Cheap Perfume Guilty Pleasures

[rednails]

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!

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.

[ExtremeK]

+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.

[cazaubon]

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

[SaNielsen]

Forever Sunshine by Bath and Body Works
Florida Water

[jadelotus]

BBW Sensual Amber.

[Hayven]

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.

[Nefret]

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.

[gmstrack]

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.

[BooRad859]

Coty ~ Wild Woods
BBW ~ Black Amethyst

[Jellyfish]

How about Cabaret by Gres? Smoky roses.

[Kaelee]

How about Cabaret by Gres? Smoky roses.

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

Coty Vanilla Musk.

[Lady Grinning Soul]

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.

[TheBaroness]

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.

[Whitefluffy]

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 .

[Foustie]

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.

[Sweet_pea]

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.

[PerfumePorMoi]

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

[Alityke]

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

[TheBaroness]

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

[Whitefluffy]

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!

[Miket]

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.

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.

[Dudette]

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!

[Curly11]

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.

[gmstrack]

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.