[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] With news that Aldi has brought out three ‘dupes’ for Le Labo, it reminded me that Lidl’s Suddenly Female dupe of Lancome La Vie Est Belle makes me laugh every time I hear of it. I mean, tell me the thought process that happened at product development stage that brought them to Suddenly Female. What a shock that would be if you weren’t already. But, in most ways, I sympathise – I take exception to the worthy words of journalists and fragrance afficionados who get over excited about supermarket brands making fragrance totally affordable. Maison Margiela Replica Fragrance Coffee Break which is £125 (actually, £100 on offer – I’ll link you at the end) and that’s not unusually priced. Fragrance can cost hundreds of pounds – certainly more than the weekly shop – so it’s out of bounds for anyone on a budget. I don’t think fragrance should be off limits for anyone so really, I do not care if Lidl or Aldi are knocking out so called dupes that smell almost nothing like the original thing – if a spritz of it makes you happy and brings you joy, I can’t see why that moment shouldn’t be open to everyone.
It’s not news to anyone that fragrance sales are what props up many a designer brand because the mark up are so extraordinarily high – it wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that production cost for a designer fragrance is the same as Aldi’s. All of this said, I have very much fallen in love with Replica Coffee Break which was given to me by a dear friend. The description is ‘creamy and cosy coffee’ but the opener is bright florals – a big whack of one of my favourite notes, orange blossom, followed by milky lavender, coffee beans and benzoin. None of these should be at one with each other and yet somehow, they are. Coffee Break isn’t a new fragrance – it was launched in 2019 with Jacques Cavallier Belletrud as the nose – but it feels new because these notes are so fragrance fashion forward. The base notes include vanilla – a note where you really can tell the difference between cheap and expensive – cedar and vetiver.
My coffee breaks smell nothing like this – I wish that they did. But then, I don’t get the Diet Coke man when I drink a Diet Coke so thems the breaks. Maison Margiela Replica Fragrance Coffee Break is on offer for £100 HERE.