Portrait of a Lady Dupes 2026: 7 Clones vs the Original

The ranking

Best overall

Monaliza

Alexandria Fragrances

No EU price

Read the pick

The original

Portrait of a Lady

Frédéric Malle

Smell the original: 3 ml €16.7410 ml €42.21

Add to cart · 10ml

2. 2
   Closest on the dry-down

   Isparta 26

   Pierre Guillaume Paris

   €120.00 · 50 ml

   Read the pick
3. 3
   Lowest price

   Rosamunda

   Laboratorio Olfattivo

   €120.00 · 100 ml

   Read the pick
4. 4
   Fresher take

   Chypre Sublime

   Floral Street

   No EU price

   Read the pick
5. 5
   Darker take

   Yellow Rose Incense

   Bohoboco

   €170.00 · 50 ml

   Read the pick

Show all 7 picks

6. 6
   Softer take

   Voleur de Roses

   L'Artisan Parfumeur

   No EU price

   Read the pick
7. 7
   Sweeter take

   Portfolio Floral Sculpture

   Al Haramain

   No EU price

   Read the pick

A word on the field before you shop. Clone supply for this perfume is thin: Monaliza is the only pick here made as a Portrait of a Lady clone. The other six are independent perfumes that commenters hold up against it, so this guide calls them alternatives. The more a pick leans on a single commenter, the more plainly we say so.

What does Portrait of a Lady smell like?

Frederic Malle launched it in 2010, and the house's page describes an immoderate Turkish rose over woody tones, amber and incense. The opening mixes clove, cinnamon, black currant and raspberry. The heart holds Turkish rose, incense, patchouli, sandalwood and ylang-ylang. Musk, benzoin, amber, cedar, ambergris and vanilla make the base. It is a rich, spiced rose for going out. No other concentration of it is stocked, so there is one version to compare against.

Open the full-size image in a new tab

Open the full-size image in a new tab

Alexandria Fragrances says Monaliza is inspired by Portrait of a Lady: rose, patchouli and spices, with cloves, cinnamon, black currant, raspberry and incense. That makes it the one true clone here. Fragrantica lists Turkish rose, black currant, cloves, cinnamon, raspberry, patchouli, incense and sandalwood, with ambroxan, white musk and benzoin underneath. On paper it follows the original closely.

Parfumo's comparison page shows 11 of 21 voting members finding it similar: a split vote. The owners on Fragrantica split too. One finds it a little spicier at first and very close once it settles. Another calls it a close enough clone. One owner who compared the two finds a sharper rose and more clove up front.

The dissent is real. Other owners report far more clove and spice, or no incense in the dry-down, and one says to buy the original. One calls it louder and more aggressive.

Choose it if you want the clone with its house behind the claim and you accept a spicier, sharper start. If incense matters most, test the dry-down on skin first.

Isparta 26 by Pierre Guillaume Paris was first sold as Parfumerie Generale Isparta. Parfumo's comparison page shows 9 of 14 voting members finding it similar to Portrait of a Lady.

In a Basenotes thread on cheaper alternatives, one member finds Isparta so similar it was annoying, with a cooler, more mineral incense, and still advises getting Portrait of a Lady. Another member who wears Isparta is often told it is Portrait of a Lady.

A Fragrantica commenter was reminded of it most as the patchouli fades. The same commenter finds Isparta 26 softer, a little sweeter and much less strong, and points to the berry note. Another commenter disagrees: a funky dry-down, nothing like Portrait of a Lady. Fragrantica lists rose and red berries, then patchouli, Peru balsam and calamus, over oud, olibanum, benzoin, moss and ambroxan.

Choose it if the dry-down matters more to you than the first spray. Expect a softer, sweeter perfume by those accounts, and a mixed reception for the dry-down itself.

Of the three picks with a euro list price, Rosamunda by Laboratorio Olfattivo costs the least per ml; the table on this page shows the prices. Monaliza and three other picks have no European list price, so one of them may cost less where you shop. Rosamunda's link to Portrait of a Lady rests on one Fragrantica commenter, so treat it as one person's nose.

That commenter calls it a lighter Portrait of a Lady: a little sour at first, then a soft rose and oud. Others find a powdery saffron rose-patchouli on the discreet side. Several say it fades fast, and one finds the saffron and oud synthetic and overpowering.

The list tells its own story. Fragrantica gives rose and saffron, Bulgarian and Turkish rose, patchouli, then oud, musk, amber, sandalwood and cedar. It adds saffron and oud, and it has no clove, raspberry or incense.

Choose it if price decides and you want a quieter rose, not a spiced one.

Chypre Sublime by Floral Street has the highest share of Parfumo votes in this guide: 16 of 19 voting members find it similar to Portrait of a Lady.

