If you’ve been into fragrance and done any research and/or fallen down the PerfumeTok rabbit hole, chances are you’ve heard the various terms Designer, Niche, Ultra Nice, Indie, etc. But it’s not always easy to find what exactly the differences are.

Now, this will all be based on my own personal(Val) research and experience, and I hope that my understanding will help you to understand as well.

Designer - These will be fragrances made by companies that usually have a focus on fashion, and eventually added in fragrances later. They don’t have a focus mainly/only on fragrance, but on a little bit of everything to do with luxury fashion and beauty. Designer fragrances tend to be more mass produced and mass appealing. Sometimes they have cheaper quality, but a lot of these big designer houses have been putting more focus into well-made, prestige, fragrances created by big name perfumers that create amazing fragrances. Designer fragrances are typically easily accessible, meaning you can go just about any big store and find them. 

Niche - These will be fragrances that are made by houses with a sole focus on fragrance. They tend to have higher quality ingredients and are created in smaller batches. They are typically not as easy to find, usually being scents that you hear about on social media or by word of mouth, but no one really knows where to find them in person. They won’t be found in big department stores, Sephora or Ulta, but usually through their own websites of small boutiques. 

Ultra Niche - These types of fragrances fall somewhere in between Niche and Indie/Artisan categories. These fragrances are going to have a little more of an experimental style. Sometimes they’re funky and weird, but ultimately push the boundaries of what fragrances can smell like. Ultra Niche fragrances are typically created in very small batches, are hyper exclusive and very difficult to find.

Indie/Artisan - These are usually independently owned companies/brands that are run by one person who does the fragrance making, packaging, marketing, selling, website and storefront stuff. These fragrances will be found pretty much only through this one person’s store and/or website, or any pop up events they attend. 

I know that there is probably more detail to it than all this, but this is a relatively easy, overall, explanation of the various fragrance house differences.

We’d love to hear any additional information/knowledge you have on this topic!