Sherrell Perfumers

Founded in Beverly Hills in the mid-1970s, Sherrell Perfumers emerged during a fascinating period in American fragrance history when prestige perfumes were becoming increasingly aspirational luxury objects for middle-class consumers. The company was established by Murray Poznak, the former president of the Magic Marker Company, whose background in mass-market consumer products likely shaped Sherrell’s aggressive direct-marketing strategy and highly commercial approach to perfumery. Rather than positioning itself as a traditional luxury perfume house rooted in French couture or artisanal fragrance traditions, Sherrell operated as a distinctly American entrepreneurial venture—one that attempted to democratize access to expensive designer scents by offering inexpensive “equivalent” fragrances modeled after famous perfumes and colognes.

Sherrell became particularly notable for its unapologetic embrace of imitation perfumery. Unlike many fragrance companies that quietly borrowed olfactory themes from successful perfumes, Sherrell openly advertised its products as “Copy Cat Equivalent Fragrances,” explicitly inviting consumers to compare them with prestigious originals. Their advertisements promised that buyers could save “50% or more” while enjoying fragrances so accurate that “only your checkbook will know the difference.” This language reflected the broader 1970s consumer culture of discount luxury and accessible glamour, where consumers increasingly sought affordable alternatives to elite products without sacrificing sophistication. Sherrell’s marketing was unusually bold for the era, directly asserting that even perfume experts would struggle to distinguish its creations from imported originals.

A major factor in Sherrell’s early success was its relationship with International Flavors & Fragrances, one of the most important aroma chemical and fragrance manufacturers in the world. According to later court documents, IFF initially supplied Sherrell with high-quality fragrance oils and even assisted in reproducing the visual presentation of prestige perfumes by closely matching their colors. This relationship gave Sherrell a degree of technical legitimacy uncommon among low-cost knockoff perfume companies. By sourcing materials from a respected fragrance house rather than using crude approximations, Sherrell attempted to position its products as serious olfactory reproductions rather than novelty imitations.

The company also employed Edward Silkin, a professional perfume chemist, to aid in fragrance formulation. His involvement suggests that Sherrell’s copies were not merely simplistic blends, but carefully engineered compositions designed to emulate the structure and performance of luxury fragrances. In the 1970s, reproducing a perfume convincingly required extensive analytical work, including studying evaporation curves, balancing top and base accords, and approximating expensive natural materials with more economical synthetics. Sherrell’s advertisements emphasized this technical sophistication, repeatedly describing their fragrances as “carefully selected, blended and formulated” using “rare essential oils.”

Sherrell’s business model depended heavily upon aggressive national advertising. Between 1973 and 1976, the company placed advertisements in a remarkable array of mainstream publications, including the The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TV Guide, McCall's, and Parade. This wide advertising reach indicates that Sherrell was not a fringe operation but a nationally marketed fragrance company targeting ordinary American households through mail-order and print campaigns. The tone of the advertisements blended glamour with practicality, promising department-store sophistication at dramatically reduced prices.

Much of Sherrell’s controversy stemmed from its claims about ingredient sourcing and manufacturing relationships. Advertisements suggested that the same firms producing oils for prestigious French and American perfumes were also creating Sherrell’s fragrances. These claims blurred the line between truthful ingredient sourcing and misleading implication. Consumers could easily interpret such language to mean Sherrell perfumes were effectively produced by the same manufacturers responsible for luxury brands themselves. These representations ultimately contributed to legal scrutiny and disputes surrounding the company’s advertising practices.

The breakdown of Sherrell’s relationship with IFF in 1974 appears to have marked a turning point in the company’s fortunes. Court records indicate that disputes arose over how Sherrell advertised its products, leading IFF to discontinue supplying fragrance oils. Losing access to high-quality raw materials would have severely affected Sherrell’s ability to maintain convincing reproductions of famous perfumes. Thereafter, the company struggled to locate replacement suppliers and reportedly encountered increasing resistance from newspapers and magazines reluctant to carry its advertisements. These mounting operational difficulties reflected the precarious nature of imitation fragrance businesses, which often relied upon access to quality fragrance compounds and tolerated advertising channels.

