Cheap Perfume Guilty Pleasures

Well...here is my update from 2011 - I have been loving vintage Chantilly. It isn't such a "guilty" pleasure but it is a cheap one. I like Wind Song in the metal body spray cannister, too.

Welcome to Basenotes - you will love it here!
My guilty cheapies include Yves Rocher's Fleur d'Oranger,
Cacharel's Loulou and The Sanctuary Classic Scent.

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea is one of mine. Kewart's already mentioned Loulou, and I think there are other great (and cheap) Cacharels out there - Noa (the original, not the myriad of flankers), Eden (so bizarre it's fab) and not forgetting what every teenage girl seemed to be wearing in the early 80s - Anais Anais. Cacharels always seem to be on discount in the UK.

Almost forgot - Tommy Girl! Which seems to sell at pennies/litre round here (an exaggeration maybe, but only slightly)

I personally like Chantilly very much. It's a touch like Ciara by Revlon (another cheapie), but not as nuclear.

Welcome to the nicest, friendliest forum on the net!
I adore Chantilly, but only in the vintage version, which you can get quite cheaply at times. And I like TABU. I think it's brilliant if a scent is good Ã*nd cheap, much better than good and prohibitively expensive

I agree with Devilcat on Eden, it's a cheap and challenging scent, though I don't wear it often, I would hate to be without it.

I also recommend Cuir de Lancome, a floral leather, unisex and great if you want a touch of leather, not smelling like the whole tannery

Stila Creme Bouquet

And Tea Rose

Well, the only cheapo one I like at the moment is actually Japanese Cherry Blossom by BBW. I was surprised that I liked the scent as I usually don't like scents from BBW. I love the body spray. That's my only guilty pleasure atm. Though, EA Green Tea is nice enough to buy as well I think.

Oh I forgot I LOVE YR Orange and Chocolate but the lasting power is like 0...need to also try the Almonds & Orange.

Lady Stetson (Stetson for men is one of my faaaaavorite smells on a guy)
Bal a Versailles (High in quality but I count this as cheap 'cause I find it for around $30 at places like Ross & TJ Max)
Tabu
Coty Wild Musk (before they reformulated it)
Any of those little cheap decorative "guest soaps" that smell like roses, lilac, honeysuckle, etc.

Welcome to you MJ101! Glad you de-lurked!

There are many cheap and cheerful guilty pleasures I've acquired and enjoy for under 10 USD: Chantilly, Wind Song, Bal a Versailles, Jean Nate body splashes (I especially like the peach with a touch of vanilla one), Cabotine Rose, Cabochard, Tea Rose Perfumers Workshop, Priscilla Presley Roses & More, Stetson, Lady Stetson, B&BW Lemon vanilla.

Welcome to Basenotes!
I also like Loulou and Noa and Eden (although I wear it infrequently). Bought some Cabochard recently at TJMaxx and really like it. (I know, I know, the vintage is soooo much better, but this cheapie is pretty good.)

I'm wearing modern Cabochard right now! I think my entire, giant bottle of EDP cost about $19. I think it smells lovely, and I wear it out and about.

The cheapie I'm actually ashamed of is J.Lo's Deseo. I paid $15 at Marshalls, it's a celebrity scent, and the bottle is silly - but it smells great to me.

yep, Thalia and carolina girl- My cabochard came from TJ maxx too for 7.99 & I think it smells grrrrraate!

+1 BBW Japanese Cherry Blossom Body Spray

For years, my cheapie favorite was Tabu but I think I OD'd on it. I still keep a mini around.

I wear lots of Bath and Body Works around the house, to bed and so on.

I would consider Demeter frags my guilty pleasure, though. As I often choose to buy silly scents just to enjoy for an hour before they disappear.

Carlos Santana for Women. Spicy yet cool. Perfect for when I go salsa dancing.

Walmart knockoff scents!

Tabu is wonderful. The Yves Rocher scents are all worth trying out. From the cheapies I enjoy Bambou, Cedre Bleu, Monoi de Tahiti, Pour Desir de Pivoine and Pour Desir de Lilas. From the "real fragrances" I love Vanille Noire and Neonature Cocoon. The entire Secrets d'Essences series is really good. And the rest is of course also worth a try.

Another wonderful cheap line is L'Erbolario. Lots of great scents for a steal.

This looks like a good thread to bring back from the dead.

My guilty pleasure perfume is VS Lovespell. Memories...

Well...here is my update from 2011 - I have been loving vintage Chantilly. It isn't such a "guilty" pleasure but it is a cheap one. I like Wind Song in the metal body spray cannister, too. Also, Toujours Moi and Tabu, both better in vintage formula. I am in an oldie phase.

I'm loving my eBay cheapies at the mo.

Chantilly, Eau de Joy, Panthere, Must de Cartier, Givenchy III and older formulations of Chanel No5 of which part bottles are available for under a fiver. I've been really fortunate as I'm happy to buy part bottles and minis.

Me, too, Alityke. I love finding old treasures on ebay for next to nothing.

Intimately Beckham Woman, basically Dior Pure Poison at a fraction of the cost, I can't stop smelling it!!!

Always & Forever by Jessica McClintock

These may be cheap in Britain, but not in the US. All my fumes are cheap because I buy them at thrift stores, but of those that started out cheap, I'm really digging my vintage bottle of Jontue. Such memories!

+1 for EA Green Tea, Coty Wild Musk, and TABU.

