By will-buy
Aldi is constantly duping luxury brands – but exactly how well do they actually replicate products?
At a time when money is tight as bills and day-to-day costs rise, much more of us will be searching for cheaper alternatives to shop.
Aldi's Lacura range can be a good way to save money on your beauty buys, and that we place the Lacura Atom fragrance to the test.
It's lb5.99 and said to be a dupe for that iconic Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 fragrance, which retails for lb72.
Escentric Molecules pioneered the idea of having a 'barely there' fragrance that enhances your natural scent in a pleasant way without covering it up.
Nowadays, those types of scents are the rage, with other brands like Glossier following suit using their scent, called You.
But what if you can get a duplicate from the original, for a fraction from the cost?
How good is the Aldi dupe?
We you first spritz Atom and Molecule 01, the initial difference is clear.
Molecule 01 is instantly more pleasant and woody, while there is something slightly off-putting about Atom.
We couldn't place our finger onto it, however it smelt less enticing.
However, an error people often make when testing perfumes would be to go off the first smell – but they always need time for you to develop.
This is how Aldi gets it right.
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Let 15 minutes pass and also the fragrances change slightly – with this unpleasant note in Atom fading down.
After half an hour, they smelt identical. The only difference was that Atom was slightly gentler around the nose and faded more quickly.
If you're a Molecule 01 fan, you will find a difference initially, but provide some time and once settled, you wouldn't be able to tell Atom and Molecule One apart.
For a less expensive alternative, we believe this is a good dupe to purchase.
You'd be hard pressed to pick out the differences – particularly when there is a 92% improvement in cost when purchasing Atom.
