Why Niche Fragrances Suck. 

I found it quite astounding how unregulated the Perfume industry is in regards of advertising/declaration of ingredients. They are so obsessed when it comes to allergens but they can declare Oud when the fragrance contains none. In contrast to the food industry, at least in Europe, where you can't call a Greek Yoghurt Greek Yoghurt unless it has been produced in Greece. Basically it is false advertising.

to me, a niche house means a company that only makes perfume and perfumed products. but i understand many people tag 'luxury' and 'quality' to this word. and it seems wealthy people or people who want to look wealthy or high-class tend to be willing to spend a lot of money on expensive and rare stuff. that makes them think they are special and prestigious. they may not care about the quality or think whether they like the scent. their desire to find and own something out of the world that only they can afford it takes their mind. the sense of feeling unique and different and the urge to show off their ability to acquire rare stuff mean a lot of these people. that's how i see what many people are doing nowadays.

Wish there were more honest people like you in the industry. We definitely share your grouses. Oh and you actually have a paranormal channel... I'm on to it like right after this!

I'm tired of people fighting whether you should wear niche or designer. It's just a preference, you're not better if you wear niche or designer. Not all niche are crap there are some great niche houses and there are great designer houses, wear what you want to wear just don't fall for the traps that you mentioned.

I really respect your honesty and your experience and agree with you. The niche world is comprised of a great deal of marketing because it's assumed that a small house with high price point automatically equates to "exclusive" and therefore good. One of the biggest disappointments of some niches is the sillage and projection. If I'm paying $500 for an exclusive limited scent, it would be nice if others than myself can enjoy it. I always feel ripped when a $500 frag vanishes in 30 minutes. Don't you think higher quality of ingredients may equate to better performance somewhat, sometimes? To add to this, the turning up of noses at companies like Dua and Alexandria are just bizarre. If Dua can recreate a fragrance almost 100 percent and nail it head on for $50, shouldn't that tell you how much you're being ripped at $500? It isn't always just about artistry, it's packaging something you can achieve for not much for a whole lot because it's not designer , so therefore a small market and appearing hard to get. There are plenty of great niche frags and houses for sure but assigning price to quality is often an illusion.

Another great video, Peter! What pisses me off about niche is the lack of olfactory diversity among niche fragrances. It seems 90% of the niche perfumes I find have the same few notes. Most have some combination of cardamom, rose, amber, oud, saffron, musk, and leather. What about shiso leaf? Tolu balsam? Blueberry? Even freesia is under-utilized. There’s so many interesting florals. Why only use rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, and orange blossom/neroli? What about blue lotus? Champaca? Coffee blossom? Tiare flower? Hibiscus? Use some creativity! Especially if you’re gonna charge that kind of money, amiright?

Well said. I had a feeling right from the start that 'niche' wasn't what they wanted me to believe it is. I had an obsession with perfume from a very young age and when all my favourite ones were being discontinued it kind of destroyed me! The nostalgia about a scent is a very real thing, not for the perfume itself but because of the feelings it evoked. Walking around the perfumery at Harrods or Selfridges, I could sense different memories, they had recreated something similar to the familiar scents we knew and loved, but x100 the price. I knew where this path was leading... Always searching for the feeling but never quite getting it, as it was an imitation of the real thing! Luckily enough, I only escaped going down this rabbit hole due to allergic reactions, I was feeling sick to my stomach visiting these places, nausea and headache were the 'side-effects' of perfume! From a joyous previous experience it had turned into a nightmare!

Thats how I feel about Apple products.

I really appreciate your honesty and integrity, Peter. You know what you're talking about, and as I am just a perfume enthusiast who knows nothing, you are my expert source for good information I know I can trust.

Appreciate your honesty on not only price but also that niche even when using top quality ingridents can smell bad. Two points people just seem to hold religiously as things that can't be. Great and well balanced video 🙏

Spot on, mate! Excellent video. Completely agree with all your points. Another thing that pisses me off is the attitude of niche consumers (mostly niche snobs) - that cos they buy expensive niche frags, they are better than everyone else or they are 'ballers' and everyone else is a peasant and unworthy. Also, the illusion that ALL 'niche' is better than ALL designer frags.

I have some niche that I enjoy, but I mostly tend to like designer anyways. Niche has gotten really popular with online reviewers, but so many I’ve smelled just smell weird or unpleasant to me. Maybe it’s due to an untrained nose or that I just don’t understand them, but then still I want to smell pleasant to those around me who aren’t fragrance connoisseurs either. Also, so many of these niche brands are hard for me to find without paying for samples to be mailed or traveling out of town. I don’t care about natural versus synthetic except that I want it to smell nice, and my wish for longevity and sillage depends on the circumstances. For the most part, I can find plenty of perfumes to make me smell good in the mainstream scents available to me at affordable prices. I’ll keep trying niche because it’s interesting, and I want to challenge myself. I’m sure I’ll find something I love and want to purchase from time to time. But in the end, I don’t consider myself less of a perfumista for being content with designer, mainstream, inexpensive, or easy to wear scents.

