La Rive is often praised here for good dupes. (For) Woman has caught my eye several times. The boxes are always spread out wastefully on the Bipa shelves. The packaging suggests more of an understated quality than cheap goods. And anyway, I'm not a perfume snob. So let’s give it a go! On the test strip, it already smelled wonderfully fresh.
But oops... What is this? On my skin, I first smell a diffuse synthetic freshness. Somehow not as pleasant as expected. Is that supposed to be allspice and freesia? Aha, well if you say so... Do you know that feeling when cheap room fragrances smell somewhat fresh-floral? But not like a specific flower, just kind of floral in general. That would be the top note here.
Next up is Lacoste pour Femme. This one thrives on the fresh-showered-and-lotioned scent. However, that was already a good hour ago and it’s way too warm again. Just before you start to sweat. The Lacoste has a strong human touch. But it doesn’t smell sweaty, rather like warm, well-cared-for skin.
La Rive Woman smells just like that, only with quite a bit of chemistry going on in the background, which makes the scent appear rather musty and dull despite the clean freshness. That really bothers me here. A clean scent, a skin scent with such a strange chemical note in the background. This smell makes me quite uneasy. It reminds me of fake perfumes that you get thrown at you in certain tourist centers at street markets. I used to sniff those occasionally. They usually had an underlying scent of soap, alcohol, or just smelled chemical. In other words: La Rive Woman smells to me like I imagine a fake Lacoste pour Femme would smell.
So, despite the 35% (is it even worth it for such a cheap scent??) it didn’t get packed.
I would definitely recommend anyone looking for an affordable alternative to Lacoste to test this dupe first. Maybe you’ll have better luck and won’t smell the chemistry as much.
I sprayed a bit on the back of my hand. I smelled the scent for about 3 hours. There was no base. The whole thing somehow fell apart and after those 3 hours, there was just a soapy hint left on my skin. The sillage was also rather weak. However, the scent is sold in 100ml buckets anyway. So you can spray more generously. But for me, Woman is not an option.
To me, the scent just smells cheap and like soap. Ugh. I've noticed lately that La Rive doesn't make nice fragrances like they used to. I deliberately avoid the term "dupe." It just always resembled its big inspirations.
I never tested that one because the bottle looked so fake. I really dislike that; it's embarrassing. The Lacoste doesn't resonate with me, but it definitely has a strong dog scent... I don't want to smell like a dog :(
I feel the same way about cheap fragrances... I mean, I can smell the price difference. But it has to come from somewhere. They’re just trying to create good scents for a smaller budget. Great :-))
I also have a dupe. I'm really impressed with it, even though I don't know the original. I actually bought it on a whim and just went by my nose :-)
I also have a dupe. I'm really impressed with it, even though I don't know the original. I actually bought it on a whim and just went by my nose :-)