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If you aren’t plugged into the latest men’s grooming trends, you may not be familiar with Dossier, a cologne and perfume brand that’s quietly conquering the fragrance world. The new-ish fragrance brand will spare you from buying overpriced designer cologne ever again.
Dossier makes designer perfume and cologne dupes so good you won’t be able to tell the difference. The top, middle, and base notes you love are all there, except without the designer markup. So if you love Dior’s Sauvage, Creed’s Aventus, or Armani’s Acqua Di Gio, Dossier has a cologne that smells exactly the same—except they cost 75 percent less than their designer counterparts.
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I’ll admit that it’s the kind of product that sounds too good to be true, so I decided to try Dossier for myself. I ordered the company’s best-selling Citrus Ginger, which is “inspired by Chanel’s Bleu de Chanel.” I’m a fan of the original fragrance, and I thought the citrusy notes would be perfect for summer. This cologne features top notes of ginger, citrus, and peppermint; middle notes of vetiver, pink pepper, and nutmeg; and base notes of sandalwood incense and cedarwood. Normally, a 1.7-ounce bottle of Bleu de Chanel would cost me $112, but you can buy the Dossier dupe for just $29.
So, is Dossier cologne really worth it?
I can tell you this for sure: Dossier definitely passes the smell test. Three sprays kept me smelling great without being overwhelming (a fact that my long-time girlfriend confirmed). I couldn’t tell the difference between this and Bleu de Chanel, but I also have a pretty weak sense of smell. What really matters is that the fragrance smells really attractive. It doesn’t have the “cheap” and overpowering smell you get with most low-priced fragrances.
I’ve also gotten a whiff of the company’s other top sellers: Woody Tobacco (“inspired by Maison Margiela’s Replica Jazz Club”) and Ambery Vetiver (“inspired by Byredo’s Bal d'Afrique”), and I was equally impressed.
If there’s one drawback I found, which I’ve also seen in other Dossier reviews, it’s that this cologne doesn’t always linger as long as designer fragrances, so you may need to reapply more often. Even so, it’s a negligible difference in quality for a significant savings in price.
More About Dossier, the Latest DTC Fragrance Brand
Dossier promises to deliver “quality, ethical, affordable perfume for all.” According to the company’s website, “Dossier was founded out of a desire to make premium fragrances accessible to everyone. As scent enthusiasts ourselves, it became impossible for us to turn a blind eye to the price markups traditionally seen in the industry. Whether it be marking up scents because of celebrity endorsement fees or pricey packaging, we realized perfumes were being sold for way more than they cost to make.”
Direct-to-consumer companies tend to follow the same playbook. They design a product people normally buy from a big, faceless corporation— something like dog food, bed sheets, or cologne—and then invest in understated but trendy aesthetics optimized for millennials (and increasingly Gen Z). Once they’ve got the vibes just right, they set up shop on your Instagram and TikTok feeds.
Dossier isn’t even the first DTC company to discover that they can replicate the same products as designer brands and then sell them without a designer markup. Italic is a DTC brand that uses the exact same manufacturers as big-name companies like Chanel, Calvin Klein, Kiehl’s, and Ralph Lauren, and then offers more affordable designer-inspired scents to their customers.
This business model also works perfectly in the fragrance space, where insane markups really are the norm.
For fragrance lovers suffering through the age of inflation, Dossier has dupes of best-selling designer cologne, perfume, and unisex fragrances. And after trying the company’s scents for myself, I would definitely recommend them to a friend.
Final Thoughts
I will admit that I’m not really a cologne guy. I don’t have a signature scent. Over the years, I’ve received a few different colognes as birthday or Christmas presents, and I’ve never used more than a few sprays. That started to change when I discovered the boutique solid cologne brand Fulton & Roark (a review for another day), and now Dossier has me rethinking my fragrance habits.
Because the best cologne is always so expensive, it’s hard to try out a new fragrance for the first time. With scents starting at $29, Dossier cologne is more accessible by an order of magnitude. If you like the fragrance enough, you may even decide to invest in the real thing next time. And if you aren’t fully satisfied, you haven’t wasted $100.
Now that I’ve clued you in, you can find these fragrances on the Dossier website. You can also find Dossier cologne for sale online at Walmart.
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