Would you wear £3.99 perfume?

Recently I neared the end of my current perfume Coco Mademoiselle, boo hiss boo. Just as I was about to stump up a small fortune for a big bottle to see me through to Christmas, or investigate new perfumes, I received a text message from my friend which read

'Did you know Lidl do a perfume which smells a lot like your Chanel perfume?'

Say what now?



I had a little google and it turns out lots of people, including Klee have found Lidl's Suddenly Madame Glamour, hilarious name aside, to be remarkably similar to Chanel's easy to wear scent Coco Mademoiselle. I had to check this out. I hotfooted it (technical term) down to my nearest Lidl in the hope of finding a bottle. I thought I'd need luck on my side because the ladies of blogland have found it hard to track down but the shelves of my local shop were full of the stuff, I need not have worried.

The packaging is nothing to rave about, it's neither here nor there to be honest but seeing as I can't capture a scent in a photograph you'll have to make do with photos of the packaging.

Now to the scent. Just a quick sniff from the bottle and I thought it remarkably similar to the Chanel and sprayed into the air, again remarkably similar. The real test is on the skin. Could the Lidl match up to the Chanel?

I sprayed Suddenly Madame Glamour on my right arm and the very last of my Coco Mademoiselle on my left and allowed them to develop during the day.  I'm pretty sure this isn't a technical or scientific way of doing a scent test and I'm sorry no white jackets and goggles were worn to conduct the experiment. Ommmvvv.



They smelt very similar when first applied, sisters who are mistaken for twins a lot but when you take a good look at them there is a couple of years difference and one has a longer nose. That kind of similarity, y'know?
On my skin the oriental notes in the Chanel play louder than in the Lidl for the first 20 mintues or so. I can detect the citrus a lot more in the Lidl but I like that for summer. As the day wore on the difference became harder to detect and if I hadn't written down which arm was wearing which scent (yes my memory is shocking) I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference after 4 hours worth of wear on a warm day.

Would I compare the two?
Yes. I think they are very similar, especially once they've worn in during the day.
Would I buy either again?
Hmmmm I think I'd buy the Lidl before I buy the Chanel. Whilst I like Coco Mademoiselle I don't think of it in any way near as luxurious as other Chanel perfumes (I think that may just be the way the notes play out on my skin) and at £61 I'd rather buy something which excites me and drives me a bit batty than something I like but isn't me, me, me.

At £3.99 (for 50ml) I can afford to have a bit of a play with fragrance and yes it might be from Lidl but hey...I don't care.

Would you buy and wear perfume from Lidl? Have you tried any bargain basement perfumes?


Edit - Some people have asked about the Lidl perfume lasting. I find the lasting time of perfume differs greatly from person to person and perfume doesn't last especially long on me. I've worn the Lidl perfume 3 times now and it has lasted for arounc 6 hours each time which is about the same as the Chanel perfume for me.

TTFN,

P.S. No Keira Knightly advertising the Lidl either - another plus point.

Subscribe on Bloglovin' or Hello Cotton

Say hi on Twitter @athriftymrsuk

Watch my videos on Youtube

or you can even check out my instagrams @athriftymrs

| about | contact | archive | disclosure & disclaimer | advertise |