The Great Perfume Smell-alike Test 2018 (where Primark beat Jo Malone) Forget Strictly, this is the pre-Christmas contest that matters - and it may help stop you paying through the nose Many turn to fragrances to treat loved ones, and as perfumes are a classic late Christmas gift, we've a host of MoneySaving tips that are not to be sniffed at. Full help in our 19 Cheap Perfume Tricks, here's just a taste whiff... The top 'smell-alike' perfumes - at a fraction of the cost. Shops such as M&S, Next and Primark sell own-brand perfumes that mimic designer brands. We wanted to see if cut-price versions really do smell similar, or just cause a stink. So for a bit of fun, we recruited 20 of the finest noses from our team to run a non-scientific, blind experiment. We asked them to sample 12 brand-name perfumes, matched against their cheap alternative. In nine cases, the majority of our fragrant panel couldn't tell the difference, or actually preferred the cheap smell-alike. See the full results of MSE's Great Perfume Smell-alike Test 2018, but here are the top five based on the percentage of our testers who preferred the cheaper one or couldn't tell any difference: - Primark 'Pomegranate & Black Tea', 100ml, £8 (vs Jo Malone 'Pomegranate Noir', 100ml, £94). Score: 80% - M&S 'New York', 100ml, £18 (vs Chanel 'Allure', 100ml, £110). Score: 75% - Zara 'Black Amber', 100ml, £10 (vs Dolce & Gabbana 'The One', 100ml, £78.95). Score: 65% - M&S 'Azure Breeze', 100ml, £16 (vs Dolce & Gabbana 'Light Blue', 100ml, £59.45). Score: 65% - Next 'Just Pink', 100ml, £14 (vs Ralph Lauren 'Romance', 100ml, £42.75). Score: 60%