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| Source: www.pixabay.com |
Hello, ladies and gentleman! I am back once again. I took a little break to catch my breath before fall came into full swing. I am going to be dropping a ton of fall and cooler weather releases in the next two weeks, so stay tuned! I am super excited about this fall with some of these fragrances I picked up.
Today, I am going to talk about a touchy topic for some, clone houses. These houses essentially take a popular fragrance and make their own version of it and sell it to you for less. This can range from hard to find discontinued or vintage fragrance to higher-end niche ones. Now, these clones aren't the ones you see in Wal-Mart labeled "Our version of Cool Water". These are much higher quality ones that are made to perform and smell great while doing so.
The clone market has many houses. It can be a bit confusing trying to figure out which clone house will work for you, your budget, and what you would like out of a fragrance. Have no fear though, I have tried most of the houses out there. This list is aimed at helping newer people decide which ones work for them. It can also be informative to some vets by showing them some new houses. Let's get into it!
I will note this as a con for most of the houses here....Maceration. You have to let a majority of these sit for a bit before they fully compose their strength and scent character. It's just part of dealing with these houses, but you get used to it, although it can be a tad bit annoying.
Alexandria Fragrances
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| Source: www.alexandriafragrances.com |
Pros:
-Fast shipping
-Excellent customer service
-They run sales quite often
-Very interactive with their customer base on their Facebook group
-Fair pricing
-They create formulations of discontinued and sought after designer gems.
-They have a grooming line and solid fragrances, which most other companies don't have.
-Top-notch original creations
Cons:
-Sometimes during sales shipping can be slow due to them only having a small team.
-Sometimes fragrances are sold out for an extended period of time before they get materials to restock. This isn't the fault of Alexandria, but it's still something to be mindful of.
Summary
Alexandria is probably the most widely known and regarded house on this list. For good reason. Hany Hafez and his team put their customers first and treat them like family. Their pricing is fair. Their shipping times are normally excellent. They ship internationally as well. They also have a good selection of things such as shaving soap, solid fragrances, and beard oil(which is owned by Hany's brother).
Their presentation is being upgraded all of the time as well. I haven't tried the new bottles yet, but they look pretty amazing.
I have tried quite a few Alexandrias. Around 40 at the time of this article and I have 5 more on the way. I can personally approve of this house and their creations. Of those 30 fragrances, I enjoy/love around 26 of them.
Website: www.alexandriafragrances.com
Dua Fragrances
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| Source: www.dua-fragrances.com |
Pros:
-Cool labels
-They have a bunch of inspirations of fragrances that are exclusive to other countries
-A huge selection
-Interactive with their customers on Facebook
-Good customer service
Cons:
-Slow shipping(from what I hear, I have yet to order from them)
-Somewhat pricey for clones
-They discontinue a lot of fragrances
-A lot of their offerings are constantly sold out on their website
Summary
DUA was the first clone house in the fragrance community, at least as far as I know. They have quite a unique selection of fragrances. Randing from high-end stuff that you can only get at Harrod's(A very upscale department store in London that sells luxury brands) to blends. Blends are fragrances that have two fragrance DNAs in them. For example, they have one that is a mix of Creed's AVentus and Creed's Virgin Island water mixed into one fragrance. I am not totally on board with this whole blending thing, but a lot of people love them. Maybe you will as well.
I have only tried 4 DUAs. One of them was amazing, 2 of them were good, and one was awful for me. That is just my nose though, many people swear by anything they make. You can order samples from www.smellsandsuds.com and see for yourself before forking over money for a full bottle, because they are somewhat pricey for clones, but as I said previously, they do make some hard to find ones.
Website: https://www.dua-fragrances.com/
Scentual Obsessions
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| Source: https://www.scentualobsessionsperfume.com |
Pros:
-A huge selection of fragrances that no one else is cloning
-Top-notch customer service
-A bunch of different sized bottles
-They made body wash as well
-Very fair prices
Cons:
-No fragrance noted listed for each on their site
Summary
Scentual Obsessions is a newer house based out of Florida. They have a ton of offerings, randing from Candies to Green Valley. They were also one of the first houses(perhaps even the first) to clone Aventus Cologne. The owner of this company is constantly working to improve his product and takes feedback seriously.
