Top 12 Most Expensive Perfumes
Forbes has compiled a list of the most expensive perfumes a while back, and these perfumes remain as the top 12 until this day. As discussed in a previous article, perfume can get expensive for the average consumer. However, these 12 perfumes are extremely pricey. Even if we’re all perfume lovers, but are they really worth it?
*Please note that the provided information is from Forbes. We rearranged the order of the perfumes according to their cost per ounce, which makes more sense because the prices from the original article did not take size into consideration. All prices are in USD.
#1 Clive Christian’s Imperial Majesty
© Clive Christian
Size: 16.9 oz
Price: $215,000 = $12,722/oz
Only ten of these collectors’ edition bottles were made: they’re Baccarat crystal with a solid, 18-carat gold collar with a five-carat, brilliant cut, white diamond. The bottle is filled with nearly 17 ounces of No. 1, Clive Christian’s signature scent, which has been widely marketed as the world’s most expensive perfume.
Website: www.clive.com
#2 Baccarat’s Les Larmes Sacrées de Thebes
© Baccarat
Size: 0.25 oz
Price: $1,700 = $6,800/oz
Baccarat, better known for its pure and high-quality crystal, decided to get in on the fragrance act in the late 1990s, with three limited-edition fragrances of its own. There are only six bottles of Les Larmes Sacrées de Thebes left at the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie at Harrods, in London. The price is largely due to the pyramid-shaped bottle, made of Baccarat crystal, and the fragrance, which includes frankincense and myrrh, is meant to evoke the ancient Egyptians.
Website: www.harrods.com
#3 Clive Christian’s No.1
© Clive Christian
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $2,150
The bottle for No. 1 isn’t as spectacular as its big sister, but it’s no stinker, either. It’s hand-made lead crystal with a .33-carat diamond in the neck. Production of No. 1 is limited by the scarcity of its ingredients, which include ylang ylang specially grown in Madagascar, vanilla, orris, natural gum resin, sandalwood and bergamot.
Website: www.clive.com
#4 Hermès’ 24 Faubourg
© Hermès
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $1,500
24 Faubourg is a classic Hermès scent, a feminine floral containing rose, iris and orange blossom. There were only 1,000 of these limited-edition bottles released worldwide; the one above is St. Louis crystal.
Website: www.hermes.com
#5 Caron’s Poivre
© Caron
Size: 2.0 oz
Price: $2,000 = $1,000/oz
Caron was established in Paris, and the company today is 101 years old. Poivre, which was originally created in 1954, means pepper in French. The scent lives up to its name: It’s a lively blend of red and black pepper, cloves and other spices and can be worn by either sex. The bottle above is limited-edition Baccarat crystal.
Website: www.parfumscaron.com
#6 Jean Patou’s Joy
© Jean Patou
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $800
Bulgarian rose, tuberose and jasmine form the base of Jean Patou’s Joy, but the concentration is higher than most commercially available perfumes: 10,600 jasmine flowers and 336 roses go into every ounce of the fragrance. When Joy was introduced in 1930, it was marketed as the costliest fragrance in the world. The bottle pictured above is Baccarat crystal.
#7 JAR Parfums’ Bolt of Lightning
© JAR
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $765
The world-renowned jeweler Joel A. Rosenthal has ventured into the realm of perfume-making, and his Paris boutique is a testament to his sense of drama and style. Hand-painted lightning bolts decorate the ceiling, and the store itself is as small and intricate as one of his jeweled creations. Bolt of Lightning is an extrait de parfum, and comes in a hand-etched glass bottle designed by Rosenthal himself. The fragrance is available at Rosenthal’s Paris boutique or at Bergdorf Goodman.
#8 Bulgari’s Bulgari Pour Femme
© Bulgari
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $750
Bulgari Parfums is based in Switzerland. Bulgari Pour Femme is a floral fragrance that combines jasmine tea, rose and pepper. The one-ounce Murano glass bottle pictured above costs $750.
Websiste: www.bulgari.com
#9 Clive Christian’s X
© Clive Christian
Size: 1.0 oz
Price: $695
When Clive Christian began work on X, he christened it with as cryptic a name as possible, in reference to the exotic ingredients and seductive effect he wanted to create. Like No. 1, X is available as a men’s fragrance.
Website: www.clive.com
#10 Annick Goutal’s Eau d’Hadrien
© Annick Goutal
Size: 3.4 oz
Price: $1,500 = $441/oz
Annick Goutal is a European perfumer, former model and prize-winning pianist. Her Eau d’Hadrien is a fresh, citrus-y blend of Sicilian lemons, grapefruit and cypress. The limited-edition bottle pictured above is Baccarat crystal and was released in 2005.
Website: www.annickgoutal.nl
#11 Shalini Parfums’ Shalini
© Shalini Parfums
Size: 2.2 oz
Price: $900 = $409/oz
Shalini was created by Maurice Roucel, the perfumer behind Hermès’ 24 Faubourg and Tocade. Neroli, ylang ylang and coriander are the high notes of the fragrance, with tuberose, tiare, vanilla, sandalwood and musk rounding out the base. The image above is of a limited-edition Lalique crystal bottle, exclusively available at Bergdorf Goodman and introduced for Valentine’s Day. Only 900 bottles were produced.
Website: www.shalini.net
#12 Chanel’s Chanel No. 5
© Chanel
Size: 15.2 oz
Price: $1,850 = $122/oz
Chanel No. 5 is perhaps the world’s best-known fragrance, the first perfume to bear a designer’s name and the benchmark for elite perfumes ever since. The oversized crystal bottle pictured above is parfum, the purest form available, and has 15.2 ounces of the fragrance, so you won’t keep running back to Chanel for refills.
Website: www.chanel.com
Source: Forbes
January 10th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Wow, for those prices, I would think they must smell like “Heaven on Earth”, at least you would hope so. I’m just starting to step in to the world of fragrance and I’m happy to have found your blog!
January 10th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I certainly hope these perfumes smell like Heaven on Earth. It’s a bit pricey to smell just ‘normal’, I’d say.
I’m glad you found us too, Cinnamon. I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay and hope you’d come by again. Feel free to send any comments or suggestions. Thank you!
January 11th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Whoa! I want to collect them all!!
January 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
They clearly didn’t do their research as they forgot the Bugatti one: Bugatti perfume.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:25 am
it really surprises me to know there are these
kind of perfumes & it will be surely a pleasure
to get one of those 4 ourselves
January 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I definitely wouldn’t mind getting one of the top 12 (actually 13, since Jake pointed out the Bugatti perfume) most expensive perfumes. It’s easy to get most of them, but probably very difficult to find, for instance, #1 since only 10 limited edition bottles were made.