The secret to smelling good isn't the latest 'viral' fragrance...it's the perfume your mother wore - and these vintage scents are fantastically affordable

Updated: 19:01 EST, 13 November 2026 Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn moreAs one of the UK’s most trusted perfume experts with a new book out (published by the British Library no less!) it’s safe to say that when it comes to fragrance advice, I’ve got you.I won’t ever push an overpriced spritz that lasts just 20mins, or do a partnership with a brand I don’t love and wear myself. I’m acutely aware of “dupe” perfumes (cheap copycat versions of luxury designer fragrances) but I think they’re shady and lazy, so I ban them from my Instagram feed and favour original pocket-friendly creations instead. Meanwhile, I’ve smelt viral niche perfumes that cost more than my first car yet have zero personality, and I’m sick to death of ‘gourmand’ sugary splashes that reek of Haribo down Oxford Street.Let me tell you what really floats my fragrance boat: a ‘vintage’ room-rocking perfume icon from eras gone by, which smells far more elegant, interesting and cooler than most of the newness I’ve tested recently. These olfactive works of art have depth and storytelling on skin, with layers of rich, risky and unique notes that marketing teams today would be terrified to launch for fear of not cowering to Gen Z sugar addicts. Some people call them ‘granny scents’, which makes me laugh. Nobody in the 70s and 80s ever bought Rive Gauche, Obsession or LouLou to smell like a granny. They bought them to feel fabulous, alive, curious, magnetic and mysterious. Emotions that I wish today’s brand founders could channel more often.The best part is that these throwback scents are fantastically affordable. Without the pressure of competitive ad campaigns and commercial gains, they slip quietly under the radar in high street stores such as Boots and Superdrug at shockingly low prices – and they’re often discounted.“They don’t smell like they used to!” I hear you cry. I know. I know. It’s heartbreaking when an old fragrance flame has lost its original pizzaz, but the blends back then used cruelly obtained animal extracts, and some raw natural ingredients have now been banned for aggravating skin. Today’s reformulations are ethically made with closely-matched and high-quality synthetic alternatives, so give them a chance.You never know, one spritz from this list below could remind you of all the glorious, messy and hilarious mistakes you made when you originally wore it in your youth – and frankly that’s a feeling we all need to tap into once in a while. For those who have never met these starlet scents before, oh boy, you’re about to get schooled in the art of glam-bomb perfumery. Let’s welcome the grown-ups back into the room, shall we?Vintage vialsSwirls of coconut, jasmine, cherry compote, vanilla and almond create an addictive bougie Battenberg scent.Joanna Lumley’s favourite fragrance is a cloudy blur of soapsuds, fluffy musks and white flowers that lasts.You can keep your ‘clean girl era’ perfumes; I’ll take this warm, lived in often-overlooked morning-after musk any day.My teen perfume that I still wear, this fiery, sensual amber drips in golden resins, warm spices and smoky vanilla.The OG rebel in a sea of polite florals, this sweet and spiced nectar masterpiece smells like Coca-Cola poured into a plastic doll’s head – in a good way.Imagine a medicine cabinet of ointments, balms, syrups and tinctures all condensed into one rich, distinctive and edgy ‘chypre’ scent that starts sharp then mellows into velvet.At first sharp, soapy and citrussy, then settling into smouldering smoky spices and incense, it’s giving mad rich auntie in a fur coat stroking a Pekingese.The Philosophy Of Perfume by Alice du Parcq is published by British Library, £12.99. To order a copy for £11.04 until 29 November, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25