I had a chance to try three of this house's fragrances recently. All 3 were excellent to my nose. This company actually makes a bay rum fragrance. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent bay rum fragrance? Amazing. Also, there is no rum in it. I will be reviewing one of them later this week.
Website: https://www.scentualobsessionsperfume.com
Fragrenza
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| Source: https://www.fragrenza.com/ |
Pros:
-Unique bottle design. They are also crimped
-Some very stellar original creations
-Fair pricing
-The owner seeks a lot of feedback from his customers to improve his product
-They are constantly trying to evolve their presentation to separate themselves from other clones houses.
Cons:
-The bottles have a silver sheen and attract fingerprints(which could be a con to some)
Summary
Fragrenza is a newer house as well. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this company isn't more popular. Their offerings are quite amazing. I have tried 6 fragrances from them, 2 originals and 4 clones and they were all stellar. I still have a few more to review from them, but I kinda spoiled what I think of them already, didn't I? Oh well, it's just the truth.
Website: https://www.fragrenza.com/
Genre Parfums
Pros:
-Amazing price to quality ratio
-The owner is very interactive with his customers and places customer service as the most important thing
-The owner is very transparent with any hiccups that might happen
-Excellent original creations
-Classy presentation
Cons:
-The owner works in the oil fields, so ordering is only open when he can be home.
-No website(They are working on one). Ordering is done through Facebook, which is deterring to some.
Summary
Genre Parfums has been around or a while, but they are just now getting some much-deserved love. I have tried three creations from them and all 3 were very good. Especially considering these are only 25 bucks for a 30ml bottle. This is certainly a house you want to check out if you are new to clone houses. They sell samples as well, which are very cheap.
The biggest downside is that the owner can't release and take orders whenever you want because of his work schedule. The man has to feed his family though, so I can't blame him. They are worth the wait though.
Genre Parfums Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/406118473237999/
Babylon Fragrances
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| Source: https://www.babylonfragrances.com/ |
Pros:
-The black and gold bottles look classy
-They come in a book styled box that has a silk type lining.
-Good value for what you get
-The owner is very responsive to feedback
-You can order a free sample from their site to try them out.
Cons:
-The caps are quite loose on the bottles, so if you forget and pick them up by the cap(which you should never do) then you might have a good smelling floor for a month or two. This isn't a con to me, but it could be to some.
-A newer company, so the selection isn't very diverse yet. They are working on it though
Summary
Babylon is another new house. I have tried around 8 of their offerings and there was only one I wasn't a huge fan of. It wasn't a bad fragrance, it was just a far stretch from the original to me. The rest of the ones I tried were very close. He recently came out with some originals, which I hope to try someday. I have heard great things about them.
I just received an inspiration of PdM Oajan from him. It's an amazing fragrance. This is another clone house that you don't want to miss. The review for that one is coming soon.
Zoha Aroma
Pros:
- An excellent selection of perfume oils
-Amazing prices(Their site shows prices in CAD because they are a Canadian company. They are even cheaper in USD)
-High quality to price ratio
Cons:
-They focused mainly on perfume oils, so their spray selection isn't huge right now, but the owner is working on expanding that.
Summary
Zoha Aroma is a budget-friendly house. As I said earlier, they focus on perfume oils mostly, but their spray collection is growing and is very fairly priced. He recently came out with some originals, which I have been dying to try, but I have not been able to afford them yet. I will get some at some point and review them for you all.
My advice would be this: Don't count out perfume oils. They are an excellent way to smell great and to carry them with you on plane trips. I love a lot of my perfume oils and Zoha Aroma makes some very high-quality fragrances that cost next to nothing. 6ml of a perfume oil will last you as long as 100ml spray.
Website: http://zohaaroma.com/
Conclusion
That's it for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to message me if you'd like to know more about these houses. All of them are quite good in their own regard. I appreciate all of the support you all give me. Have an amazing day and stay positive and spread positive vibes!
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