What do you think of Zara, Dua, et al?

Has anyone ever tried anything from dupe houses like Zara, Dua, Alexandria, Whoever?

What do you think of them? Do they match the fragrance they're duping? Do they make any original fragrances you like?

I've been wondering about this since I got "Khamrah | Lattafa / لطافة". I never tested "Angels' Share | Kilian", but I think Khamrah is gorgeous, whether or not it's a dupe for Angel's Share or not.

Some folks have said Zara scents has a chemical smell they shouldn't, while others rave about them. Would you mind sharing your experiences?

I have never tried Dua or Alexandria.

Zara has many dupes, but also some original scents. I wouldn't really call them a dupe house, they don't try to make exact dupes of everything, they just adapt trends for an affordable price. Just like with their clothes. Some are closer to the high end version, some not. So, they have some really boring designer dupes and some more interesting creations. I don't think they all have a "chemical smell". The quality is a bit of a mixed bag, but the prices are really low and you can try the fragrances in store, so it's fair.

For example my husband has "#Tobacco Collection - Rich/Warm/Addictive | Zara", which is a really nice gourmand and not a true dupe to anything else. This one gets a lot of hype online, too. It has a 7.9 rating on here.

Cherry Smoothie is another nice one. Many perceive it as a Lost Cherry Eau de Parfum dupe, but I have Lost Cherry and found Cherry Smoothie way more powdery and not that similar. Honestly, people call everything with a cherry note an LC dupe nowadays, so I don't know. It's good.

I had a bottle of Black Peony a while ago, and this one is a good example for the average designer dupe category. It's supposed to smell like Flowerbomb Eau de Parfum and is basically a lighter version of that. Nice, but not remarkable. The original is better in this case.

With Zara, you really have to read reviews and try fragrances, they have way too many different scents to generalize.

I tend to agree that everything with a cherry note is supposed to be a LC dupe.  I'll have start paying more attention to Zara.  Thanks for the info!  It's appreciated.

Hi,

So far, I don't have any Duas, although there are several I'm hoping to get. Nor any Alexandrias, or Jenny Glows. Zara, however, I have a plentiful supply of, and really enjoy those I have, e.g. Sacred Green Forest , "#Tobacco Collection - Rich/Warm/Addictive | Zara" , "Zara Emotions N°03 - Ebony Wood (Eau de Parfum) | Zara" , Osmanthus and several others. In addition, I picked up both Zara Exclusive N°04 - Leather Jardin and Captivating Memories - Unexpected Joy (both Jo Malone) today in the sales. Unexpected Joy is a complete blind buy and I've not even tested it yet, but Leather Jardin's been on my wishlist for some time. The leather's excellent although slightly more tannery than what I normally go for, but I do enjoy it in a similar way to the several Cabochard (1959) Parfum I love, as well as Jolie Madame Eau de Toilette . While a lot of them are perhaps a bit 'throw-away', they do have some fantastic stuff for the price.

They only sell Zara frags here in Norway. They are ok. I seldom find any I fall for from them. The only Zara perfume I have is Joyful Tuberose, which I have bought two times

I've only tried a few fragrances from Zara and fell in love with one of them. Their Fleur d'Oranger is as good as anything on the market today from even the best perfume houses. This is one of their original fragrances created by Jo Malone. 

Be Layered does some pretty good dupes.  Some of them smell almost identical to the actual fragrances they are copying. 

If you love angel share (and live near a zara), try to smell "Sand Desert At Sunset | Zara" in person! I don't have much of an opinion on zara perfumes as a whole- they seem to put out a ton of scents and don't really have an identity? and while cherry smoothie is one of my least favorite scents sand desert at sunset was an immediate purchase for me once i sampled it.

personally i dont care much about buying a dupe fragrance over another, but my bigger issue is blind buying. as far as i know, dua and dupe brands arent carried in normal retailers where i can try out the smell before committing to purchase

I don't like Zara perfumes generally (the ones available in my country) but I liked Tobacco Collection. I wanted to try "#Tobacco Collection - Intense/Dark/Exclusive | Zara". For some reason I found only "#Tobacco Collection - Rich/Warm/Addictive | Zara" which was very pleasant. "Zara Emotions N°05 - Tubereuse Noir (Eau de Parfum) | Zara" was well made for a tuberose scent but nothing extraordinary.

I second the opinion of Zara smelling a little off. I literally bought one, so that's no representative sample but anyway, the perfume in question was "Zara Emotions N°03 - Ebony Wood (Eau de Parfum) | Zara" . Lauded, admired and put on pedestal as very good, so on and so on. So I blind bought, tried at home, worn it only three times or so. It has a strong, bittersweet opening of cloves and sour cherries/pink pepper and I dig it, but the cloves could be dialed a bit down. Where the scent lost me is when it settles to middle and base accords. There is something off, some weird musk-adjacent accord that just gets into my nostrills and sticks onto back of my throat. It's borderline cloying and messy I guess? But in an airy way, very hard to describe. I lost my interest in Zara scents from that moment.

I tried a few Maison Alhambra (Lattafa owned very brash clones) - Russian Leather (like Jaguar for men but a little smoother and more airy), Roman Leather (nice patchouli-herbal dark leather, dig it, got a nice bite to it) and Allure Homme Sport Eau de Toilette clone, I believe it was called Alpine Homme or something like that. The last one was not my cup of tea, it's a little messy minty-orange with a payload of tonka beans. I forgot about that decant already. Never tried the original though, so it might be decent clone.

Tested a decant of "Khamrah | Lattafa / لطافة" and it's solid. Very dense, little synthetic, super sweet. Way to cloying milky-raisiny for me but I certainly get the hype.