I agree with all of your points. This kind of bullshit is why I steer clear of many/most new niche houses nowadays, and refuse to sample anything over $300 per bottle (and even that threshold is insane). Too many ridiculously priced releases coming out lately, promoted by “influencers” (who shamelessly beg for freebies) as the best thing since sliced bread... And just like you, I’m very picky, so it takes a rare one to wow me. I’ve sampled so many over the years, that many end up smelling either boring, or derivative of predecessor fragrances that are better AND cheaper.

Overall I enjoy designer AND "niche" but I guess I prefer to lean niche overall in my likings. The two things that really have irritated me most recently with certain niche lines (I won't mention names) are; a. the overly inflated price points and secondly b. when niche companies create something designer-esque/mainstream smelling and charge a high niche price point. Anyway, great video as always, thanks for sharing your thoughts so candidly and genuinely. PS: I love your accent, it's adorable. 🙈✌🏼

I completely honor what you're saying. There are so many "high end" cheap McPerfumes. I've worked with more than 11,000 plants. Distilled who knows how many and build distillers and gas extraction systems. Honestly, it sounds like you're describing designer fragances. And yes.. you can have phenomenal ingredients but its an absolute art form to mix them properly. I'm currently working on a masterpiece of scent. Excited to experience the magic to unfold. Best wishes

Hi Peter! This is an amazing video. I have to praise you for this one. Your arguments are absolutely on point, logical and true. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. It’s certainly something we must remember and keep in mind when wanting to acquire fragrances (instead of hype!). Abrazos from Puerto Rico.

You have spoken truth to the Perfume Industry BS! I thank you. I call many of these bigger “niche” houses like Roja and De Marley high costing pseudo-designer fragrances. They are hyped up because of insider elbow rubbing.

@12:15 Roja? Love this video! Must be said, but no one wants to speak out. You addressed all the points in a very classy way without throwing shade. Hats off to you for keeping it classy.

"This is hogwash...I totally disagree. Everyone (that matters) knows that the more you charge, the better you can claim it smells" - Jeremy Fragrance

Reviews for Parfums de Marly sometimes make me laugh out loud. Reviewers have occasionally been a bit confused about the brand's history. Many buy into the advertising shtick of royalty and thoroughbred racing horses and think the brand has this storied and august history. I think their first fragrance launched in 2009. It cracks me up.

This is so spot on and I’m so glad someone spoke up about it. Great review and I really respect your honesty!

Minus a handful of brands/houses I feel are quality the sheer saturation of the market has turned me off. I’m glad for people like you on RU-vid who aren’t afraid to keep it real.

Im looking forward for your line Peter. Great Review..... I can relate to your views.

Great topic Pete. We can always rely on you to see through common sense. I will never understand why people are willing to pay 300++ USD for perfumes with commercial profile or are a copy of an existing classic. They seem to have a different sense of value for money. I have made that mistake once because i started at the high end side of perfume (something i will never recommend for newbies). I've found out much later that the expensive 'creation' i bought was a 80% copy of an existing classic sigh... The thing that annoys me lately about niche houses that releases too many bloody perfumes at too fast a rate (e.g. Xerjoff seems to be the latest one to fall into this trap, Roja has also been increasing his output for sometime).

I agree with you 100%, Peter. Your honesty and insights are spot on and I thank you for the truth you deliver.

I am fully aware that the world of perfumes, especially niche, is mostly smoke and mirrors. The ingredient lists are mostly just pure bullshit. But to be honest I would not understand what it smells like at all if they just gave the honest molecules instead of what it is supposed to smell like. As far as I know there is not a drop of real vanilla in Spiritueuse Double Vanille, yet it is the greatest and one of the most realistic smelling vanilla perfumes out there. From my experience as a cook real vanilla smells awful. It is just in dilution and combination with other aromas when it becomes so divine. I do think that often the quality of niche is above that of designers but you pay double the price for a slight increase in ingredient quality, presentation and artistic freedom. And some brands are just expensive for the sake of being expensive, I feel (e.g. Roja, Clive Christian). They are the Cristal or Dom Perignon of the fragrance industry. Yes some of those fragrances are downright amazing, but they are still not worth that kind of money in my opinion. I prefer niche scents. Not because they are niche but because so far 3/5 of my collection just happen to be niche for the simple reason that I liked those fragrances more than others. And sometimes because I got a good deal that made the decision not as painful (I do actually own a 30ml of CC 1872 because I could get it for 50% off in a sale in a local perfume store). I also feel like there is too much partisanship in the community. There are the Creed fanboys and the Roja fanboys and so on. And I think we can all agree that both brands are pretty good at marketing and bullshitting their customers. But I am okay with that to some extent. Some of their fragrances are just amazing and I would pay the price if I could afford it. That does not make them less overpriced. And their lineups definitely have some duds as well. I think I mostly understand niche for what it is and I still prefer it over designers, if I had to only keep one option for the rest of my life. Luckily we have both. And a little excursion about clone houses "keeping the niche houses honest", like some people think they do: They just copy something someone else already created. This process requires a gas chromatograph and a mass spectrometer. Those are not cheap, but in the long run paying a master perfumer to develop fragrances is way more expensive. So they remove almost all the development cost from a product by basically just stealing the formula and adjust it by tweaking it - probably shaving off the most expensive ingredients. Like the Chinese do with western technology quite often. And nobody claims that that is a good thing. Then they put that in stock bottles. The really good clones also are almost as expensive as the real deal if you calculate it per ml. And in addition they market it directly, so no 300% price increase to pay the overhead of a city center perfume store with staggering rent, wages and other fixed costs. So no, they are not the saviours of the fragrance industry, exposing how you could make the same thing cheaper. They are basically doing product piracy and remove almost all the factors that make perfume that is sold in stores so expensive. I am pretty sure their margins are just as high - if not higher - than regular brands and houses.

