Parfums 1725 is second one.
There’s something about the drugstore special Tim McGraw that reminds me of Invasion Barbare, too!
I don’t know if this quite counts, and I’m severely dating myself here, but I like Britney Spears’ Fantasy because it reminds me so much of Electric Youth!
That’s hilarious!
Very interesting topic, Angela!
My take on a similar “genealogy” would be how Mitsuko might have spawned Femme might have spawned Therese might have spawned Promesse de’l Aube… A lineage of which each member can be proud of in both directions!:)
And Coty Chypre might have spawned Mitsouko!
But sorry, no drugstore options in my mind…:( I wish I had some though.
Current drugstore chypres don’t come to mind for me, either. White diamonds has a bit of chypre happening with it, though. I bet there are others I’m not thinking of.
What a cute post
It feels to me like YSL Nu led to Yves Rocher Accord Chic. That’s the only one I can think of off the bat.
Oh, that’s a good one! I’ve never smelled Accord Chic, but now I want to.
Me too!
Oh I have Accord Chic but never tried Nu! I did go on a fruitless hunt to track it down a little while ago but if they are ‘close enough’ I will stick to the Accord Chic. The YR has a kind of “I like it but I don’t” vibe going. Its almost uncomfortable at first but then the resins are there (and I LOVE elemi) and its good. Worth it for the price. I only have 15ml and will probably need someone to mule a bigger bottle to me in Australia from EU one day.
Every nose is different —
Chanel No.22 EDT and Le Galion Sortilege reissue. Someone mentioned a resemblance to Joy as well.
I was just remarking on Saturday that Gallivant Tokyo smells familiar but I couldn’t quite place with which perfume!
Sortilege had to kin of No. 5 at some point–which, of course, No. 22 is, too. I’ve never smelled Gallivant Tokyo. (So many perfumes, so little time!)
To my nose, Alexandra de Markoff’s Alexandra perfume smells an awful lot like the sadly discontinued Guerlain Parure (which is, I suppose, in turn a descendent of Coty Chypre). I have tried a side-by-side of the two, one on each wrist, and find it a little difficult to tell them apart. I would be curious to know if anyone else finds them to be so similar.
I did a quick google search and see that Alexandra de Markoff is carried at Walmart. I hope it does smell exactly like Parure!
Bottega Veneta and Rihanna’s “Rogue”.
Oooh, that’s good one.
I bought Ted Lapidus Silk Way at a little hole-in-the-corner mall shop recently and really like it. According to The Nonblonde it is similar to Barbara Bui and Angelique Encens by Creed.
Haven’t smelled the above, though. What she also said “just tell everybody it is a Le Labo”, I actually agree with, as – although I’ve only tried Ylang 49 and the Lys Le Labo-, there really is something in the base reminiscent of Le Labo’s base.
Nice! I remember when Barbara But was all the rage among perfumistas. I bet it’s hard to get now.
Angela, I do apologise if I’ve mentioned this in response to one of your articles before (I know I have with Robin) but you mentioned Dana’s Tabu, which reminds me of a very dear friend from many years ago when we were in our late teens/early twenties; Diane is sadly no longer with us, but she wore Tabu (in larger quantities than she really should have!) & nicknamed it ‘instant brothel’ which made us laugh back then & continues to put a smile on my face when I see it mentioned, as it brings back lovely memories of us all being young, free & single – so thank you for mentioning it in this very interesting article.
I don’t remember this story, but even if I did, I love hearing it again! Thank you.
One of my favorite dupes (and it’s my top of my cheap thrills list) is Olive Flowers by Madini oils (also known as Talisman), it’s an exact dupe for vintage Shalimar. When I went to replace my stash, I sadly discovered the company closed shop.
Another dupe favorite is Glow by J-Lo, it’s an exact match for China Lily oil, made by Terra Nova. The oil is super inexpensive and lasts for ever.
I love the idea of Shalimar in an oil! I’m kind of surprised Guerlain hasn’t gone that route yet (although maybe they have, and I’m out of touch.)
Ici by Coty was like a chocolate kiss. It was such an obvious riff on Angel. The gourmand trend that Angel initiated has devolved into La Vie et Belle and Mon Guerlain a quarter of a century later. Enough already!
I agree! Angel and its flankers are plenty for me.