Our similarity is an editorial assessment on a scale of 1 to 10 — not a measurement and not a percentage.
We draw on three sources: the publicly documented note pyramids of both fragrances (shared top, heart and base notes as well as accords), the consensus of the fragrance community (forums, reviews), and — where possible — our own smell tests on a blotter strip.
A higher value means a greater perceived closeness to the original. Every score is labelled as an editorial assessment, so it is never mistaken for a lab result.
We give no star ratings, no percentages and no guarantees, and we do not analyse fragrances in a laboratory — there are no lab claims behind our scores. A dupe is never the same fragrance as the original — it recalls it. Brand names serve description only and are the property of their respective owners.
Some houses describe their own fragrances as “inspired by” an original. In those cases we report the house's own positioning and do not assign a score of our own unless a robust note overlap is available to us.