Why Is Perfume So Expensive?

Top 10 Answers To The Question Why Is Perfume So Expensive?

 

I love perfume and I often spend what I call my “pocket money” on new perfumes. After all, a girl has got to have other hobbies apart from yoga, growing chili peppers and rescuing dogs.

 

Perfumes and I go “way back.” The fact that I was prepared to treat myself to nice perfumes was something my husband realised early on.

 

Yes, I know that perfume is expensive. On the upside, you certainly get value for money when you buy expensive perfumes compared to cheap perfumes. I think spending money on perfume is worth it.

 

Let me explain why quality perfume is expensive.

 

10 Reasons Perfume Is Expensive

 

1 Are Cheap Perfumes Worth It?

 

Personally, I think that cheap perfumes and cheap cosmetics are a waste of money.

When you buy cheap perfumes, you have to use more to get the same effect. You may have noticed that the fragrance “fades away” faster when you apply a cheap perfume.

 

Many of the ingredients in cheap perfumes are artificial. They are chemical copies of genuine essential oils. Once they react with the air, they evaporate quickly. The idea of perfume is to linger.

 

Artificial compounds in cheap perfumes and body lotions also irritate the skin. Before you know it, you are spending a small fortune on lotions and potions to get rid of a rash. Cheap perfumes are packed with parabens and aluminium salts. Both do more harm than good.

 

Parabens are used to help a cheap fragrance stay on your skin for longer. In fact, they are microcrystals derived from the petrochemical industry. Unfortunately, they can cause skin problems.

 

Expensive perfumes contain plant extracts which are rich in natural parabens. Parabens do not need to be added to expensive perfumes as the base ingredients already contain natural ones.

 

One of the reasons quality perfumes are more expensive is simply because they contain better base ingredients.

 

2 Rare Ingredients in Perfume

 

Many of the top perfume brands use rare ingredients. The latest rare ingredient to turn up in perfume is Oud.

 

In the perfume industry, Oud is called the $5,000 per pound scent. If you have ever been to the Middle East, you may have seen it for sale at shockingly high prices.

 

Oud has long been considered as precious as gold in the Middle East. Other names for Oud are Agarwood or Eaglewood. It comes from a tree that grows in warmer climates. Oud has been used for thousands of years in incense burners. It is highly aromatic and very rare.

 

Oud adds both texture and fragrance to perfume. You only need a small amount of this medicinal herb. It may interest you to know that oud can be used to remedy inflammatory disease.

 

Other expensive ingredients in top perfumes include lotus oil and extract of violets. Although violets are not rare, you need a lot to make the essential oil.

 

3 Producing Plants For the Perfume Industry

 

Recently, I have read several articles offering an opinion on why perfume is so expensive. One thing that they have all failed to mention is the way plants for the perfume industry are grown.

 

Just like medicinal herbs, many of the plants and herbs grown for the perfume industry are produced under strict quality-controlled conditions.

 

I have had the opportunity to visit growers that produce plants, flowers and herbs for the perfume industry. Most of the plants are grown using natural growing methods such as companion planting and other organic methods.

 

If pesticides are used, plants yield fewer essential oils. Needless to say, essential oils are the main ingredients in quality perfumes.

 

As an organic grower myself, I know how labour-intensive it is to grow any plant naturally. Top perfume brands have their own plantations or exclusive producers.

 

4 Manpower In the Perfume Industry

 

Both growing and harvesting plants for essential oils is labour intensive.

 

We are going to use marigolds as an example. Marigold is quickly becoming a popular essential oil in both perfumes and skincare.

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Although the rest of the plant is used as organic compost, it is only the flowers that are used in perfume making. In order to ensure quality, the flowers are handpicked. That takes time adding costs.

 

The same harvesting process goes for other flowers used when making perfume. Roses, irises and violets are harvested in the same way.

 

Lavender flowers are also harvested by hand as the leaves are seldom used when making perfume.

 

You have to train to pick flowers and plants for the perfume industry. I hasten to add it is not as easy as it looks.

 

Other ingredients in perfume are also harvested by hand. That includes bark including the bark from the slow-growing oud tree, mosses and grasses.

 

It is worth pointing out it takes longer to grow plants for perfume. A slower growing process means the plant produces more high-quality essential oils.

 

5 Research and Development

 

A new fragrance or perfume is not created overnight. Many of the top perfume houses have their own perfumers or “noses” as they are sometimes called in the industry.

 

If you work in the perfume industry, you probably appreciate what it takes to produce a new scent. It is not only about branding, marketing and packaging although many blame high prices on these factors.

 

Creating a new perfume or perfume product takes time. First you need to create the essence of the perfume.

 

What does this mean? It means that an experienced perfumer blends together different essential oils. Normally several master blends are produced before the final blend is approved.

 

Even then, the new perfume product is a work in progress. The perfumer now needs to know that the new blend is going to work well as a body lotion and maybe a deodorant.