You’re right. This is even true in skin care. Luxury brands who claim they’ve found the magic potion or fountain of youth in some obscure plant in the frigid mountains or under the sea-all scientifically unproven, of course-charge $400 to over $1,000 for an ounce of serum. (Chanel Sublimage, La Mer, La Prarie, etc) You’ll be lucky if they’re at least not health hazards. Olay’s efficacious serum costs $25/oz

As an addendum: What's the point in finding an amazing scent that is discontinued and never resurrected? Continuity counts and that's something the larger maisons are able to deliver. I can talk about Polo Green and people know what I'm talking about, it's a known point of reference across a large number of people. Next recession most of the niches will disappear.

Great honest video i have only been into Niche for a couple of years. I honestly have to say a lot of these expensive frags i have go to skin scents very quickly on myself. Also its not just about cost, sometimes the cheapest frags i own get the most compliments!

I totally agree with you bro. Everything you said is true. Many great niche brands doesn't respect their customers, thinks because we are in love with this artistic hobby that we are idiots and we don't understand what they are doing. That is driving crazy the most...

Price point is a big thing. Depending how many samples you get, I don't mind paying 20$. But on the other hand, the sample set for Amouage, for example, is like 100$! Damn. I get the originality aspect, but I wear things I think smell good and it's not relevant to me if it's mass-appealing. I don't think there's really anything wrong with mass-appeal. Sure, it's nice to have access to risky or daring fragrances, but we all want to smell good (or do we?). What bothers me about some frags, (like Percival) is when they just smell like an expensive, maybe higher quality, version of a designer frag. Side note, I thought of Elysium as Roja does Aventus, more than anything else. Anyway, with all these Indie houses coming up, they can give competition to the big guys!

This deserves millions of views

LOVE this video, we need more content like this over the unending top 10 compliment getter lists that the algo forces upon us!

Yes, I agree with you. Samples are not available and what annoys me the most is the concept of the niche perfume shops where you are not allowed to try the perfume on your own, but they think it is necessary to present it by their staff. Well, I don't necessarily need someone to give me a speech about the perfume. I usually get the information through the internet and then I simply try it in a perfumery and discover how the fragrance reacts on my skin and do I like it or not. Your point on the price and the notes regarding their natural or synthetic origin is absolutely right. The Fucking Fabulous perfume has so artificial cherry note which totally dominates and the price is the same as most of the others from the Tom Ford collection, though I suppose there are many perfumes in his collection which are based more on quality ingredients with natural origin. If I like particular niche fragrance, like for example my lovely summer one Jardin du Poete Eau D'Italie (I know you don't like citrusy fragrances, sorry for not having the same taste ;))))) I would like it to have the price according to it's composition value. I don't know what quality of components does it have and is it based mostly on the synthetic ingredients or natural oils and extracts, but I really wouldn't like that it's price is totally inflated while it uses cheap synthetic accords (which I hope isn't true). I do believe that perfumes with quality natural components should be considered superior to those which are mostly synthetic. However, I don't think that only perfumes which are mostly based on natural components can be good (to me). It is really the craftsmanship of the perfumer what decides how beautiful the final fragrance will be, regardless of the natural or synthetic origin of the components, as long as they both are of high quality and top perfumery grade.

Agreed. It's like an artist who uses cheap paints and canvases and charges for a masterpiece! I will say that most of us have become so accustomed to the "you get what you pay for" mantra that we actually believe that it is true for everything in life! Sometimes it is true and other times it's just not. To me, I learn about the single ingredients first and then go shopping better informed and able to discern for myself what the value is personally. Thanks for the vid. It was thought provoking. Peace and blessings sent your way!

This happens in the designer realm as well but I hate when niche fragrances are reformulated when there was nothing wrong with it in the first place and sell the original for a higher price. Discontinued fragrances as well.

