Designers or niche perfume, how to choose ?

After many months of good and loyal service, your perfume bottle is showing a dramatically low level of precious liquid, and it’s time for you to buy a new one. You are hesitating in the face of an ever-growing, yet classic, offer from mainstream perfumers.

Are you looking for originality, are you tempted by niche perfumeries, but you don’t know what to expect? I’ll help you make your choice.

Choosing a niche perfume is choosing originality

As the name suggests, niche perfume is for a minority of people looking for an original fragrance. Something that is not found on everyone, and that we are not used to smell on the people we meet. That’s why many people dare niche perfumes, and their strong olfactory signatures, which leave no one indifferent. Generally speaking, unlike mainstream perfumes that don’t take too many risks, when it comes to a niche perfumer, you either love it or you hate it.

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That said, niche and mainstream perfumery are not incompatible, and many of the big names in classic perfumery, such as Dior or Chanel, offer exclusive bottles with original scents for a niche clientele in their boutiques and in limited editions. This originality comes from the combination of rare ingredients, often unpublished, which allows a more advanced harmony between the perfume and the person who wears it.

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Find a fragrance that suits you

Mainstream perfumes derive their popularity from their extravagant advertising campaigns, often featuring celebrities who are supposed to represent the personality of the wearer. On the other hand, niche perfumers, whether they are high fashion houses like Tom Ford, or specialized perfumers like Le Labo, with its Santal 33 for example, target the minority of buyers who prefer to discover their creations by themselves. These buyers are often looking for a fragrance that they have only a vague idea of. It can be a scent of mystery, adventure, travel…

Maybe you are looking for a fragrance that will best suit your character: romantic, ambitious, bad boy… If your numerous attempts at mainstream perfumery have been unsuccessful so far, then you should let yourself be tempted by the original worlds of niche perfume houses.

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Rare ingredients and original combinations: the hallmark of niche perfumeries

Niche perfumeries don’t hesitate to shock their public with combinations that may seem far-fetched on paper, but turn out to be pleasant and work very well in the bottle.

More and more are using ingredients that no one else has thought of, such as certain vegetables: artichokes for example, or even chamomile.

In addition, the choice of a very rare raw material is much more expensive, which has an influence on the price of the bottle. Among these rare ingredients, wood from Armenia, incense from Oman, rose from Syria, which can be found in some creations of Diptyque, or the house By Redo.

Niche or designers perfume: the choice according to its use

The choice of a perfume also depends on the use you make of it. A mainstream perfume will be very well suited for daily use, or at work, to leave behind a pleasant but slightly conformist scent trail. On the other hand, a niche perfume is likely to get you noticed. This desire to make an impression will be one of the criteria for your choice.

Many luxury clothing brands, such as Valentino, or high-end leather goods (Coach, for example), offer original fragrances to their customers who want to match their clothes with a fragrance of the brand. They evoke the history of the brand, or even its values, in refined scents that are often very original.

From a more intimate point of view now, some people look for an escape in their perfume, an open window on a journey, or memories. Niche perfumery makes this possible. Maison Margiela, for example, offers a range of fragrances called Replica, which is intended to reproduce moods dear to many. Sleeping in fresh pillows in the spring, an evening by the fire, the overheated atmosphere of a jazz club in Brooklyn… Such bottles are first and foremost a gift that we give to ourselves before thinking about the effect on those around us.

Niche perfumes VS designers perfumes: power and complexity at the center of the choice

Despite some exceptions, niche perfumes are generally much more concentrated in olfactory particles. They therefore deliver a more powerful scent than the majority of mainstream perfumes. As a result, they tend to last longer on the skin and clothing.

Moreover, their complexity will develop over time, revealing different layers of the famous olfactory pyramid. Thus, niche fragrances will evolve in a more ostentatious way throughout the day. The top notes will willingly give way to those of the heart, before leaving at the end of the day a pleasant and discreet finish, sometimes far from what we could expect at the time of the first spray. This complexity should be taken into account when purchasing a niche perfume.

Some people will prefer a fragrance that lasts all day without variation. For these people, we can only advise them to stick to the usual and safe values of mainstream perfumes, even if it means spraying regularly at intervals of a few hours. On the other hand, if the idea of a perfume that evolves tempts you, niche perfumery is a choice that imposes itself.

A personal adventure rather than an act of consumption

As you can see, perfumery is a matter of taste. But the search for a perfume that really suits you, by opening up to niche or luxury perfumery, is more like a quest for the Holy Grail than a simple act of daily consumption.

Finding your niche perfume can take time, and will force you to go to specialized stores, often located only in big cities or in airports. But once you’ve found that rare pearl, you’ll probably never change.