Can a £23 fragrance beat the £230 original? Knock-off perfumes used to smell bad and look worse. Now ROSIE GREEN reveals the new era of quality designer-inspired scents from just £16

SHOP: These under-the-radar fragrances that you've never heard of are guaranteed to make you smell expensive
READ MORE: 'Old lady perfumes' are back with retro scents released 100 years ago soaring in popularity - so, how many do you remember?
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Counterfeits? Always been far from chic. Fakes? A faux pas. We’ve all seen enough ‘Louis Vuitton’ pleather wallets and green necks from rip-off ‘Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra necklaces to know they are naff. When my best friend’s mother would buy faux Anaïs Anaïs (it was the 80s) from a Birmingham car-boot sale for her birthday, it was at best disappointing and at worst dangerous. Think a nasty rash and the funding of criminal networks and child labour.

Fast-forward to 2026 and there’s still an abundance of low-quality knock-off fragrances about, but these days they’re mostly flogged on the internet rather than from the back of a van.

The demand is there because we want perfume as much as ever, and it’s only getting more expensive. In fact, niche perfumes, with their hefty price tags, have gone from a five per cent market share pre-pandemic to around 20 per cent post*.

And the prices are sky high. John Lewis – known for stocking practical rather than extravagant products – currently has 553 perfumes in the £190-£830 category (the latter price is for Creed Aventus For Her Eau de Parfum Splash, 500ml).

A new kind of copycat fragrance brand has emerged in response to these crazy figures. One that is all about the smell. That is made by a legitimate business subscribing to safety standards. They don’t attempt to copy the packaging; they are not supermarket rip-offs. They are, I guess, dupes with dignity.

Meet Noted Aromas, a British brand that leads this growing category. Since the business launched in 2022, it has sold six million bottles of fragrance and counting. I am impressed with its slick website. The 50ml scents are all £22.99, and they offer a plethora. I can find an ‘inspired by’ version of pretty much all of my favourites.

I message Athina Macpherson, the company’s head of brand marketing and she sends me a selection: New York, inspired by Le Labo’s Santal 33 (£172 for 50ml); Portofino, inspired by, you’ve guessed it, Tom Ford’s Neroli Portofino (£230 for 50ml); Rome, inspired by Creed Aventus (£275 for 75ml) and Lima, which is inspired by Jo Malone Lime Basil And Mandarin (£88 for 50ml, all johnlewis.com).

Macpherson says that Noted Aromas is all about ‘democratising fine fragrance’, making luxury smells accessible to all. She says the brand can create quality products at that price as it skips the ‘boutique fit-out, the A-list face and decade-long heritage campaigns’. Instead, it spends its money on the ‘juice’ and quality ingredients, compliant with EU safety recommendations.

And, reader, they are astonishingly similar in smell to their inspiration scent. To create such good copies they recruit expert perfumers to analyse the perfume in a process that’s ‘surprisingly intricate’ (for instance, Macpherson says ‘lemon’ could be rind, juice or leaf and come from Sicily or Spain).

For another opinion, I gave a bottle of Sofia, Noted Aromas’ version of Byredo Gypsy Water (£150 for 50ml, johnlewis.com), to our deputy editor, Lindsay Frankel. It’s her signature scent. She thought the likeness was incredible, but did say it initially packed a strong punch, and faded faster and less elegantly than the original, lacking the same delicate all-day veil. ‘But for a saving of over £130, I’d still buy it,’ she said. I thought the ones I tried lasted well.

Macpherson doesn’t see Noted Aromas scents as replacements for designer ones, rather ‘everyday versions’ that ‘live alongside’ them: the fragrance you take to the gym or office, rather than those that stay on your dressing table for big occasions.

I think this makes sense. These quality alternatives have their place, but remember they are copying rather than innovating. The niche, ultra luxe and, yes, expensive offerings have a magic that comes from the creatives behind them and the alchemic mix of ingredients that are rich in heritage and have an exotic provenance. Oh, and let’s not forget the exquisite packaging – that matters, too. In conclusion, I think there’s room for both.

DESIRABLE DESIGNER-INSPIRED SCENTS (AND THEIR ORIGINALS)

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LUXE FOR LESS

Our fashion ed Hannah Skelley is a fan of Tan Luxe The Face Illuminating Self-Tan Drops (£28.80, johnlewis.com) and tried Aldi Lacura Tan Facial Drops (£3.99, available in store). Her verdict? ‘The results were similar. I’m converted!’

BARE-ABLE LEGS

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