I'm glad you talked about the fact that good quality ingredients doesn't mean good quality fragrance (and thus good value in the end). Because as much as I agree that if you sell your fragrance for a higher price like it's often the case for niche fragrances, you should at least use "natural" ingredients instead of synthetic ones. But there is also this bias (like in a lot of domains) towards "natural" ingredients being "better" than synthetic ones... which, yes, is often the case, but is not guaranteed. In the end, what matters is the fragrande and how much you like it. And you might enjoy a fragrance with lots of synthetic molecules, much more than one that might contain a super rare, and thus expensive "natural material", that smells like shit to you. And that's cool that someone who actually review a lot of niche fragrance, is still lucid and honest about shitty things the niche fragrance industry sometimes does.

Thanks Peter. Some good food for thought. I've also noticed some of these annoyances. I think as soon as brands enter the mainstream department stores, then they are no longer niche, just expensive. I've also often gone into perfume boutiques that have a selection of niche - but half the store space is wasted by the pretends like creed / l'artisan parfumeur / Penhaligons... these are super easy to purchase Anywhere... so I find this frustrating... there are so many great brands not available here in Australia at all because there's no room left after the big pretenders. The only reason the boutique stocks these brands is precisely because they aren't niche and are easy to sell to less savvy customers with too much money - who think high price means exclusivity and quality (sorry to repeat DJ Genki's comment)... also these customers just don't want to go to the department store because there are too many people there. On a side note it is good entertainment watching the boutique store owner crush the macho ego money men with her calm demeanor when they march in demanding something expensive and masculine and she replies "perfumes have no gender sir"... haha. (p.s they always buy the Creed) These brands are also not too different or outside people's comfort zones and are good sellers - sadly the boutiques here would struggle without them. :-( I don't even want to think about the amount of money I've spent on testers... but there's no other way to try anything new...

A lot of the time with niche fragrances, I’m not sure if consumers are buying into the fragrance itself or the fancy bottle and presentation. I also don’t like how some niche houses churn out so many fragrances a year. You have to ask how much thought has gone into their creation.

I follow many vlogs/blogs in the past 4 years and simply educated myself, especially with the ouds, which are numerous and can smell anywhere from shit to creamy sandalwood. I love sandalwood btw but Mysore not Australian. It all depends on the *niche* brands and their perfumeurs. I'm in the USA and fortunately have many sites to choose from. Tom Ford is not worth its price. I'm actually super sensitive to synthetics like ISO E Super, Ambroxan, Cypriol etc which are intant migraine inducing. I guess you get what you pay for or caveat emptor? The UK has some great indie brands; I hate the word niche anymore. Parfums de Marly is expensive and Herod is the only frag I love. Also alot of niche brands have been bought out buy big corps. Kings & Queens like by appt to HM. Oh would that be Floris or Creed? Damn you got me on a roll bro! Great video. Love your honesty. So rare in the age of vlogging. Cheers.

Ya I definitely understand your point. After buying a couple of Bond no 9, I noticed they’re a hit or miss. Usually 60% of B9’s fragrance is trash quality. I’m glad reviewers like yourself give me an idea what’s actually good and what’s not. 👍🤜 thanks for the video.

I don't know why but i think you stole my words... i have same thoughts on niche Great video brother. Love from India

The idea of value can be so subjective. Sometimes we make decisions based on emotions, brand reputation, and so on which have little to do with how much the product is physically worth. Also agree with your point about murky distinction on quality of ingredients.. it seems as though some companies just make up marketing stories to sell their perfumes because they have no one checking if their 'XX' material is from real or synthetics.

This guy is a real pure passion for fragrance.. not buisness

I love your frank opinion and this gives me the confidence to listen to your opinions. Thank you

That is the beauty of the free market system, it takes care of itself. If a product is over priced (ie the value of the amount charged is higher then the value of the product) then it doesn't sell, or doesn't sell well. If you think something isn't worth it, don't buy it. That causes the retailer to either lower prices or go out of business. If it doesn't sell as well as the company desires/predicts, they can evaluate how to make the product for less while retaining quality. Or keep the price point and improve quality. Either way with the goal to get the value for the product above the value of the price tag. The value of competition does just this, keeps quality high and prices low. The market will take care of itself.

Thank you for this, Peter! Would you by chance have some recommendations on brands or specific fragrances that offer superior ingredient quality for the price? This is the sales pitch of Hawthorne, but I'm not sure if it lives up to it...

I feel the same way about the top brands. Every time I go to sample them at the mall, I'm left feeling deflated, like, wow, why do people like such scents that all seem to smell the same? I loved Obsession when it first came out, for women, but it has changed, and even my favorite Halston z-14 lost its great scent. I'd rather wear my own experiments than purchase high-end perfumes. Whiff had some unique and very nice perfumes, and I'm sure many niche houses do, but they don't advertise as something they are not. I believe the perfume market is ready and ripe for creative people to take it by storm. I think my friends Vivian and Alora are at the forefront of that. You make very valid points. I'd have to say, though, those points really do apply to all perfume companies, not just niche, and yes, you did make that point as well. I just feel the old companies deserve a place in the title as well. lol :-)

Love niche and designers fragrances. It doesn't really matters. I'm only looking for a good perfume. And on this topic i would like to mention longevity part which is very important to me. A lots of them just don't last which really bothers me. Again, in medias res absolutely for you.