I like clones. Big part of my collection are at least clone-adjacent scents. I like the affordability. I don't give a darn about presentation and ripping off product designs but it does feels off and cheap. On the other hand I'm not very fond of giant, multi-million holdings plopping fetishes for people to pay crazy amounts of money. I would say I like moderation, but my collection nearing 80 bottles would act as a nice punchline to that joke.

I'm personally quite ambivalent toward dupes or fast fashion as a whole. And when these discussions come up I absolutely understand everyone's point of view, to the degree that it makes me look passive.

I appreciate affordable options, and need them myself usually because I'm a homeschooling mom.  My husband makes decent money and we have a modest home, cars, etc., but affording extras is difficult or even impossible sometimes. It's a challenge to obtain even samples. We also don't live somewhere with any upscale fragrance stores. 

That being said, I always prefer, even if only 5% more, original fragrances. I can percieve some differences between dupes and originals. Even if I like the dupes (I have a Be Layered dupe of Delina which I won in a giveaway, and a Twist dupe for POAL which I found at a thrift store almost full), they smell slightly...rougher in texture. It's likely that absolutely nobody could detect a difference from afar in the sillage, but I can up close. I also found a dupe of Gypsy Water from Fine'ry at Goodwill recently...loved it, but didn't even realize Fine'ry was a dupe brand until I went home and got online 🤭🤦‍♀️ I ordered a sample of GW to figure out how good "Mysterious Nomad" is in comparison, and it's decent...but it's less naturalistic smelling.

My bread&butter is shopping B&BW sales (although I'm fed up with poor performing sprays so I'm probably done with them), or finding stuff at Ross/TJMaxx/consignment/thrift/clearance, and saving for very occasional purchases of things I truly love. 

So am I a proponent of dupes or fast-fashion brands? Including B&BW and Victoria's Secret? Sure. Some things are still, very enjoyable and unless you're dialed in and familiar with originals from designer or niche brands, the deficits in scent are negligible. But, if that 5-10% of elevation in quality (probably better naturals, and/or better fixatives, and certainly better packaging) matters to you, it's probably a disappointment. I feel absolutely NO allegiance to luxe brands/companies though, and no moral obligation of "owing" them for inventing something. I actually, quite appreciate competitve affordable rivals on the market. 

TLDR - I like to have a good amount of affordable stuff, but I also seek out to own a few super satisfying originals. Most of all I love glitching the matrix by finding sales, going gray market or poaching thrift or estate sales 😈

Not mentioned, but Julianna's Perfume are incredible and reasonably priced; they are my favorite house for inspo fragrances.  (I wish their fragrances were on Parfumo!)  I have only tried one fragrance from Dua (their Chance EDT dupe) and that was spot on and lasted longer than the original.

I absolutely love Julianna’s perfumes.  I have quite a few  Julianna’s inspired fragrances and inspired with a twist as well as their original fragrances.  I have their dupes for Oriana (Fucshia Affair), Love (A Night to remember,) Lira (Sicilian sweetheart), and a few others.  I love their twist on Angelique Noir - red Carpet Affair exclusif- it has some addd notes.  Definitely worth checking out.  

Most Zara are just ok but some are quite good. Sunrise on the Red Sand Dunes Intense is an absolute winner.

I have about 10 Duas and only two are disappointing. Of the dupes only one is not quite there (dupe of Fico di Amalfi) and an original Grape Cigarillo is just a matter of taste but quite well done for what it's supposed to be. Some dupes I have of very expensive niche fragrances are so good I don't see the differences as noteworthy (ie Uptown ). Another original Pops has become an absolute favorite of mine. Overall I'm zero percent hesitant to buy duas because overall they're very competently crafted and a great value, especially on sale.

I have a few Zara fragrances and I've tried a lot more. The ones I have are:

- Zara Weekly Mood - Wednesday: I'm Most Grateful - dupe of Mojave Ghost Eau de Parfum. It's quite close, though not the same, and a little bit chemical. I still enjoy it, especially for the price.

- Into the Wood - Number 1: Nobody Knows - this one I love. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a dupe for Gris Charnel Eau de Parfum, it reminds me of it. It stands on its own feet, I love this one.

- Ebony Wood Eau de Parfum - this was a gift, it is very similar to Into the Woods, but heavier. Not my fav but I also haven't worn it a ton.

The ones I had and got rid of are:

- Cherry Smoothie - gave me a headache

- "Chapter - No. 3: Golden Decade (Eau de Parfum) | Zara" - pretty good dupe for Libre Eau de Parfum

- Hibiscus - not sure if a dupe, it was a pleasant summery scent, nothing extraordinary

- Lightly Bloom - nothing special

- Sultry Pear - definitely a dupe for something, I forget what right now. It was nice, but not my fav.

- White by Zara - couldn't find it in the database, I had this and I liked it, it was a good dupe for Miracle Eau de Parfum, but I don't even love the original that much to have a dupe

I have tried some Arabic perfume dupes and while most didn't hit the mark for me, I fell in love with Taskeen Lactéa Divina - for me the best dupe for Blanche Bête. Haven't had the chance to try Dua or Alexandria.

I've tried some Dua's but there is always something in the base that absolutely stinks, some compound or ingredient (or carrier to improve the durability?).

I absolutely love A Vanilla Affair and Drowning in Ottoman's Zest , but I tried some that really smelled inspired by (something) and were "oh nice" but went "OH GOD" in the drydown. I won't buy from them again.

Tried 1 Zara fragrance, Sunrise on the Red Sand Dunes Eau de Parfum , I like it and for the price it is pretty good. And I see the resemblance to Imagination , but there are better dupes. I don't have an opinion on Zara, the one I mentioned is the only one I tried.