Cheap Frag Buying Remorse.

If you like what you buy, it really shouldn't matter whether one is more expensive than another or that you can get four for the price of one.

Price and quality have very little correlation in the fragrance world, IMO. I recommend just letting your nose be your guide.

IMO, if a fragrance you like costs $50 less than a fragrance you REALLY like, spend the extra $50 and get the one you really want.

In the end, buying a bottle of cologne is an investment. A bottle should last a collector over 5 years. Maybe $50 or $100 now may seem like a lot to save, in the mind frame of this month, but in the long term, a bottle has a lot of juice in

I'll buy an expensive frag knowing that I'll use up and enjoy every drop before I buy up a bunch of cheap frags that I'll never use because they were on sale.

Which unless of course I like the cheap frag better. But when I judge scents, I do it cost-blind.

Thanks for posting. It's similar for me: nobody in my "real" life wants to hear me talk about perfume, so I really enjoy the company here.

So, I'm not clear: are you unhappy with your cheaper fragrances? If you like the way they smell and you enjoy wearing them, there's nothing to struggle about. And for the most part, image is in your head. The vast majority of people don't have a clue what you have on, and they don't care.

story of my life.

Your attitude about it all sounds healthy! And to be honest, I like having a small list of really (really) cheap perfumes that I can buy guilt-free when I just feel like getting something new and not thinking about it too much. Sometimes it's just nice to get the package in the mail

If you dont want to own 100 bottles just buy frags that you really like a lot, not just frags that are "ok for the price".

If you dont want to own 100 bottles just buy frags that you really like a lot, not just frags that are "ok for the price".

There are some good "cheapos," no doubt, but most are discontinued ones, which means it's often difficult to sample them in local stores. You have to find people who have samples, such as some BNers (myself included) or else buy the bottles and you can swap them if you don't like them. It's better to think through the situation than to just act on impulse and then have regrets later.

Haha...I definitely understand how you feel. I'm a college student and have become a huge bargain shopper...cutting coupons and all. My best few finds for the office were a cologne called Electric Blue...its an almost dead hit on Bleu de chanel for only $8 and it LASTS !!! Then I found Geau which is really close to Aqua Digio..for $8.00, and then I needed a night scent so I found a woodsy deep musky/slightly sweet cologne which was a knockoff of Armani Code for .. yup.. $8.00 !!!

What's happened is now I buy a few cheapo's without guilt and can use them for whatever, and I use my money to only buy scents I can't live without. I think next on my list is Pure Havane since its now in stock again for a limited time !

Exactly!

Price really has nothing to do with quality nor what you like.

Sage advice ^^^^^^

I'd say cheap frags, the really cheap ones, are def more hit and miss then more pricey ones. I'm a bit more reluctant than I used to be when it comes to trying them now. That said, there are plenty which are nice.

Hardly any, because most of the time whenever I managed to get a discounted frag, it was usually a quality frag at discount/clearance sales prices.

I went through a similar phase myself where I was buying lots of cheapies that seemed to have good reviews. Many of them turned out to be 'just okay.' It really disrupted my collection, and I suddenly had my hands on a lot of fragrances I had little respect for and that seemed kind of junky to me. And my attention was getting diverted from the frags I owned and really loved. BUT, I'm not blaming the cheap frags. Many of them are decent, and as illustrated by Rive Gauche, Nautica Voyage, and Caron Pour Un Homme, price is not necessarily a factor in deciding the quality of a frag and whether or not I like it.

But just buying cheapies off a few good reviews and because you can buy several of them for a small amount of money has the potential to screw up your collection and the reverence you have for it. Haphazard purchases rarely have good results.

My advice is to treat all frags equally before a purchase and sample them if possible, even if it's a $20 frag. Respect your wallet, your collection, and each fragrance within. And if you love the blind buy (like me), make it only after careful consideration and strictly based on your interest in the frag--not the price. That way you'll avoid accumulating a bunch of cheapies you really don't care for. And it works out too, because if you make a bad blind buy with an expensive frag, you can usually resell it and recoup about 80% of what you paid for it. But if you make a bad blind buy on a cheapie, they're very hard to resell due to their availability and the fact that a brand new one can usually be bought for 20 or 30 bucks.

Set yourself a limit on the number in your collection, that you can not go over, and then each spot in that collection takes on a value that is not determined by price. If you have a 20 frag limit on your collection and only 5 available spots left, you're going to make sure you fill those spots with only the best bottles that you like the most. You'll be less inclined to go on a shopping spree and quickly buy 5 cheapies just because you can. And in the end, you'll appreciate your collection more.

Sorry for the long rant, but I know exactly where you're coming from, and thought my experience could be of some use to you.

