For years the fashion-forward of the world have had the intent purpose of outdoing each other by any means necessary. Wether that be looking the trendiest, acting the strangest, or simply smelling the best. To gain the edge over their fierce competitor’s products,  often comes a hefty price tag, but with the high street gaining fierce new rivals every day, the price tag is beginning to drop, but at what cost?

Chanel’s No. 5 is one of the worlds leading fragrances

Gone are the days of spending every last shrapnel of change you can find to save up for Chanel’s No. 5 perfume or to be able to afford to smell like the current fashion icon as far cheaper alternatives that smell exactly the same are available at a considerably less costly rate, but what exactly are customers buying when they opt for the Lidl over the Gucci?

Well, as it turns out, cheaper perfumes may actually be better for you than the high street options. In 2014, Daily Mail beauty editor Elsa McAlonan was put to the test to see if she could tell the difference from Lidl’s ‘Suddenly’ to Chanel’s classic No. 5. To some surprise, she couldn’t tell the two apart and even stated that the Lidl perfume would be the more viable option between the two.

Lidl’s Suddenly smells the same as Chanel, and offers more benefits to skin.

After further investigation it turns out Lidl’s Suddenly scent may actually be increasingly beneficial to your skin than the high street option. Differentiation between chemicals used to create the perfumes have been proven that the Lidl home brand offers greater benefits to your skin.

When comparing the two, the fragrances share some similarities, however Chanel’s No. 5 includes 23 chemicals, whereas Suddenly only contains 11.

The three chemicals which stand out in Suddenly, whilst absent from No. 5, are: Butylphenyl Diethyihexyl, Syringylidene Malanate, and Caprylic / Caprice Triglyceride.

So what are these long winded fancy science names and what do they mean?

Butylphenyl Diethyihexyl

Despite its nine syllable longitude this chemical ingredient is a common element found in most fragrances. Sometimes going by its far shorter name of Lilial or lily aldehyde it is commonly used to bring out the essence of flowers which marks the distinctive smell of these fragrances

Caprylic / Capric Triglyceride

For those who don’t speak science, Caprylic Triglyceride is basically coconut oil. Manufactured in a factory, it combines sugars and fatty acids from palms and coconut oils in order to prolong the shelf life of the perfume as well as being suitable to most skin types.

Syringylidene Malanate

Well, Syringylidene Malanate is known to possess chemical elements which offer protection from UV rays produced from exposure to sun light, meaning Lidl’s ‘Suddenly’ will offer a little more protection on the beach than Chanel, as the high street superior does not include this ingredient.

After finding this information, Biomedical scientist Dr Dimitris Solomos said:

“Often with perfumes and fragrances on a molecular level they are eerily similar with little to no differences in terms of how they smell. However, cheaper alternatives often use manufactured chemicals which are cheaper to make and often include higher risks of irritation and reactions. In this instance, Lidl have included elements which are known to benefit the skin, however the scent does not last as long.”

So with Lidl’s Suddenly scent being cheaper and scientifically proven to offer greater benefits, whilst smelling exactly the same as one of the world’s leading fragrances, why would you spend triple digits when you could spend loose change?

As Dr Solomos says, the scent might not last as long, but with the average price at £3.99 per 50ml bottle, consumers can easily afford to Suddenly return to the scent.