Perfume has always been considered a luxury product but have you ever wondered why they are so expensive? Some of the perfume scents are quite exotic and powerful. A few drops of high-quality fragrance make you feel more confident about yourself and can turn heads. Buying a bottle of perfume has long been considered a luxury and this is mostly due to the whopping prices they come for. Exquisite perfumes cost a good amount of money but a small bottle of fragrance costs so much that can blow your mind. The truth is that so much goes into making and selling a good fragrance, it is as much a business venture as it is a work of art.
Why Are Perfumes So Expensive?
Let’s check out the reason why are Perfumes so expensive.
The Perfume’s Ingredients
Expensive fragrances are made up of top notes, heart notes and base notes. The scents are blended using a multitude of ingredients to achieve the perfect notes which all add to the perfume’s cost. Some of the most sought-after quality rarest ingredients and essential oils are used in exotic fragrances. Some of these fragrances come from flowers to endangered animal parts. But if you are a vegan, you would definitely want to avoid some of the ingredients. The more difficult the ingredient is to acquire, the more expensive perfume will be.
Some flowers can be difficult to get when they are seasonal blossoms. Some flowers only bloom for one month per year, and you need to get them all to make the particular fragrance. The three most expensive flower scents on the market are Bulgarian Rose, jasmine, and orris. However, perfumes also have the seductively earthy and smokey scent provided by oud oil. It is an oil made from the wood of Aquilaria trees that is extremely popular in the Middle East. These trees only produce oud (a dark and extremely fragrant form of resin) when they are infected with a type of fungus and that is why it is so difficult to get. The trees have to be infected with fungus without insects infecting the tree and are odourless. The process of extracting the oud oil is a lengthy process, so it is priced high and is known as black gold in the Middle East and the Gulf.
The Manufacturing Cost
Some of the larger fashion houses such as Chanel, Dior, Guerlain, and Hermès have their own, in-house perfume maker who is masters in their work. While many outsource their scents to large fragrance corporations such as Firmenich, International Flavour and Fragrance (IFF), and Givaudin, to name a few. These corporations charge these luxury brands for their formulas at a markup that gets passed on to the consumer.
Packaging Cost Of the Perfume
There are two very important reasons that luxury packaging cannot be underestimated. The visual aspect and protecting the fragrance are the two main reasons. If you want to stand out in this competitive market, visual appeal is quite important for a new fragrance to stand out. A stunningly crafted bottle has a stronger shelf presence and is likely to represent its brand more effectively and to be noticed by the customers. The presentation of the bottle plays a big part in the pricing of the scent. And the second reason is to protect the fragrance in the bottle so that it doesn’t lose its original scent and quality. A perfume bottle also fulfils more practical functions such as protecting the integrity of the fragrance, apart from being decorative. An airtight bottle made of glass ensures that the perfume lasts long after the date of purchase by trapping the scent within and keeping the light safely away.
Cost of Marketing Scent
If a brand is investing so much in making perfume, it should also let the world know about it. Even the most famous perfumes brand have to put up campaigns and marketing strategies to let the world know about their fragrance. Back in 2004, Chanel also marketed its Chanel No. 5 perfume and people loved it. Despite being a well-known favourite of Marilyn Monroe and a household name, it didn’t stop Chanel from investing $33 million in a 3-minute commercial. The ad featured Nicole Kidman as a star of the big screen, with a sultry rendition of Clair de Lune playing in the background against a Manhattan backdrop.
Niche Fragrances
Many of the best niche fragrances have been bought out by larger conglomerates, such as Éditions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, Jo Malone London, Le Labo and By Kilian all being bought out by Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. and Maison Francis Kurkdjian being bought out by LVMH. They are probably the ultimate luxury fragrances and some of the most expensive perfumes in the world. Niche fragrances focus on the quality and integrity of the ingredients that make up the scent rather than fancy packaging and paid marketing.
Which is your favourite perfume?
