Fashion chains from New Look to Zara are selling perfumes that rival the smell of designer scents. So would YOU wear... EAU DE HIGH STREET

The scent is musky and sophisticated — almost oriental. It’s the kind of perfume that makes me feel glamorous and mysterious, like someone who wears silk gowns and puts on jewels for dinner.

I admire the chunky glass bottle, with its gleaming gold top and discreet gold letters spelling out the name of the fragrance, NIGHT. Then I look at the price, and can’t quite believe my eyes. The cost of this gorgeous perfume? Just £8.99.

Welcome to the new world of eau de high Street.

Forget spending £50 upwards for a designer perfume, because the big high Street chains are muscling in on the market with affordable, mass-produced versions of their own.

The smash-hit fragrance of the summer isn’t from Dior, Chanel or YSL — it’s from fast fashion label Misguided.

Called Babe Power, it’s the bestselling perfume of 2017, according to The Fragrance Shop. It sold out within three hours and racked up sales that were 500 per cent greater than predicted. And at £28 for an 80ml bottle, it’s less than half the price of some designer alternatives.

But even £28 is pricey compared to some of the new options out there.

Night, the scent I tried, was made by New Look — but all the big chains are at it: Zara offers scents from £3.99, h&M’s start at £6.99, while Primark has come up with a perfume that costs just £2. On the pricier end of the high Street, The White Company, Oliver Bonas and Zadig & Voltaire are getting in on the act, too.

Retail experts say high Street perfumes are the next big fragrance trend. But can they ever compete with the traditional perfume houses, or does the cheap price tag equate to poor quality?

Gordon Fletcher, retail expert at the University of Salford, thinks not.

‘The cost of the actual perfume itself will represent less than 3 per cent of the retail price,’ he says. ‘The major cost is the packaging and marketing.’

Of course, high Street chains can use cheap, mass-produced packaging, while their marketing costs are lower, too.

Mr Fletcher explains: ‘If you are relying on your existing customers, then you don’t need to spend a lot on marketing. You also don’t need an expensive celebrity when your own brand’s logo is free.’

AND many of these scents are remarkably similar to other, more expensive perfumes. Zara’s Rose Gold is said to be very like Paco Rabanne’s Lady Million — at a fifth of the price. Marks & Spencer’s Aqua is reminiscent of Issey Miyake’s L’eau d’Issey.

And in a blind test of Next’s Just Pink perfume, 11 out of 30 people could not tell the difference between it and Ralph Lauren’s Romance. Of the 19 that could, 13 preferred the Next scent. There are now websites such as

smell-a-likes.co.uk which allow you to find the cheaper, high Street equivalent of traditional perfumes and this is great publicity for high Street shops, who use perfume to build brand loyalty with existing customers and bring new ones in the door.

Brand expert Nick ede adds that affordable perfumes offer purchasers something couture perfumiers cannot.

‘high Street stores have seen a gap in the market. Their perfumes are aimed at a younger audience who don’t have enough money for designer perfumes.’

And even fragrance experts have to admit that some of the affordable bottles are rather good. Perfume consultant Alice du Parcq says: ‘Affordable does not mean bad quality. high Street perfumes might have fewer natural ingredients and a larger quantity of synthetics, but synthetics can smell spectacular.’

And she says that cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t keep so long.

‘One of the big preconceptions is that cheaper perfumes won’t last. It’s all about the molecular weight of what’s being used. A lemony fragrance (whether that’s from Primark or Prada) is made with citrus extracts that have smaller molecules, so they evaporate faster. heavier ingredients such as vanilla, sandalwood and musks have larger molecules, so they stick on the skin for longer.’

But which high Street perfumes should you add to your collection and which might leave you smelling like room freshener? Alice puts her expert nose to the high-street offerings. She says:

THE BEST ZARA — ROSE GOLD

£12.99 (on sale £7.99) for 100ml The name is confusing; I don’t get any rose in this. Instead I get white flowers such as gardenia, magnolia and tuberose.

But I love this perfume. It reminds me of a chic hotel room and smells way more expensive than the price tag. The scent will last well into the evening and is sexy without being brash. And all the Zara bottles get a massive gold star for stylish packaging.

MONSOON — ROSE GOLD

£35 for 100ml SAME name as the Zara perfume, but a very different smell. This reminds me of a garden rose wrapped in cashmere. There’s orange blossom to add a fresh ping, and some woody base notes that bring a gorgeous warmth to the skin. Just a shame the bottle is not as impressive as some of the others.

MARKS & SPENCER — BUTTERFLY GARDEN

£14 for 90ml THIS is a teenage girl’s dream — sweet but refreshing, with pear and peach notes. honey and honeysuckle bring sweetness but it’s not sugary, more like nectar. It probably contains loads of synthetics but, nonetheless, it’s delicious. Plus a beautiful bottle in a Marc Jacobs style.

NEXT — CASHMERE

£12 for 100ml AT FIRST I was disappointed because this doesn’t smell anything like its namesake, Donna Karan’s Cashmere Mist. But it’s been compared to estee Lauder’s Sensuous Nude and, after a while, this settles beautifully. It opens with soft fruits then melts into a powdery whisper. A lovely grown-up scent that’s perfect for the office and won’t give everyone a headache in the lift. Beautiful bottle in a teardrop shape.

NEW LOOK — NIGHT

£8.99 for 50ml PERFECT for party season, this reminds me of twinkly fairy lights, cold nights and sparkly make-up. The notes are roasted sticky peaches, candied oranges seeped in syrup and a tiny hint of cloves but not too spicy. If you like scented Christmas candles, this one is for you.

ZADIG & VOLTAIRE — THIS IS HER

£38 for 30ml, on sale at John Lewis for £25.33 THIS smells bright and fresh thanks to pink pepper and sparkly jasmine. There are creamy, nutty scents, too, that cling to the skin wonderfully. It’s like the perfume equivalent of tinted moisturiser — still you, only better.

. . . AND THE WORST PRIMARK — SCANDAL

£3.50 for 50 ml SMELLS like a tanning shop. Such a shame because the bottle is great — it looks like YSL. Another Primark offering, PS Rose, isn’t any better. The cloying smell gave me a headache.

MONSOON — LOVE LILY

£19 for 70ml THIS has been compared to Stella McCartney’s Pop, but to me smells like a cheap body spray — it smacks of bad synthetics and although it lists raspberry, orange, jasmine and vanilla as the notes, I can’t distinguish any of these. It just reminds me of a car air freshener.

RIVER ISLAND — CRYSTAL GLOW

£14 for 75ml THIS is supposed to be fresh and airy but instead it’s medicinal — and the synthetic papaya and water lily smelt wishy-washy and insipid. Smells like fungal foot spray. even the bottle looks naff.

NEW LOOK — AFTER GLOW

£8.99 for 50ml AFTER Glow wasn’t any better. It smelled of bad liquor left on the top shelf of a bar — the bottle that never gets opened.