I'll throw in Halston Z-14. Love that stuff, although since it was reformulated, it's a mere shadow of its former self (like the original Halston "for Women"). It smells just enough like the old version that I can wear it and love the memory.

Jessica Simpson Fancy and John Varvatos for women are my cheapies.

Forever Sunshine by Bath and Body Works
Florida Water

BBW Sensual Amber.

I will always love ZZZ Sleep Well lavender mist from The Healing Garden. I believe it is discontinued, but I still have half a bottle and it has lasted longer than some of my perfumes--the bottle has still not turned.

I use lots of Bath and Body Works-- shower gels, lotions, and now and then body splashes. White Tea and Ginger is my favorite, ever. If you told me to give up high-end perfume I could, as long as I could keep White Tea & Ginger. I also use White Citrus and Wild Honeysuckle products.

Khaliji Perfume oil by Al-rehab
On Amazon, I paid $6 (including shipping) for 6 mL of concentrated perfume oil. This is an interesting scent that starts out musky-clean with citrus and cardamon and then morphs into a "dirty" musk with a touch of cumin. This stuff lasts forever.

Coty ~ Wild Woods
BBW ~ Black Amethyst

How about Cabaret by Gres? Smoky roses.

That sounds amazing! Not what I want to smell like though.

Coty Vanilla Musk.

LUSH American Cream solid perfume. I'm generally not a fan of solids, but cheerfully make an exception for AC. What can I say? I'm a sucker for benzoin.

I'm not kidding when I say I still wear Love's Baby Soft (mostly in the house) and its spinoffs, like Berry Sweet, Heart Throb, Sugar Kiss, and most importantly, the lemon one! I was dying for them to bring back the Love's Lemon and they did, but the staying power is awful. It's gone within five minutes tops. Baby Soft and the others stick around for a pretty decent amount of time though.

Skin Musk is another favorite, along with this little bottle of orange blossom fragrance I got from Smallflower. Murray & Lanman's Orange Blossom Cologne is heavenly. Most of these scents are centered around memories. Love's makes me think of my 9th birthday party, which is when I got a bottle of it, and the orange blossom scents remind me of the trip my family took to Disney World when I was five. To be honest, I hated every minute of it (heat has never been my friend, not even as a child), but one night it was cooler and my mom went in this shop and brought back these little soaps that smelled of orange blossoms. The colognes take me right back to that moment. Lush makes one too that is very similar, but more expensive.

I have a few scents that I consider my "junk food fragrances," and get embarrassed to admit I like them sometimes. J. Lo's Glow, Justin Bieber's first scent (it reminds me of Electric Youth, which I was too young to have, but really wanted) and Demeter's Little Twin Stars, My Melody and Kahala Pina Colada. There was this seller on Etsy that made these great strawberry and grape scents that smelled just like Lip Smackers and I stocked up on those. (Those are also ones that are only worn in the house because they are really childish!)

They're not super cheap, but I have some BPAL oils too. I have a really hard time with those and have given up. Most smell like plastic.

My cheap but not so guilty pleasure is Halston EDC both modern and vintage. I picked up huge bottle at TJ Maxx for $9.99 and vintage from Ebay was relatively cheap too. I also enjoy No Regrets by Alexandra Markoff - for $15 it's a beautiful fruity floral (almost) chypre. The drydown alone smells like its worth a lot with a very generous helping of oakmoss.

TheBaroness -Welcome to Basenotes. I remember liking J Lo's Glow too .

The Iceberg Fragrance Peppery suede and pistachio ice cream! And all for around a tenner. Whats not to like. I don't feel guilty though.

I like some perfume from Yves Rocher and it is cheap. I see no problem with something being cheap, as long as it has good quality.

Lady Stetson. A confident, sunny perfume, with a very sparkling aldeyhdic opening. Floral without being cloying or girly. Very wearable.

Welcome Sweet_pea, TheBaroness and Lady Grinning Soul I've been remiss in not welcoming you to our lovely, warm, friendly little group. Enjoy the undoubted joys of BN.

JLo Glow is my simple go to scent. I've gone through loads of bottles since its release. I'm partial to SJPs Lovely too

I just wanted to thank you, Whitefluffy, for the welcome. I wanted to introduce myself somewhere, but wasn't sure where to do it, so I just added my .02 to a couple of posts.

That is a great way to introduce yourself, this is how I started too. You can also post on the SOTD (scent of the day) thread, there are many wonderful welcoming people there .

As this is a cheap guilty pleasures thread I need to leave a related comment . I recently got a back up bottle of wonderful Organza by Givenchy - 1.7 Oz for $12.50 on Ebay (including shipping). It is definitely a guilty pleasure, and I love it!

Love's Baby Soft XD

If you're ever wearing perfume for a guy you could do a lot worse than this for a lot more money.

Cacharel Amor Amor is a nice one.
I also like BBW Sugar Warm Vanilla - but this one in a form of body cream - the sillage is great though!

I really like Blue Grass though it's kind of hard to find and not exceptionally cheap, and I like Karma by Lush. I've always like Old Spice, too.

How could I forget? Patchouli Sumatra by Jeanne Arthes is a smooth patchouli with a perfect balance of earthiness and sweetness. It never becomes cloying but still has enough amber-y character to keep it from sliding into hippy armpit territory. I actually prefer this over some niche patchouli fragrances (that will remain nameless) that tend to dry down into benzoin bombs or baby wipes. Decent sillage and tenacity, and best of all, $18 for 100 mLs.