I don’t know about you, but when I was a girl, I lived for sweet perfumes. You know, the ones you can get at any lotion store which are sugary sweet like cotton candy. In many ways, I think Prada Candy scratches that same itch for me only as an adult. There’s something so nostalgic about a sweet candy fragrance, but it’s mixed with a nice depth that you just couldn’t pull off when you were young. It’s warm and sweet, but with a designer’s sensuality.
Maybe you are like me and have this nostalgic feel towards all things sugary and light, or maybe that’s just your go-to scent to keep life even sweeter. Prada might be too big of a price tag to justify splurging on, but don’t worry, I’ve got you covered for fulfilling your candy fragrance dreams without paying a designer price.
In this video, you’ll find dupes of Prada Candy:
What We Are looking for in Prada Candy
Created in 2011, Prada Candy came onto the fragrance scene with a pop of color and femininity. The fragrance walked a line between playful and sensuality with its hot pink and rose gold designed bottle and its candy-sweet yet warming fragrance.
Prada Candy opens with rich caramel notes which, to my nose, is a perfect warmth for a breezy fall day. The deep sugary tones melt into a powder sensation that mixes musk with vanilla and benzoin.
Overall, I find the fragrance sweet but elegant, with a deep warmth rooted in the toffee-like opening and the vanilla musk drydown. The sillage is moderate, not too overpowering, but will catch someone’s attention walking down the street.
Prada Candy is the perfect autumn day staple, but the fragrance can also bloom very well in hotter months. One of the best contenders for a sweet gourmand fragrance on the market, it’s hard to pass it up even if your bank account is looking low.
Thankfully, if you are looking for some sweet sensuality in your life, I have found 6 similar perfumes to Prada Candy that can do the trick.
6 Dupes of Prada Candy
1. Caramelos by Dua
One of my favorite go-to dupe houses, Dua’s Caramelos knows how to meet the expectations of their inspired fragrance. Opening with the same deep caramel as Prada Candy, Caramelos quickly settles into a musk base with nice powdery notes throughout. The vanilla and benzoin in the dry-down have a nice touch of amber to me which makes this fragrance have the richness of the original Prada fragrance.
What really sells me on Caramelos is its longevity, which I find to be better than Prada’s. The hint of vanilla and musk leave a great sillage as well. The bottle doesn’t have the pop of color that Prada’s has, but it is a nice simple glass cubic design. Overall, if you are looking for the same essence with just a bit longer-lasting appeal, Dua is your match.
2. Zara Paris No. 92 Champs Elysees
Zara keeps impressing me with their dupes and Paris No.92 is certainly no exception. The fragrance opens with a nice caramel and vanilla note and quickly dries down into a powdery musk. Unlike Prada, Zara’s fragrance adds bergamot and jasmine to its drydown, which is a floral complexity that I think enhances the fragrance to become a bit more mature than just a sweet structure. I find that adding these subtle floral notes turns this fragrance into a perfect date night scent.
The longevity is about equal in my opinion to Prada Candy, and I find its sillage to be less sweet than the original. The bottle is nothing too impressive, but for its price, I think Zara did a great job elevating the original fragrance. This would be my recommendation if you are looking for the same sweetness as Prada Candy, but just a hint of something extra to set it just so slightly into a more mature setting.
3. Black Sugar Oriental Lily Violet
If the caramel essence from Prada Candy is what you are looking for, I think this dupe really delivers. The black sugar that dominates the structure of this fragrance feels almost spicy in its depth. The drydown settles into a powdery note that is mixed with subtle hints of violet and Asian lily which I think adds a nice complexity to the deep sugary scent. Despite being a black sugar-dominated fragrance, I think this perfume is great for anyone who wants a little less sweetness out of their signature scent. The drydown hints cut through the sweetness just enough to make it sweet, but not as sweet as Prada’s version.
Despite being less sweet, the sillage on Black Sugar is way stronger and in my opinion is able to last just a bit longer than Prada Candy.
The bottle is a striking black, which contrasts Prada’s popping pink design, but I think generally the design is nicer than most of the rest of the dupes on this list.
Overall, Black Sugar is your best bet for toning down the sweetness but keeping that nice deep caramel that Prada Candy delivers so well.
4. Primark Tease
Initially I was skeptical of this dupe just for how cheap it was, but honestly, after trying it, I’ve been pretty impressed. Adding just a touch of peach to the vanilla and caramel, Primark delivers on a sweet but sophisticated scent without being overly sugary. The drydown has notes of bergamot, musk, and jasmine which overall have less of a powdery feel to me and really leans into a gourmand quality which I think is more suitable for winter days than Prada Candy.
Maybe the biggest selling point is the bottle design, which has the same hot pink notes as Prada Candy but with less of the rose gold accents. Primark Tease is a great deal that has both the look and the structure of its inspired fragrance.
5. Divain 116 (Candy from Prada)
Another top contender for favorite dupe house, Divain always makes great fragrances with simplicity in mind. Divian 116 has its structure based around oriental vanilla which blends very well with a caramel richness. The drydown has a powdery essence to me with hints of talc mixed with musk and benzoin. Of all the fragrances on the list, I think Divain finds the blend between sweetness and powder very well.
The longevity and sillage are perfect for a daily signature scent. In my opinion, this fragrance seems closely matched to Prada Candy just by how well their structures align. It’s a great price, for a one-to-one match to its inspiration.
6. I Love You by Ulric de Varens
A dupe that brings a bit of floral to the mix, I Love You opens with vanilla mixed with a subtle hint of bergamot, then dries down into benzoin and musk. There are hints of heliotrope in the structure which I think adds a lightness to the fragrance overall. In my opinion, this fragrance feels less rich than Prada Candy, and rather adds a freshness from its floral notes.
The bottle design is a bit sweeter than the eye-catching colors of Prada Candy, with a light pink rectangular shape with a heart cap. I think the bottle design matches this fragrance’s departure from its inspiration while keeping with the same core essence. I would definitely give this one a try if you are looking to tone down the sugary pop of Prada into a fresher structure and feel.
Final Note
Prada Candy feels like a fragrance like no other; it somehow is able to walk the fine line between sweet pops of sugar and deep, rich sensuality. It’s hard to find a fragrance that can do the same without shelling out for designer names, but thankfully, there’s at least a handful of fragrances that take Prada’s sweet, dreamy scent, and make it just as good without having the price tag to match.
