If you’re looking for an affordable cruelty-free fragrance, I have a few good ones for you to try! It can be so hard to buy cruelty free perfumes online (since you can’t smell them), but it helps when they’re reasonably priced. Please note that Amazon will not allow you to return most perfumes due to flammability concerns.
It seems like everyone I know is sick this month and I don’t want to catch anything. Well, I haven’t been out to Sephora, Ulta, or the mall much lately. I found a bargain on some perfumes on Amazon and I hope my reviews help you decide what to try or what to avoid!
If you like the scent of Bum Bum Cream, you’ll probably love Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Crush Cheirosa Hair and Body Mists. I like gourmand fragrances, but if they’re too sweet or there’s a vanilla scent that doesn’t balance with something darker, I usually don’t like it. I wasn’t a fan of the original scent of Sol de Janeiro’s Bum Bum Body Cream – it smelled great in the jar, but weird when mixed with my skin. I took a chance on the Black Amber Plum and Vanilla Woods 40 hair and body mist and I’m glad I did. To me, it’s still on the girly, sweet, fruity side, but it has the amber to keep it from being a teenybopper scent. It’s still quite young and I tend to like more mature fragrances so it’s not an everyday thing for me. But if you’re younger or prefer girly fragrances, you’ll love this one.
R+Co Serious Gaze perfume spray it’s a more mature perfume spray, and definitely more in line with my darker preferences. It is an oriental Chypre fragrance with juniper berries, blood orange and rhubarb, deepened by violet, dark woods and synthetic leather accords. It’s quite bold and long lasting for a hair and body mist. If you read the reviews on Amazon, you’ll see that many people interpret the leather accord as cigarettes, smoke, or gasoline (and as the top notes fade, you definitely get more of that vibe)! I like weird, unconventional smells (including smoke), but if that puts you off, I’d recommend trying it up close first.
I had to try Ariana Grande Sweet Like Candy fragrance, although I had a feeling it would be too sweet for my taste. It’s described as follows: “The luscious explosion of sugar-frosted raspberry and juicy Italian bergamot shines with addictive flavor, while velvety layers of crème de cassis, fluffy marshmallow and sexy vanilla blend.” It’s definitely girly (what else would you expect from Ariana Grande?) but the bergamot, jasmine and cashmere woods give it a more classy vibe. Overall, I’m really impressed with how they blended all the scents together. Yes, it’s sweet and girly, but it doesn’t smell cheap or over the top. My husband loves this!
Le Monde Gourmand 002 Macaron Rose The fragrance looks beautiful and I’m sure I’ve seen it on the beautiful shelves of places like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. Unfortunately, for me, the scent was too strong and not complex enough for my liking. I really like the rose scent, but it has a synthetic feel that I couldn’t get over. I wanted to love it SO MUCH and thought it would be my favorite of the bunch, but I really can’t get into it.