A Fragrantica commenter who compared the two finds the likeness clearest at first spray. After that, Chypre Sublime is greener and fresher, far less earthy, with no clove or raspberry, and softer on the skin. Another owner of both calls them related, not alike. Dissent: anyone expecting a dupe will be disappointed, and the geranium takes over for one commenter.

Fragrantica lists geranium, incense and pink pepper, then damask rose, patchouli and violet, over olibanum, labdanum and benzoin. "Fresher" here is the comparing commenter's word.

Choose it if you like the rose and incense idea but want it greener and lighter. Skip it if you want the clove and raspberry.

We call Yellow Rose Incense by Bohoboco the darker take for its oud: two commenters notice it, and the house lists it. Parfumo's comparison page shows 16 of 20 voting members finding it similar.

Fragrantica commenters differ. One finds it a lot like Portrait of a Lady plus some oud, while still preferring the original, which comes across deeper. Another calls it a screechier variation with more clove, and a third finds it turns earthy and heavy with patchouli and oud. Dissent: it does not smell like Portrait of a Lady, and one finds no smoke or incense.

The list gives rose, clove and cinnamon, then incense, oud and amber, over patchouli, white musk and benzoin.

Choose it if you want Portrait of a Lady's rose and clove with oud added. Test the incense on skin first: one commenter found none, and another not much.

Voleur de Roses by L'Artisan Parfumeur dates from 1993. Fragrantica commenters find it less powerful and far less complex than Portrait of a Lady: a simple rose and patchouli that soon sits close to the skin. One still prefers the original for how it evolves. For some, patchouli dominates and the rose barely shows.

On Basenotes one member calls it only roughly similar: an earthy rose and patchouli in both, but Voleur de Roses without the incense.

Fragrantica lists plum, geranium and bergamot, then patchouli and rose, over amber, benzoin, sandalwood and musk. The house's European shop does not list it, only its US shop does, so it has no European list price.

Choose it if you want an earthy rose with fewer moving parts. Look elsewhere if incense is the point.

Portfolio Floral Sculpture by Al Haramain has the widest vote and the biggest caveat. Parfumo's comparison page shows 22 of 39 voting members finding it similar.

Fragrantica commenters of earlier bottles find it reminiscent of Portrait of a Lady: an opulent, jammy, dark-fruit rose with an earthy patchouli dry-down. One finds it misses Portrait of a Lady and ends in a jammy rose. Several say it was reformulated, and owners of recent bottles describe a woody, citrus or green scent nothing like Portrait of a Lady. Sample a current bottle before you buy.

Fragrantica lists carnation, peony and bergamot, then patchouli and rose, over amber, benzoin, ambergris and musk. "Sweeter" here means the jammy, dark-fruit rose the earlier owners describe.

Choose it only if a current bottle matches the older reports. The votes and the comments may describe different perfumes.

What every Portrait of a Lady clone gets wrong

None of the seven asks you to give up the rose, and by the comments none reproduces the whole of the original. The reports keep returning to the same gaps. Clove and raspberry rarely carry over: only Monaliza lists both, Yellow Rose Incense lists clove, and the other five lists name neither. Incense goes missing for some owners of Monaliza and Yellow Rose Incense, and Voleur de Roses lists none. And the weight changes: softer in some, louder in others.

That is why a Portrait of a Lady clone search ends in a trade: you give up one part of the original to get another. Decide which part you can live without. The guide to perfume dupes and the shorter dupes for women show how other originals fare.

How to test a Portrait of a Lady dupe against the original

Wear the original on skin one day and the clone the next, never on paper: paper hides the part that matters here, how clove, rose and incense settle. Wear each from the first spray into the evening, and note what you still smell late in the day.

A 3ml decant of Portrait of a Lady is enough to run that comparison, and a 10ml decant lets you wear it again and again. What a decant is and when a decant beats a dupe explain the choice. If you are tempted to skip the test, read the blind-buy guide first. For a patchouli-led rose, the patchouli perfumes guide covers more ground, and the Gris Dior dupes guide handles another rose-and-patchouli original the same way. More rich picks sit in the best niche perfumes for women.

Rose and incense originals to wear first

If the dupes leave you unsure, a few other roses are worth a decant. Porpora by Tiziana Terenzi has the list closest to Portrait of a Lady on paper: rose, raspberry, cloves, cinnamon, patchouli, incense, myrrh, amber and benzoin. Radical Rose by Matiere Premiere pairs Damask and Centifolia rose with saffron, labdanum and patchouli. Rose Amira by Guerlain lists rose, patchouli, olibanum and musk. Lady Vengeance by Juliette Has a Gun puts Bulgarian and Moroccan rose with patchouli over white musk and vanilla.