Why Is Perfume So Expensive?

Why Is Perfume So Expensive?

Everyone loves a good perfume, especially the quality, long-lasting kinds. They don’t come cheap, though. If you want a good perfume, you need to be ready to spend more than a few dollars. But, have you ever wondered why perfumes are so expensive? It’s easy to think perfumes are just hyped up due to big names that released them, but there’s more to it. Read this post to learn all the reasons the perfumes are so pricy. 

Why are perfumes so expensive?

Perfumes are luxury items, especially those with hefty price tags. There are several reasons perfumes are expensive, and they include ingredients, packaging, marketing, and manufacturing.

Ingredients

Ingredients are the primary driving force behind skyrocket-high prices of good perfumes. Luxurious and expensive perfumes use rare ingredients, flowers that are also costly to process. The value of the perfume increases with the scarcity of ingredients. Some flowers bloom only one month a year, which can also drive up the price of the perfume. 

The most prized ingredients in the perfume industry include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

• Jasmine – to produce one ounce of jasmine essential oil, the perfumer needs around 240,000 handpicked flowers 
• Oud (agarwood) – a highly precious resin associated with heady fragrances evoking intense and strong scents 
• Bulgarian rose – handpicked each May from a valley in Bulgaria where they have been growing for centuries 
• Orris – one of the rarest perfume ingredients, derived from the iris root
• Ambergris – one of the most valuable raw materials in the perfume industry, comes from some species of a sperm whale. It is primarily used as a fixative, and its presence is felt by sweet, animalic, and marine scents.

Packaging 

Perfumes come in exquisitely designed bottles, especially the expensive scents. Brands and perfume makers invest in the packaging just as much they do in the notes of the fragrance. Beautiful packaging captures the attention of potential customers and elevates the price. 

For that reason, perfumers do their best to make sure the fragrance bottle is a little work of art. They use real jewels and precious stones ranging from diamonds to sapphires. Many perfume bottles come with real gold details and crystals. In fact, the bottles are usually handcrafted and available in a limited number. 

When a perfume maker invests a lot of time, effort, and money to create a sophisticated fragrance bottle, the price of the perfume itself can only go up. 

Marketing

Marketing is crucial for business success, even in the perfume industry. To position the perfume as a sophisticated, must-have luxury item, the brands invest millions for marketing purposes. Many even hire celebrities to promote their product. In addition to celebrities as spokespersons, they also splurge on extravagant campaigns and promotions. All this is done to create a certain picture in someone’s mind. The goal is to make sure the target audience wants to get their hands on the perfume, they want to feel lavish, and treat themselves or their loved ones. 

Manufacturing

The process of manufacturing perfumes is more complex than it seems. A brand that releases some perfume isn’t necessarily the “creator” of that fragrance. The companies basically hire professional perfumers who have an incredible sense of smell, i.e., a good nose. They can easily identify different notes and combine them into powerful perfumes. There aren’t many professional perfumers in the world, these people are very talented, and their services are expensive. Big brands usually have their in-house perfumers, but they are still paid a fortune. Once the perfumer creates the scent and notes for perfume, the brand needs to get all the ingredients. As seen above, many of them are rare. The process of extracting the essence is also costly. 

The most expensive perfumes in the world

While good perfumes are on the pricier side, you’ll be surprised just how expensive they can be. Here is the list of some of the most expensive perfumes in the world:

• Shumukh – the most expensive perfume in the world. Shumukh is an Arabic word that translates to deserving the highest. This perfume costs $1.29 million! Not only does Shumukh hold Guinness World Record for having the most diamonds on perfume bottles, but it is also the tallest remote-controlled fragrance spray product. The perfume contains the notes of Indian agarwood, musk, sandalwood, Turkish rose. Other notes are not publicly disclosed.
• DKNY Golden Delicious – before Shumukh, it was the most expensive perfume in the world with a $1 million price tag. Interestingly, only one piece was ever produced, and the goal was to raise money for charity. A team of expert jewelers spent over 1500 man-hours on making the bottle which features 2909 precious stones such as 183 yellow sapphires, 2700 white diamonds, four pear-shaped rose-cut diamonds, 15 Australian pink diamonds, a Srilankan Cabochon sapphire, and a Brazilian turquoise Paraiba tourmaline
• Clive Christian No1 Imperial Majesty – costs $12,722 per ounce. Only 10 bottles have been made to this date. This luxurious perfume contains rose oil, jasmine, and Tahitian vanilla. It comes in a crystal bottle embellished with a white diamond set and gold collar.
• Baccarat Les Larmes Sacree de Thebes – the pyramid-shaped perfume costs $6800 per ounce, and only three bottles have been released to date.
• Chanel Grand Extrait – costs $4200 per ounce and comes packed in a marvelous bottle featuring baudruchage sealing that keeps the purity of the famous scent intact. 
• Clive Christian No1 – costs $2150 per ounce and comes in a beautiful, handcrafted crystal bottle.
• Hermes 24 Faubourg – the price of this limited edition perfume is $1500 per ounce. The perfume features notes of orange blossom, vanilla, and St. Louis crystal. 

Conclusion

As seen in this post, several factors influence the price of perfumes. These include rare ingredients, costly manufacturing processes, packaging, and marketing. Perfumes are like works of art, and they have the amazing power to lift our confidence and improve our mood instantly. That’s why we love to treat ourselves to a nice perfume, and it’s also the reason we often choose fragrances as birthday or holiday gifts to people we love.

Guest Article.