If you’ve adventured even a little bit into the perfume world, you’ve probably heard the term niche, designer or even indie fragrances. Through a series of blog posts we will go more in depth about what each one of these mean so that you can know exactly which one is the best for you and you can sound like an expert when talking about it to your friends!
Niche fragrances have the stereotype of being incredibly expensive and very fancy. And…
That’s true. In this case the stereotype is true.
We already discussed why most perfumes are expensive but niche fragrances are another level when it comes to price. In our article we referenced designer perfumes in a price range of $40 to $120. However, niche fragrances range anywhere between $150 to $500. This is because of the ingredients they use, exclusivity and small scale production.
Niche fragrances and perfumes are usually made with natural ingredients and small batches. Whenever we hear ‘apple’’, ‘’rose’’ or any other ingredient, designer fragrance houses usually use synthetic materials to obtain the scents of those ingredients. However, niche fragrance houses, most of the time, use natural ingredients to create their perfumes. Not too long ago, The Perfumist uploaded to Instagram several pictures where they had 14 pieces of musk that were 300+ years old. Things like this lead to a higher ticketed product due to obtaining really costly, hard-to-find ingredients and making them suitable to use in fragrances. Also, economies of scale takes a big role here. Most designer perfume producers are able to mass produce their fragrances which saves them a lot of money. Since niche fragrances are made in small batches and most of the time hand made, this leads to higher costs.
Niche perfumes are difficult to find. It’s not like you can walk into a mall and walk out with a niche fragrance. Because of their exclusivity, very few perfume boutiques carry niche perfume lines. Thanks to the growth of online shopping and social media, it’s been easier to obtain these fragrances online. However, it wasn’t always this easy and accessible. And it still isn't. These perfumes are made in small batches and since they are so meticulously distributed and sold, it may be really difficult to obtain one of these glorious scents.
So you may be asking, ‘’why would people spend so much money on niche fragrances?’’ Well, a lot of people do it because of exclusivity. Fragrance aficionados and enthusiasts can easily recognize people’s designer fragrances. And think about it, if for example your hobby is cars, you may not want to have the same car as everybody else. Even if that means paying an extra cost. Same thing with certain people deep in the perfume world. They don’t want to potentially smell the same as someone else because that matters to them. It’s not something that most people think about but something that definitely matters to some.
Smelling a fragrance made from natural ingredients, in small batches and it having a different vibe than most designer fragrances is a different experience as well. Again, most people don’t really think of it that way or even think further than their favorite perfume. However, a lot of people do find warm closeness to different scents and having an extraordinary, out of the box perfume really makes a difference.
Usually, perfumers go a little bit off the route with niche fragrances. Because they don’t have to appeal to the masses, they dare to go different ways with ingredients and scent combinations. So niche fragrances may smell very different than what most people are used to. Sometimes people categorize scents and niche fragrances are almost never ‘’entry level’’ perfumes. Experts in scent can fully comprehend and appreciate the combinations, foreign ingredients and the cohesiveness that niche fragrances have. This can be a riskier move to certain brands of perfume houses producing designer perfumes which is why they usually don’t take these chances. However, niche fragrance producers dare to go this route and the price fairly reflects it.
We can conclude that niche fragrances are definitely not for everybody but they definitely have their charm. And if it’s something that interests you, it can become a way of life.
Do you prefer niche over designer fragrances?