Hi Peter. What are you thoughts on Amoauge perfumes? I guess they are not very niche but somewhat different from main high street brands. I personally own Interlude woman, it took me 6+ years of sniffing until finally purchasing a bottle. Thanks in advance for your time!:)

Wow! This is why I love this channel! Well done peter, this was really refreshing to hear..👍

Also a bizarre thing is the complaint of Aventus vs CDNIM because of the missing "pineapple note". Literally worth a 350$ investment to some for the pineapple experience? lol You could buy your own pineapple and add it yourself for literally nothing and control the amount too :p

Great video Peter. I do agree with most of your points. I’m personally beginning to circle back to some of the more mainstream brands from a value perspective. However, I do feel that the cost to market for smaller companies is a lot higher than established houses, which will make their products more expensive. I suppose brands like Roja etc don’t really fit that scenario, but some of the smaller niche houses certainly do need to markup prices to stay relevant in terms of profits.

Clive just had a 50% OFF sale on some of their products. I did pick up the 5 ml travel discovery kit. The price was $112 for 25 ml. 4 of them were composed decently . 1 was ? . The question mark is for what they would normally charge for that fragrance .I think it was I It was basic woody. You could go the CdG route for it, or others . I also picked up Rose Rock 10 ml for $60 . ? Not bad, but not for that price. Why, well at some stages I noticed designer materials . Maybe I should have got the magnolia one that was on sale from the same Clive line. The presentation is simply bar non for a discovery travel set, which is nice, it that's what you want. Oh, C reminded me of Tom Ford's Tuscan Leather a bit. Not completely , but it did have that vibe. As a matter of fact, all Clive's had vibes of other products. There was nothing really new. Still.I do like some of the C.L.I.V.E. , but at the price I got it for. If they have another 50% OFF, which I am sure they will , I might pick up the 10 ml Discovery Travel kit . Not sure. Actually I am looking at Sultan Pasha's attar's or Ensar attar's more . Why, well they take up a lot less space. Yes, those Limited Editions can be , well shitty. You think you've got something special, and you feel good about it , then after it's been released from the vault , or what ever, you say to yourself , with raised eyebrow , " They can do that " ? You feel you've been scammed . You've been lied to by those who portray themselves as being honest, renegades so to speak. Purveyor of truths . You learn . It's all grains of salt. Sample sets . You spend $75 at LuckyScent, they'll send 10 samples for free, plus 3 more of you're choice. Twisted Lily has deals . Get these niche samples , and get $35 off your next order. I used to get free samples by just emailing niche company's . I got free samples from Hermes , D&S Durga many others. That's kind of dried up though Peter. Much more people do that now. Oh, Peter. I got older bottles from D&S Durga , older meaning , D&S Durga changed their bottle design . Because of that, I got over 70% discounts on bottles from them. So , find a company you like , and ask them about that. I am going to do that with John's Kerosene next. I also write reviews and get points for samples that I get. Everything is work. I had to work at finding all of these avenues. good video .

Excellent Video !! U should make a video about niche houses which u actually prefer aside from Ensar & Areej le dore. Everyone knows of their quality but would love to know about other houses u respect.

Man... I donot care if it's niche, indie, designer or whatever, if it smells good on my skin and if it's affordable it's being bought with my money and getting sprayed on my skin but I hear what you're saying.

I agree with you Peter. But niche is good, just don't pay full retail for them! Be a smart buyer, they can be easily found at half the price or even less than that.

Straight talk, wow, very refreshing. Love your channel man!

I agree with you on many points that you have raised. But I have to tell you one thing from where I'm standing. I live in Australia and I'm preparing to release my fragrances towards the end of this year. And I can tell you that my fragrances are not going to be cheap. I'm using a lot of natural ingredients as well as synthetic. And they are very costly. But that's not the reason why my fragrances will be expensive. Unfortunately in Australia I cannot source professional fragrance bottles and synthetic Aroma chemicals. So everything that I want including my packaging has to come from overseas. The cost is ridiculous. Most of the design bottles that I like are minimum order quantity of between 10000 and 30000. And that is way out of my price bracket. So I am going to be completely artisanal and pick a bottle that's not as nice as I would like and dress it up myself. And this also cost money and time. Australia is so behind when it comes to parfumery. We have nothing here available to us at all. Unless you want to make a cheap fragrance with bottles that have screw in caps and are refillable. But if you want something professional, high-end, luxurious and elegant then I have to source everything internationally. So the majority of my costs is not the actual juice but in fact all the logistics and packaging. You guys over in Europe and the UK and people in the US are so very very fortunate that you have all these things accessible to you. I don't and it's very frustrating. And although I'm using rare and natural ingredients I am still keeping my costs low where that is concerned. And the other thing I also have to do is have my fragrance compounded and again this has to happen overseas. Because the minimum order in Australia is ridiculous. And expensive. So I can understand what you were saying about price points. But in my case it is a genuine fact that my fragrances have to be more on the expensive side for all the reasons I've mentioned. And that is unfortunate but the truth. Hopefully my fragrances will be liked by many people . And hopefully it's not going to pinch their pocket too much.