The threads I enjoy reading the most are the inexpensive fragrance threads. Many of the hidden gems rival more expensive fragrances and can be enjoyed by everyone. Just try to limit your collection to what you think is the right amount of bottles for you and don't buy just to buy.

Consider yourself lucky. Expensive frag buying remorse - now that's real pain, right there.

I don't think the point of this thread was to inexpensive frags or to automatically suggest that niche is better.

I think the point was to suggest that you shouldn't buy a fragrance just because it costs less money.

If it were between a $60 fragrance you sort of liked, but is on sale for $40, and $120 frag you really loved, I would go for the latter.

Though I would generally agree that cheaper frags are usually cheaper for a reason.

1. the ingredients are lower quality
2. if the scent were good, the demand would be higher

Though, there's plenty of other reasons too: distribution, namesake, target audience.

But overall, how many EXCELLENT 100ml fragrances can you name that are under $35?
How many can you name under 100?
How many can you name under 300?

Not remorse; too strong a word for it. Perhaps ambivalence, or lethargy?

Santana and Zirh Cordaroy are 2 that come to mind. Not bad, mind you, but these gave me nuthing close to the satisfaction I get from other cheapies (e.g. quorum, one man show, nicole miller, michael kors, lapidus pH, tabac original, vermeil, etc.). As a hobbyist without much storage restriction, these successes make it all worthwhile including the occassional miss.

Even though I have given away about 15 bottles in the last six months, I can't really say I regret buying many bargain scents. My "hits" greatly outnumber my "misses" in the cheapie world, and even the ones I didn't care for ultimately served a good purpose. Wearing and sniffing them was actually pretty educational, and I learned quite a bit about what I like and dislike in fragrances by working through them.

And because I gave a good chunk of them away to people who really enjoy and get heavy use from them, I don't feel like I my purchases were a total waste. I bought them, sniffed them, learned from them, and used them as surprise gifts for friends and family members. Can't really regret going through that cycle.

I did the same thing but I disregarded my losses as educational materials. These days I know better and choose more carefully...buy a sample if possible or do extensive research before purchasing.

With everything so cheaply made these days I lust for quality...jeans fragrance shoes etc. It is worth saving for something decent.

In many cases, 1 may be true. But correlating demand with quality is getting into shaky territory. I just base that on what I smell walking around every day.

HA, I blind bought Dirty E and Set Sail this weekend as well. Have the same issue, cheaper frags just don't seem to do it for me. I always seem to get a headache from that syntheticy smell and they get boring after a bit. Set Sail seems ok, I do like the scent, but the dry down just smells like chemicals, the DE is just bad on the dry down smells weird on me not good. Had the itch to get some new frags so I guess that is what I get for it. Need to save up and stick to the Creeds for a while I think.

Very informative and very well written. Thank you

I would rather pay 200 for a bottle I really love than 20 for a bottle I like. The frag that I have the most regrets over buying is also the least expensive bottle in my collection. "The Dreamer" has a great drydown and I bought it because it was inexpensive but now I almost never wear it because I hate the top. After you consider the number of wears and the hours of enjoyment I find even high priced scents to be a really good value.

I agree completely.

That's not to say that expensive means you will like it. But to the OPs comment about Kenneth Cole Black -- That is one of the greatest fragrances in the world IMO, and I would keep that over many other bottles in my collection that I paid more than $200 for.

Set sail saint barts is a keeper. Viw is like its sissy rich cousin.

I wouldn't buy a fragrance just because it's cheap, but there are plenty of great designer frags that are very satisfying and won't break the bank. Personally, I would be bored as hell if all I had was just 2 or 3 niche frags. I love variety and you can get quite a few designer frags for the cost of a single bottle of Creed, especially if you hunt for discounts and buy smaller bottles. I've tried quite a few niche frags, and while there are some I love, I don't see the quality difference as being so drastic. Sure, Cool Water smells like a synthetic mess compared to GIT, but when you compare frags from houses like Dior or YSL to the niche stuff, I don't really see a huge difference.

Better to regret a cheapie than regret a pricey....

A recent survey of my collection revealed that I have not kept a single bottle that I have bought from TJ Maxx, Marshall's or Ross. I have sold or swapped all of them. That's sad because I have blown a lot of cash there. None have been keepers for me. I have lived cheap frag remorse, and I hope I have learned my lesson.

I've had a little remorse from when I started, just buying what I heard was good and not what I tested and knew was good. I'm sure I wasted a bunch of money through that even after selling them off...since then I've had very little remorse, but I definitely know the feeling.

That was a great summation of your experiences and insights into the subject. It was greatly appreciated.

I bought Jovan Musk and wasn't too impressed with it but then again it was only 9 dollars so I can't complain...it doesn't smell bad, but it doesn't smell good enough to be worth wearing