Reverse Beaut.ienomics: Puredistance Bucks the Budget Trend

While we're battening down the hatches and concentrating on all things budget, Puredistance are an Austrian fragrance company who've reminded me that the rest of Europe isn't quite as shagged as Ireland, and that no matter how deep and hard a recession is, there are always people immune to its trials.

How do I know that? Because the brand's Crystal Masterpiece fragrance - "one of the most exclusive Perfume Concepts in the world" - costs thousands of Euro. It's basically a flacon created from Swarovski crystal, filled with their eponymous scent - a white floral.

Eye-wateringly expensive prices like €2,750 for the crystal and 24 carat gold version and €1,750 for the crystal and high-grade steel version mark the range out, and you'll have to shell out a further €165 for each 17.5ml refill, too. I'll have two! No, scratch that! Lets have a round bakers dozen. Hang the recession!

But what you might be equally amazed by is that Puredistance are not alone in the small-second-hand-car-priced fragrance market. Nope, Clive Christian's No. 1 perfume is also well in excess of a grand, and Guerlain have just launched a perfume retailing for over five thousand pounds sterling.

If you want to buy, you'll have to travel to London for the pleasure: The nearest stockist is the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie at Harrods. Might be best to book a Ryanair flight so, considering the expenditure...