I couldn't agree more. I especially like the not-so-subtle jab at Creed towards the end. So many fragrance houses are guilty of this. I really wish more people would stop the nonsense and just sell the brand on it's own merits rather than trying to artificially create exclusivity by inflating price or claiming some rich legacy. If it smells good and the packaging is elegant and creative, the fragrance will sell.

Great video, Peter. I was just thinking of buying Xerjoff Nio, I love it. However, the price is a bit much for a citrus-dominant fragrance imo. If you could point me in the direction of something similar I would definitely appreciate it. I’ve thought about Dua’s Matrix but I’m unsure of their quality.

It's true. SAs are usually really helpful here when it comes to samples. Of course, it always helps to look and act the part before making requests. Unfortunately there have been times when mature women were on the verge of giving me their numbers.......usually more than $500 a bottle. :S Smile and nod. Smile and nod.

That is why we are waiting for your brand because we know that we’re gonna get best quality at genuine prices. If it wasn’t for you, people like me will never know the inside information of the perfume industry. (Also when they overcharge you for fancy bottles, it really annoys me.)

I tend to stick with Maison Francis Kurdijian. I like your take. Too many niche houses try to be different, and it just doesn't smell that good.

what pises me off about Niche bro? That the price kinda places a placebo on reviewers to give the fragrance credit. I dont want to review perfume becuse I Will hurt 90% of colognes alive .Ill just watch you instead lmao.

Peter. Hope you are doing fine. What I don’t like about niche perfumes ? 1. Fanboys - When I started my journey of discovering niche perfumes, the first one to grab my attention was Roja Parfums. Loved a couple of their perfumes and even purchased them. Then, I found a Facebook group for Fans of Roja Parfums and I joined the group. After a few weeks, there was a new release from Roja which I sampled. The actual cost of the perfume was 895 dollars but I wasn’t impressed by the sample. I went to their Facebook page and found guys raving about this perfume that I did not like - both the scent and the longevity or lack there of. Started writing honest reviews about that new perfume but was attacked by Roja fan boys left and right. Got into a confrontation with one of the guys and the next day got a message from the moderator saying that he is going to block me which he did. It dawned on me what a poison these fan boys are. Similar thing happened with Xerjoff too but this time with a RU-vid who loves EVERY freaking release from Xerjoff. 2. Theft. Yes you read it right. I purchased a couple of BTV perfumes from their website and there were no issues. I placed an order for a third one that I liked but I never got it. I kept writing to them repeatedly for months but didn’t get a single response. The year was 2015 and that was a lot of money that I lost. Naturally I got fed up by\ut couldn’t do shit about it. 3. Pricing - Clive Christian and BTV are two brands whose pricing is borderline hilarious. There are many others too but these 2 needs to be constantly shamed. Just ridiculous.

Wow some valid points. How come I've not seen this channel before. I'm well late. Love you channel. Got a lot of catching up to do. And you create yr own scents. Will check out yr site for sure......

Great video, I agree with you 100%. On that note can you please do a video sharing niche brands that you feel are ‘authentic’ and worth the while?

Very good points, Peter. Curious how you will tip toe around these when you finally release your creation.

My biggest problem until now with niche is getting them. Not because they are rare, simply because they won't ship in North America. Mizensir comes to mind, they will only ship around Europe. No distributors, no ebay sales from third parties, nothing. I even sent them a message if they were willing to ship to Canada. No answer. Extremely frustrating. I can't get them unless I go to Geneva or have a European home.

Pete you mad lad.

Wow thank you for just being real about the Niche hypnosis. Honest opinion is always the best to what matter in any marked up product.