 

A perfumer works together with a team to make sure the new fragrance is stable and smells nice. After this stage, the different products are tested by a panel.

 

The perfumer waits for the results to come back. On occasion, the perfume needs tweaking before it goes into production.

 

Scents that took a long time to develop include Hermes Terre D’Hermes and Gucci Guilty Pour Homme.

 

The creation of Paco Rabanne 1 Million did not happen overnight nor did Dior’s Sauvage Elixir Intense.

 

6 Producing a Perfume

 

When perfumes are produced, a range of extraction methods is used.

 

Don’t for one minute think flowers are thrown into a tub and heated up. The perfumer who created the perfume often sets out what production method is used.

 

As far as quality perfume production goes, one of the most popular extraction methods is a procedure called enfleurage. Altogether, it is a very time-consuming process as it can only be done by hand.

 

Other extraction methods include expression, distillation and solvent extraction. To preserve the quality of the oils, most of them are still completed by hand.

 

Once the essential oils are extracted, they are blended with other ingredients. Even after mixing the essential oils with other compounds, the blend is not bottled.

 

7 Aging Expensive Perfumes

 

A perfume is a botanical - just like gin. This is why quality gins are highly fragrant. Check out Japanese gin Roku and you will see what I mean. For a short while after opening the bottle, this gin and other quality gins, smell similar to perfumes.

 

Gins are aged and so are perfumes. As gins are lighter liquids, they don’t need to be aged as long as perfumes.

 

Many of the better quality perfumes are aged for a year before they are bottled. During that time, the blend is checked many times. If a perfumer is not happy, an entire batch may even be discarded.

 

Once the production team is happy, the perfume is bottled and packaged.

 

If you are looking for cost-effective perfumes that need less time aging, you should check out David Off Cool Water EDT, Joop! Homme de Eau De Toilette and Calvin Klein Euphoria for Him.

 

8 In-House Production

 

Not all perfume brands have in-house perfume production facilities. That means they contract out their production to specialist manufacturers.

 

Many top producers charge lots of money for producing a perfume. They may do all of the work from creating a perfume to picking the flowers.

 

If you have a production facility for your perfumes, you can produce larger batches which makes perfume production more cost-effective.

 

When you don’t have your own facility, you need to schedule production and aging. We mustn’t forget about aging as this adds cost. Storing blends under ambient conditions is not cheap. Think about cheddar cheese. Mature cheeses are also stored to enhance the flavour. Just like cheese, storing perfumes take up space.

 

Often you can only produce perfumes in smaller batches when you don’t have your own facility. This is another factor that adds costs.

 

9 Marketing, Packaging and Bottles

 

It is often said that marketing, packaging and bottling are the most expensive parts of perfume production. Many are under the impression that if you get rid of the packaging, marketing and fancy bottles, buying perfume would be cheaper.

 

Yes, it is true that designing and producing a bottle is expensive. On the other hand, quality perfume bottles need to represent the brand and look good. Collecting perfume bottles is quickly becoming a popular hobby, so there are upsides.

 

Running marketing campaigns is not cheap - we all know that. But when compared to the development costs of quality perfumes, the marketing costs are in proportion.

When you look at the overall costs, you will find that marketing, bottles and packaging are only a small part of the investment a brand makes into a perfume.

 

Could we do without the packaging? Most of the packaging in the modern perfume industry is easy to recycle or repurpose. The packaging is there to protect your bottle. Unless you use your perfume every day, use the box it came in to protect it. When you do so, your perfume lasts longer.

 

10 Running Sales Counters

 

There is a hidden cost when it comes to why perfume is so expensive. It also explains why you can buy fragrances cheaper online on platforms such as Perfume Price.

 

I am going to let you into an industry secret that I have learned from my years working in the industry.

 

Running sales counters is not a cheap undertaking. Most perfume brands have concessions in top stores including Harrods in the UK and Macy's in the United States.

 

The cost of running sales counters in department stores is HIGH. Brands often pay high rent, especially in the most prestigious locations. On top of that, you have to pay staff.

 

Training is another expensive aspect of the perfume industry. When I worked in Harrods, I spent a considerable amount of time doing product training. The training does pay off as staff gets to know the products well. But, when you are training you are not selling. This means training adds operational costs.

 

Are staff in stores paid commission? The answer to that question is yes.

 

Running perfume counters means paying staff commissions. The amount you earn relates to the amount you sell. There are lead tables. Many companies use what they like to call ladders.

 

As you sell more, your rate of commission increases. When I found out how much is paid out in commission, I realised why buying expensive perfumes from cosmetic and perfume counters cost so much.

 

Final Thoughts

 

How can you save money on expensive perfume? The best way to save money on expensive perfumes and cosmetics is to buy them online.

 

Online perfume sellers don’t have to worry about paying commissions to people like me. Don’t for one minute think the perfume or skincare you buy from Perfume Price is below par. It is just as good as the same products you can buy from top sales counters in department stores. The only difference is that you save money on quality perfumes by taking a more direct route.