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If you’ve been hearing about Dossier perfumes but haven’t taken the plunge yet to buy one, start with this Dossier perfume review!

Curious about Dossier but worried about getting another weak dupe? Just getting started with perfume but not looking to spend thousands finding your favorite scents? Dossier is a great choice. 

I would not describe myself as a big perfume person. It’s important to me to smell clean but I can’t say that I think of perfume as a hobby the way I do skincare or nails. Years ago I had a signature scent: Rose the One by Dolce and Gabbana. I had picked it during one of the long endless shopping days with friends that you only get in your early twenties. It was discontinued sometime in the mid-2010s, and I used that bottle down to the last drop. By the time it was gone, I had a baby and the idea of spending hours in the mall shopping for perfume was a lot less appealing. 

But I loved Rose the One! It was a great personal fragrance for me. The way that it smelled said something about the way I saw myself: feminine but not soft or ruffly, with a modern edge. A really well-chosen fragrance can add something to the story we’re telling about who we are. 

(And hey, this is not a sponsored post, but if any Dossier PR people have a Google Alert set, please consider a fragrance inspired by Rose the One — I would market it personally!)

So for a couple years I kind of used what I had. Designer fragrances were not even on my radar except for special occasions, and nothing felt quite right. 

Dossier Marketing and Catch

I had definitely been getting social media ads for Dossier for a while before I bought anything, but they were pretty knew and I didn’t find a Dossier perfume review online. Ultimately, the reason I made my first purchase was because I had bought a pair of Bala bangles (do not recommend btw). After that purchase went through I got an email from a program called Catch offering me cashback to other brands. I’ve never used Catch for their actual payment system thing and can’t say if it’s good or not, but the cashback did get me to make a purchase. So credit for marketing. 

The ads were chic and minimalist, and heavily pushed their policy of giving a full refund within 30 days if you don’t love a scent. I later learned that those returned perfumes actually go to women’s shelters, which I think is a really lovely way to give back and reduce waste. It also gave me a lot more confidence as a shopper! I was still a little skeptical of buying perfume online but at least I knew I wasn’t going to be stuck with anything that was completely wrong for me. 

I knew I wanted the Woody Sage, a dupe for Jo Malone’s Wood Sage and Sea Salt. (Honestly I had never smelled this before but people kept talking about it online, so I guess influencer marketing works.) After that, I took their scent quiz and tried to answer the questions as carefully as I could to get something similar to Rose the One. 

(On some level I have to ask myself — do I miss that perfume, or do I miss being 22?)

So, the scent quiz suggested I try Floral Peony, inspired by Chloe, and Floral Lavender, inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s Libre. 

Dossier customer service review

And then there was a mistake! My Dossier order arrived, full of Dossier fragrances…that I hadn’t ordered. They sent me the wrong package, containing:

• Gourmand Orange Blossom (a dupe for Clinique’s La Vie Est Belle)
• Floral Berries (a dupe for Jo Malone’s Peony and Blush Suede)
• and Fruity Orange (a dupe for Clinique’s Happy)

I sent an email to their customer service address and got a prompt and apologetic personal reply. They were very accommodating and sent a replacement package and a free returns shipping label for the mistaken package immediately. Mistakes happen and workers are human! So I give them total credit for handling the error well.

And maybe I should have sent them back completely full…but I figured they wouldn’t miss a couple spritzes. So I tried the Gourmand Orange Blossom and the Floral Berries. (I know from high school that Clinique Happy is just not for me! Though I guess it’s due to come back into style any minute.) 

And that same night I ordered another bottle of the Gourmand Orange Blossom! It was totally unexpected and I would never have ordered it myself, but I thought it was just the most beautiful fragrance!  

Dossier package reviews

So now that I’ve tried those six different fragrances: Dossier is the real deal.

The Dossier  packaging creates the sense of quality that you expect from a luxury product and that you’re used to from designer brands. They are really heavy glass bottles with quality spritzers. I don’t think packaging is the most important thing, but it adds a lot to the overall experience to not be getting a cheap plastic bottle. To me this is part of what Dossier does well — it’s not a cheap dupe that you can buy in a drugstore that has vaguely the same smell… Dossier’s version is generally a great match for the reference scent, but they’ve done a lot to mimic the designer perfume experience. 

So the heavy, understated but designerly bottles are part of that. So is the distinctive pink shipping box and the shipping presentation. I feel that the brand has put a lot of thought into the experience that luxury brands provide and how to make sure that their shoppers don’t feel like they’re settling when they opt for the more affordable alternative. It really feels like a luxury perfumes when you’re opening the box. (For what it’s worth — shipping costs are reasonable and they offer free shipping on 3 or more bottles.)

Similarly: each fragrance comes with a card that identifies the reference fragrance, but not in a tacky way if that makes sense? Like, it’s there, but the card is primarily to give fragrance notes. So it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to ride the coattails of another brand.

​What do Dossier perfumes cost?

A quick note about cost: these three perfumes were $29 each. (I had $30 in Catch credit, but that’s beside the point.) So $90 for all three. The comparable 50ml bottle of Wood Sage and Sea Salt is currently $115. Chloe and YSL both charge $135 for that size in these perfumes. So to say that this is a savings is an understatement — these perfumes are literally a fraction of the cost. Like, the fraction is 1/3-1/4. These are wildly affordable prices compared to the rest of the fragrance industry. For a 50 ml bottle of high-quality perfumes, $29 is a steal. 