Well, there are inexpensive niche brands and there are over-priced designer fragrances. The quality of the exclusive lines of designer brands disappointed me to a point that I don't even bother to test them anymore. While on the other hand I found quality in quite some niche fragrances. One of the early niche houses is L'Artisan Parfumeur, and I quite like quite a few perfumes from them. Amouge had fantastic perfumes and while I was repelled by the price of 270€ for 12ml of Tribute Attar, after using it a while because I got a decant, I would now be happy to buy it... if it would be still widely available. The Private Line by TF on the other hand I for a long time had no chance to test, but so many sounded so great. When i finally was able to sample some, I was disappointed. And when I had the chance to sample all that were available at that time I tested a few more, disliked all I sampled and didn't even bother to try the others, just gone to the next brand because I felt I would waste my money. To at least be a creative director for a brand ist great. If Norma Kamali did not intervene and spoke her mind during the creation of her Incense, it would not have been such a masterpiece (that so many are missing right now, as it's gone for ages now). Or Serge Lutens (who also often claims to be the perfumer, while we all know his nose is Christopher Shaldrake and, if at all, SL might be a co-perfumer). The quality of the great designer houses like Chanel suffered extremely. There's no regular perfume available by this brand that I like. And I had to wait ages to get my Cuir du Russie Extrait, just to find out that the reason for the delay might have been a reformulation and the high priced product hardly isn't worth it (anymore). I love my vintage Pour Monsieur, but this comes from a time with much less restrictions. After Tom Ford left Gucci, not a single release was worth to wear the brand's name in my opinion, just plain crap. I was surprised by Gucci Guilty Absolute, though, which stood out, was brave and had it's own character. The niche brands that really such for me are all those brainless molecule creations that junp on Geza Schön's train, just a few heavily overdosed synthetic molecules, hardly any other ingredients and this is sold as overpriced simplistic 'art'. Well, I'm not a trained perfumer either, but even my early experiments with high doses of Iso E Super and the like had more creativity, and still I wouldn't even put a price tag on them, if I had the money to start a perfume brand. Why niche quality suffers and suffers are usually not the niche brands, but because so many of them get bought by major companies. Which well known niche brands really do still belong their founders?

To be honest the only reason i sort of quit using designers and stick to just some niche is because of all the ingredients regulations causing all these reformulations and water downs. Before all this back in the day your average fragrance will last you all day. The change in quality in designer frags are like night and day. If things never changed id mostly stick to designers

Great videos as always, love hearing your insight and how much time you put into it, what do I hate Good niche ones that get discontinued and then go for absolutely insane prices online

Good thoughts, Pete! High priced niche doesn't mean automaticly high quality in ingredients and careful balanced composition with outstanding performance. And even if so, it doesn't mean that this one will be your second skin & soulmate! I have the privilege to live near a niche paradise in Germany (Düsseldorf) with 6 stores close in one street (Königsallee) around 10 minute footwalk. Before buying a perfume, I'll make endless testings on blotter/skin and get lil' samples for free. So many duds that have just underwhelming ingredients quality. My latest black sheep discovery: Amorphus' Absurdum - plum osmanthus themed scent. Too raw blending with offputting puke Oud note tones down pleasant floral part to death. Base just generic skin creme akkord (Vanilla, Amber, Musc) with tad tiiiny hints of osmanthus on fabric. Extrait de Parfum... 4 sprays on same spots on shirt, 2 sprays on hair -> longevity 3 hrs. from medium to near sillage (remember it contains "Oud"), then just 6-8 hrs. very close on shirt Osmanthus skin creme. Flacon Design a la Nasomatto and huuuge cartoon paper packaging. 50 ml = 280 €! IMHO total ripoff & scam (Latin words "Amorphus Absurdum" means monstrosity btw.! 🤡). Muglers Alien for men would be a better bargain in comparison (that was just a desastrous underwhelming release!)! 🙄 Bad ingredients, not enough developed formula, low performer despite high oil concentration, uninspiring flacon design, tacky oversized packaging, 3way overpriced combined my latest prime example of a bad niche perfume. Be happy, that you smell single raw ingredients through your perfume hobby and have the opportunity to smell outstanding ingredients from Ensar or Russian Adam (& other Artisanals/Distillers). That's an undeniable advantage to judge about the quality of a scent besides your personal preferences and feelings! ☕😉👍

Good commentary on niche fragrance issues Peter. I agree with what you said.

I found your channel today. I love your videos so far. I was researching about Ajere lee dore perfumes. Do you know any perfume that has the tabacco/coffee note of Intoxicated by Kilian please?

That happened when I bought the entire sample set of etat libe d’orange, I didn’t like a single one ha! But thankfully I sold it on for more than i paid for it.

I'm sticking with niche houses that offer quality like Ensar, Areej le Dore, Bortnikoff they are more artisanal than niche.

The only fragrance you will ever need ... Blue de chanel EDP great for FALL , WINTER, SPRING and SUMMER nights . For summer days use blu de chanel shower gel and deodorant great for year round

So many great points - I appreciated your mentioning great natural ingredients don't necessarily have great results. Can you give an example? Some basic questions in evaluating value beyond the cost of niche ingredients. What is your take on the criteria for calculating fair value of a synthetic aroma-chemical since scarcity would not be a consideration but maybe knowledge of chemistry and the understanding that it is easily duplicated will be built in. I know you prefer natural ingredients with valuation emphasizing scarcity and creativity of distillation/blending but niche is essentially a luxury business as well as a artistic craft business and I would like to see a discussion of how these goals affect the product. Also as a former art history student, I look at it as I would art from the Renaissance to Modern art where works by Michelangelo vs say Mark Rothko or Marcel Duchamp are evaluated very differently by those collecting or paying for it.

