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Chinese fragrances - any recommendations?

Chinese fragrances - any recommendations? 10 years ago
I have a friend that will traveling to Shanghai in the beginning of December for two weeks. Has anyone here on Parfumo been to Shanghai perfume shopping? I'm not talking about purchasing brands you can get world wide. I'm talking about China specific brand. Suggestion would be helpful.
10 years ago
I personally haven't, but my sister was there a couple of years ago. A lot of of the shopping venues are westernized with the Demeter Fragrance Library and Sephora. She said it's like the Beverly Hills of China. I asked her to find fragrances for me too, and she couldn't come up with anything that wasn't already in the U.S.
10 years ago
Flaconneur, maybe you can ask for a traditional Chinese perfume pouch?

www.cits.net/china-guide/china-traditions/perf ume-pouch.html

I also found an blog article about contemporary Chinese perfumes that mentions a brand Liushen:

www.flamingoshanghai.com/blog/2012/07/19/makin g-sense-of-scents-in-china-marketing-and-creat ing-new-fragrant-products/
10 years ago
Hayven:
I personally haven't, but my sister was there a couple of years ago. A lot of of the shopping venues are westernized with the Demeter Fragrance Library and Sephora. She said it's like the Beverly Hills of China. I asked her to find fragrances for me too, and she couldn't come up with anything that wasn't already in the U.S.

This is already what I imagined the perfume situation to be in China. Thanks for confirming my fears.
10 years ago
Apicius:
Flaconneur, maybe you can ask for a traditional Chinese perfume pouch?

www.cits.net/china-guide/china-traditions/perf ume-pouch.html

I also found an blog article about contemporary Chinese perfumes that mentions a brand Liushen:

www.flamingoshanghai.com/blog/2012/07/19/makin g-sense-of-scents-in-china-marketing-and-creat ing-new-fragrant-products/

Thanks, Apicius. These were both interesting reads. I'm afraid that the lack of perfume in a place like China, with its very long cultural history, is a bit surprising.
10 years ago
Flaconneur, I notice that Parfumo member ChapeauClack lives in China. Perhaps you could send her a message? It seems that cultures like Japan and China are less fragrance-centric than places like, say, the middle east or India. I can imagine their notion of personal scent to be very understated.
10 years ago
Triffid:
Flaconneur, I notice that Parfumo member ChapeauClack lives in China. Perhaps you could send her a message? It seems that cultures like Japan and China are less fragrance-centric than places like, say, the middle east or India. I can imagine their notion of personal scent to be very understated.

Thanks for the suggestion, Triffid. You are probably correct about how the Chinese use fragrance. I will contact them and give it a try.
10 years ago
I can't really be of any help here, sorry. All I've met aside from the usual Sephora wares, are extremely cheap chemical nothings in tacky flacons.
The Liushen floral waters mentioned above are just that - functional floral waters with little to no staying power and no scent development whatsoever.
This probably has to do with economics more than anything, even perfumes that we consider drugstore are way beyond what average Chinese can afford to spend on something so unnecessary. Thus there's little hope that making quality perfumes with good ingredients will be interesting to anyone here anytime soon, if ever.
10 years ago
Thanks for shedding some light on this subject.
10 years ago
If this is of any help, taobao (the local online emporium) yilded three more or less credible Shanghai manufacturers that don't look like knockoffs of Western stuff.

One is Shanghai Vivi, a luxury cosmetics firm, it produces three varieties of a fragrance called Vive which costs about $100 per 1.7 oz flacon, but it says the fragrance itself is mixed in France.

The other one is Hsiang Hai and I only found one perfume by it, simply called Flowers, this one is $2 per oz.

And there's something called Voila Paris, apparently the formula was bought off L'Oreal in the 70's. A splash bottle costs about $5.

I haven't tried any of them, so can't vouch for quality or anything.


10 years ago
ChapeauClack:
I can't really be of any help here, sorry. All I've met aside from the usual Sephora wares, are extremely cheap chemical nothings in tacky flacons.
The Liushen floral waters mentioned above are just that - functional floral waters with little to no staying power and no scent development whatsoever.
This probably has to do with economics more than anything, even perfumes that we consider drugstore are way beyond what average Chinese can afford to spend on something so unnecessary. Thus there's little hope that making quality perfumes with good ingredients will be interesting to anyone here anytime soon, if ever.

I remember a really interesting blog article you wrote a while back, CC, about the scare propaganda circulating in China about perfume. Seems it's just not the thing in your country. Sad
10 years ago
Cryptic:
Seems it's just not the thing in your country. Sad

Yeah... Add to that some pretty unbelievable customs fees for imported goods, and there's hardly any way it can ever become a thing here. Rolling Eyes
As for the scare mongering, I came to a conclusion that it actually has its merit. I mean, decent fragrances are out of reach of almost everybody anyway, so little harm done. But those "affordable" ones I see in supermarkets do look and smell like they should come with a hazmat label.
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