Smells like expansion: BestPerfume.Store begins operations in the Philippines

1 of 2

A DISPLAY of BestPerfume.Store’s bestsellers.

BESTPERFUME.STORE Founder Josh Frost

FOUNDED in 2022 in Singapore, BestPerfume.Store is now selling its wares in the Philippines.

Their website, offering 300 or so scents, says that the products (named with numerical codes) “resemble” the profiles of certain perfumes (called “dupes” in the fragrance market, and in founder Josh Frost’s own terms). During an interview on March 19 in Makati, Mr. Frost said, “We’re completely allowed to do that. As long as you don’t trademark, so you don’t use their name as advertising. As long as you don’t copy their colors or their packaging.”

The perfumes aren’t exact copies, especially since the scent of the dupes has been amplified, with up to 50% concentration. While interviewing Mr. Frost, we could smell his scent from a foot away (he was wearing one of his products, a pleasant scent which is based on a perfume made by a liquor heir — his has a profile of aldehydes, coriander, and cardamom in the top note; with base notes of ambroxan, oak moss, and sandalwood). “I try to make it stronger,” he said about the concentration of scent in his perfume. He said that they can use different things to get the same smell, without going over the legal limits.

As for spraying on clothes, he said, “If you spray (with) what we recommend, which is like, 10, 20 cm away; completely fine. It washes off.”

They have a physical presence in Singapore in Plaza Singapura and Westgate Singapore, and an online presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and now, the Philippines. In the Philippines, he says that they plan to leverage their online sales after a year to get a physical space. As for their presence here, “They’re the largest (fragrance market) in Southeast Asia.”

“It makes sense to come here,” he said. “I like a market (where) people are already used to perfume.”

One doesn’t have to explore the website blindly: one can take a quiz to find out what suits them, and the website will produce a match. The scents can cost from P3,000 to about P4,300.

Mr. Frost began his journey in business as a teacher and a bartender. During his bartending career, he also began to explore the flavorings market. “Flavors, into fragrances,” he said. — Joseph L. Garcia