Like everything else in the world, opinions are subjective & tho i agree with some of what's being said here, to classify the "niche" market as a whole is pointless. Most of these smaller houses charge more cause their overhead is usually higher, they don't have these multimillion dollar advertising budgets etc. If you think about it, cost per value ratio doesn't only apply to niche houses. Dior, Armani, YSL, Chanel etc.. all have exclusive lines that cost just as much (if not more) than the average niche brands.

10/10 video great work boss been subscribed to you for over two years now

I understand but for my humble opinion, when you living in Paris you don't have this issue. You could go for the week end to any europeen capital and ask for free samples. I'm not sure all the house of perfumerie will give it, but most of them.It is a nice excuse to travel a bit. Hearing myself I sound kind of the bad cliché of Parisian snobi and braging about how Paris is great. It is. Paris is so Great. Specially for perfumes. Otherwise I agree that selling perfume too expensive is not reasonable it should be afordable for anybody. Thank you for your videos and your beautiful descriptions.

A pretty Asian lady with her wrist to her nose comes to mind...(edit)...oh...whoops...I think a subtle (not subtle?) reference was made. And agree completely on vanilla as well as the Tom Ford comparison and the PDM thing which is _exactly_ why I haven't tried Layton yet. And hey, for the record, Creed *did* make fragrance for the _many_ kings of Atlantis, even for scenting their flying saucers, and how DARE you question that.

Sorry to mention Creed again, but can you tell me if Royal Oud has real oud in it? I am leaning towards the side that it may not, but I haven’t actually smelled the real thing. Look forward to trying something from Ansar.

Will you please do a video on what niche houses are worth it? I just got into niche and have byredo and le labo in my collection now but idk if they are considered high quality or worth the money. I feel like a video like this would help out a lot of people! P.s. i subscribed, thanks for your help.

I thought the definition of niche were fragrances produced by companies in lesser/limited quantities and only sold at a few shops? I didn’t think smell had anything to do with it? Great video, though, well done! Cheers!

I personally hate that for the prices, and the myriad of materials that can be used, why are there not more exotic smells on the niche market? There seems to be less risk taking in the market these days. Risk in the market these days seems like just making things that smell like an animal's ass. Originality doesn't have to always be that challenging. Geez niche market where did the creativity go? I want to smell things I've never smelled before and that's totally a possibility. Also, I hate it when niche houses make things that should be sold by Macy's. Hopefully 2019 will bring something really interesting.

i feel there is already a critical mass in this bubble... too much new releases even for the enthusiasts like us. i am especially annoyed by the amount of s.c. selective lines, released in dosens of bottles, all basically the same. luckily at this point i already know what i like and looking forward to mostly indie/natural brands

Well said, some excellent points. For me, cost is the number one reason that most niche fragrances suck.

This video is.quite edicative. It helps in.disabuaing.our minds about the myth being created that all.niche fragrances are unique or exceptionally appealing when in fact many aren't worth their bottles. Keep it up. My take is simple, a good fragrance is always a goplod fragrance whether it it is a niche, a designer or a clone.

One of my pet hates is false limitation of a fragrance for no reason. Eg a fragrance is exclusive to Harrods who won’t ship internationally . Had a small decant of creed 1849 really liked it but had to wait 2 years to pick it up as I go back to the uk rarely. They had sold out and the sa said like I live down the road come back next week it will be back in stock. Great I will be back in Australia then and u won’t ship there thanks for that! Ended up waiting another 18 months for a London based friend to bring it out, I wear it sparingly.

I have that feel everytime I smell a Creed scent ( Aventus is great but now it's copied everywhere as mont blanc explorer ) But niche is difficult to define imho, is Duro niche or Straight to heaven ? Baccarat rouge or jubilation 25 ?

Hey Pete Have you smelled baccarat Rouge 540 by MFk? I loveee IT nd I want your take on IT! what do you think honestly. its sweet but IT grabs me. I ran out of my sample nd everyday I think of IT . its been two weeks nd ima save up to get IT plus IT just works on my skin. the chemistry kicks ass Edit: I have my keyboard in Español mode sorry for all the typos. btw I agree how niche is becoming mainstream. I just tried Elysium Roja . IT fucking sucksss!! Cheers bro

Agree on almost everything you said but roja dove quality is up there and he says he uses a high percent of naturals and you can smell it. My nose and head sometimes hurts with high levels of synthetics, and with naturals it doesn’t bother me

This is how I feel about weird people paying crazy amounts for older Aventus batches. For what it offers people are allowing themselves to be ripped off in a major way all over a freshie.

Peter! What happened to your masque milano video? Also, i was in dior today and they have a 3ml oud, 3ml ambre and 3ml rose for 270 quid each. Im trying to find a link for u, sensational goo.

My displeasure is not the niche in this context. But still I think it's real shitty, that many perfumes get reformulated with crap substitutes once the perfume house has hooked the buyers. Sometimes it is reflected in the price, fair enough but then there should be the option to buy the original version. Like one can choose EDT/EDP.