· By Faan Perfumes
Perfume on a student budget: cost per wear of a 200 ml bottle
Quick answer: Cheap perfume that lasts is mostly a question of size. A 200 ml bottle at €44.99 works out at about 2 to 3 cents a spray, so under 5 cents a day at two sprays. Four FAAN bottles cost €44.99, and Amjad Honour, rated 5 out of 5 for longevity, is the one that lasts longest.
Prices below come from our product pages. The spray maths is an estimate, because pumps vary, so treat the numbers as a guide.
Cost per spray, worked out
A pump spray usually delivers somewhere between 0.07 and 0.14 ml. We use 0.1 ml as a round estimate. A 200 ml bottle then holds about 2,000 sprays.
| Bottle price | Per ml | Per spray (estimate) |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| €44.99 | €0.22 | about 2.2 cents |
| €54.99 | €0.27 | about 2.7 cents |
| €56.99 | €0.28 | about 2.8 cents |
At two sprays a day, the €44.99 bottle costs under 5 cents a day. That is the figure to remember.
Why 200 ml changes the maths
Most perfume is sold in 50 or 100 ml bottles. A 200 ml bottle gives you four times the volume of a 50 ml for a price that, in this range, starts at €44.99. At two sprays a day you would need over 2.7 years to finish it, so you are paying for time rather than for a bottle.
If you are a student who wears one scent daily, you will not finish one in a semester. That also means you can choose a scent you like at the start and stay with it. Our note on how many sprays a 200 ml bottle holds goes through the arithmetic in more detail.
Cheapest bottles at €44.99
Four bottles in the range cost €44.99, all Extrait de Parfum:
- Amjad Honour: longevity 5 out of 5, projection 4. Frankincense, saffron, oud. One of our best sellers. Autumn and winter.
- Qasida Bidaya: longevity 4, projection 3. Saffron, resin, vanilla. Autumn and winter.
- Amjad Coral: longevity 3, projection 3. Pear, mandarin, clean woods. Spring and summer, and the daily pick for a lecture hall.
- Amjad Status: longevity 4, projection 3.
Honour lasts the longest, and Coral is the lightest. If you can only buy one, choose by season: Coral for warm months, Honour for cold ones.
Amjad Mystery is also an Extrait de Parfum, but at €54.99 it costs more than the rest of this group: longevity 4, projection 3. Hazelnut, saffron, smoky rose. Autumn and winter.
Making it last a year
A year at two sprays a day is 730 sprays, about 73 ml. That is just over a third of the bottle, at a cost of roughly €16 for a €44.99 bottle.
- Spray on moisturised skin and on a shirt collar. It makes two sprays go further.
- Do not spray more because you stop smelling it. Your nose adapts.
- Keep the bottle in a drawer, away from heat and light, so the last third smells as good as the first.
In the Netherlands, shipping is free from €75, so two bottles at €44.99 (€89.98) ship free. One bottle plus shipping is more than the maths above. Elsewhere in the EU, the shipping rate of your country applies, as shown on the shipping page.
When a cheaper scent is not a bargain
A cheap bottle that needs six sprays and fades by lunch costs more per wear than a dearer one that needs two. Also, a bottle you do not like is expensive at any price, and a bottle with a broken seal cannot be returned.
So read the notes first. If you are unsure which style suits you, our choosing guide narrows it down, and the full range is on one page. If a bottle shows as sold out, ask to be notified on the product page.
FAQ
How much does one spray of perfume cost?
About 2 to 3 cents for a 200 ml bottle at €44.99 to €56.99, assuming roughly 0.1 ml per spray. Pumps vary, so treat this as an estimate.
What is the cheapest FAAN perfume?
Four bottles cost €44.99: Amjad Honour, Amjad Coral, Amjad Status and Qasida Bidaya.
Which cheap FAAN perfume lasts longest?
Amjad Honour, with longevity rated 5 out of 5.
Related reading
Journal
From the journal
Perfume on a student budget: cost per wear of a 200 ml bottle
A student-budget look at a 200 ml perfume: cost per spray and per day, the bottles at €44.99, how to make one bottle last a year, and when a cheape...
Read article →
Coffee in perfume: what it smells like and which FAAN bottles use it
What a coffee note smells like in perfume (roasted, bitter, a little sweet), how it is placed in a pyramid, and the one FAAN bottle that lists it: ...
Read article →
Jasmine in perfume: what it smells like and which FAAN bottles use it
What jasmine smells like in perfume (heady, sweet, creamy, a little green), how perfumers place it, and the five FAAN bottles that list it: Sahm, S...
Read article →