There’s a transparency business model here — it’s a lot like Everlane. Bigger companies in the perfume industry do this “prestige pricing” thing where the actual product costs $10 to make, but they charge $135 to make you think it’s luxurious. (This is actually…every industry.) So the $29 price point is the place where a company can be profitable, pay their employees, all that, but still sell affordable perfume. And I love that! As a new customer you worry that you’re buying something made with poor quality materials, but these are very similar to the real thing. 

In addition to the free shipping on three or more bottles, Dossier always seems to be running a sale of 20% off if you buy three or more bottles. Around the holidays, the Dossier Black Friday deal seems to be a greater discount with every extra bottle you buy. So 25% off four bottles, 30% off five, and so on. If you still have a bottle of something lying around, it might be worth it to wait for this sale! 

Dossier+ vs Dossier Rewards

So, Dossier has two loyalty programs: Dossier Rewards and Dossier+. 

Dossier Rewards is a straightforward point system: every $1,000 points is $10 off your order, and you earn points by purchasing, posting reviews, following their social media accounts, all the usual stuff. I’m a member of Dossier Rewards! It’s fairly easy to get a decent discount off your purchase as a member if you are willing to post pictures of your products to your Dossier perfume review. (It’s a little funny because the pictures tell you nothing about how something smells, but I get what they’re trying to do.) And if you’re on tiktok – make and post a video for 500 points with their hashtag doing a Dossier perfume review with their hashtag.

Dossier+ is different. It’s a subscription service where every month they deduct $29 from your account that gets added to your Dossier store credit account. If you don’t spend it that month, you roll it over until you’re ready to make a purchase. If you’re a Dossier plus member, you get extra discounts. I’m not a participant in this program — I tend to be someone with one or two go-to perfumes that I rely on, so a monthly new addition wouldn’t be worth it to me and my usage habits. For someone who loves perfume and would love the idea of a new full-size bottle of perfume every month, this could be a home run.

Dossier perfume review

Okay I have to start my Dossier perfume review with what is (IMO) the best Dossier perfume: 

Gourmand Orange Blossom (based on Lancome La Vie Est Belle) 

absolutely swept me off my feet. Like, a rom-com. Like, “I didn’t order you and I don’t know what you’re doing in my house but one little spritz can’t hurt” and now we’re getting married. I would never have stopped based on the name or description, but to me this is an almost perfect scent. Bright, warm, fruity, balanced, gorgeous. I absolutely love it — this is bottle number 3 for me. So I may be on to my new signature scent. 

I stopped at a Lancome counter once and asked for a spritz of the reference perfume, and I thought it was lovely and nearly exactly the same. The base notes seemed maybe faintly different? (I don’t necessarily have a great vocabulary for this!) But, again — at four times the cost, I’m going to opt for the same scent at more accessible price points every time. 

Fruity Orange (based on Clinique Happy) 

sure smells like Clinique Happy! And if you’re over the age of 30 you know what that smells like and whether or not it’s for you. (If you’re under the age of 30, go ahead and try it! It dominated three years of the late 90s for a reason.) It’s not a scent I love, but it was instantly recognizable and a great dupe. 

Floral Peony (based on Chloe)

 ​was bright, pretty, feminine. Beautiful on a piece of paper, but wasn’t a great match with my body chemistry. On me, it didn’t have the edge I was looking for, but it’s a pretty, modern floral for those looking for that. 

Floral Berries (based on Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede)

 was another pretty, light, floral scent. The Jo Malone version is wildly popular for a reason. I did use this whole bottle over one summer, but I won’t rebuy because I want a little more depth.

Floral Lavender (based on YSL’s Libre)

 ​is sooo pretty but didn’t smell great on me. The friend I passed it on to did rebuy it. 

Other iconic fragrances that Dossier dupes (among many, many others!): ​

• Black Opium, (Ambery Vanilla)
• MRK’s Baccarat Rouge (Ambery Saffron — one of the best-reviewed dupes!)
• Dior Sauvage (Aromatic Star Anise)
• Le Labo’s Santal 33 (Woody Sandalwood)
• Killian’s Love, Don’t Be Shy (Floral Marshmallow)
• Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry (Ambery Cherry–this one is more expensive at $49 compared to TF’s $395 for 50ml!

More Dossier perfume review to come when I buy more perfumes!

I am also planning to try a few of their original perfumes — i love the idea of the Rose Basil Bliss from their Wellness collection! (I gotta say that as a sober girl I don’t love the “Speakeasy collection” but of course the world doesn’t revolve around me etc etc.)

Negative Dossier perfume reviews

So, who would not like Dossier?

Honestly, there are people out there who simply do not like the idea of dupes, and those people are never going to come around to the idea of Dossier or companies like it. And that’s their prerogative! (Me personally, I don’t feel too bad for the billion-dollar companies getting caught up under their own hubris! But that’s me.)

And then periodically in their reviews you get a negative review. To the company’s credit, they leave all the negative reviews up and respond. You’d be amazed at how many companies don’t! Typically the most common reviews are “this smells nothing like (the reference scent)”.

I would definitely recommend taking these into mind when shopping Dossier’s site. However, perfume is so individual in how it smells on us based on our individual body chemistry! So I kind of feel like every Dossier shopper is going to have smells that feel like “bad dupes” in that they don’t interact the same way with our body chemistry. There’s no single perfume that gets consistently bad reviews, though.

To me, this is where that returns process comes in! Alternately, they sell these little sampler packs — I have never bought one before but am planning to do so in my next order to experience a few more scents and try to find another TNT.

My next order, I think:

• Gourmand Orange Blossom
• The Lush and Lively Scent-Sation Trio sampler thing
• Floral Marshmallow
• Rose Basil Bliss

Are you ready to try out Dossier? Or are you sticking to the perfume counter?