Although Sherrell primarily built its reputation through knockoff fragrances inspired by famous perfumes and men’s colognes, the company also experimented with original creations. Among the most notable was the Earth Drops line introduced around 1974. This collection reflected the growing influence of naturalism and earth-conscious aesthetics in 1970s beauty culture. At a time when consumers were becoming interested in patchouli, herbal blends, musk oils, and nature-inspired cosmetics, Earth Drops likely attempted to capitalize on the era’s fascination with holistic lifestyles and “back-to-nature” sensibilities. The existence of proprietary fragrances demonstrates that Sherrell aspired to move beyond mere duplication and establish some degree of creative identity within the fragrance market.

Sherrell ceased operations at the end of 1976 as litigation intensified. Though relatively short-lived, the company remains an intriguing example of 1970s American perfume culture, particularly the rise of “smell-alike” fragrances marketed to consumers eager for affordable luxury. Its story also highlights the growing importance of intellectual property disputes within the fragrance industry during the decade. While perfumes themselves were difficult to copyright, advertising claims and implied associations with prestige brands created fertile ground for legal conflict. Sherrell occupied a gray area between inspiration, imitation, and deception—a space that many later fragrance copy companies would continue to explore for decades afterward.

Earth Drops:

Sherrell’s Earth Drops line represented a fascinating departure from the company’s better-known “Copy Cat” perfume equivalents. Introduced during the mid-1970s, Earth Drops embraced the decade’s growing fascination with naturalism, mysticism, aromatherapy, and individualized fragrance experiences. Rather than imitating famous designer perfumes, the collection focused on singular aromatic impressions inspired by nature itself—flowers, woods, herbs, resins, spices, mosses, fruits, and atmospheric elements. The line was promoted with poetic simplicity: “Earth Drops are nature’s own single fragrances, blended from flowers, woods, and rare spices together with precious oils that are used just like perfume.” This wording deliberately evoked purity and elemental beauty, aligning the collection with the era’s fascination for earthy sensuality and botanical authenticity.

The Earth Drops range was extraordinarily expansive, offering dozens upon dozens of fragrances that functioned almost like an olfactory encyclopedia. Customers could select singular floral notes such as Acacia, Amaryllis, Azalea, Camellia, Chrysanthemum, Freesia, Gardenia, Honeysuckle, Hyacinth, Magnolia, Mimosa, Peony, Sweet Pea, Tea Rose, Tiger Lily, Tuberose, Water Lily, White Rose, and Wisteria. These fragrances likely appealed to consumers seeking to wear the scent of a favorite blossom in isolation rather than as part of a complex French-style perfume pyramid. During the 1970s, this “single-note” perfume concept became increasingly popular in boutiques and natural apothecaries, offering a more intimate and personal alternative to formal department-store fragrances.

Many of the floral Earth Drops compositions probably leaned heavily upon synthetic aroma chemicals, particularly for flowers whose scents are difficult or impossible to extract naturally. Notes such as Lily of the Valley (Muguet), Lilac, Honeysuckle, Hyacinth, Freesia, Lotus, and Gardenia historically rely on sophisticated reconstruction accords because the living flowers either yield no essential oil or produce unusable extracts. Sherrell’s perfumers would have used combinations of hydroxycitronellal, lilial, phenethyl alcohol, indoles, ionones, and lactones to create convincing floral illusions. The line’s advertising language about “precious oils” romanticized the compositions, but the fragrances almost certainly blended natural materials with the modern synthetics that made affordable perfumery possible.

The collection also explored deep resinous and oriental territory through fragrances such as Amber, Ambergris, Labdanum, Frankincense, Opoponax, Styrax, Musk, Eastern Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Vetiver, and Oak Moss. These scents reflected the powerful influence of 1970s bohemian and spiritual aesthetics. Patchouli oils, musks, incense materials, and balsamic resins had become culturally associated with head shops, meditation culture, imported oils, and the broader counterculture movement. Earth Drops captured this atmosphere beautifully, offering consumers exotic, sensual notes suggestive of incense smoke, velvet fabrics, carved wood, antique spice markets, and dimly lit boutiques filled with imported curiosities.

Several fragrances in the line attempted to evoke environments and abstract concepts rather than literal botanicals. Names such as Earth, Fire, Rain, Sea, Grass, and Green Fern suggest atmospheric scent experiences years before such conceptual perfumery became fashionable in niche fragrance houses. “Rain” likely emphasized watery green notes, ozonic freshness, petrichor effects, and cool herbal accords, while “Sea” may have leaned into mineralic freshness and salty air impressions. “Earth” probably centered on patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss, damp woods, and dark musks. These abstract fragrances reflected the growing experimentalism of 1970s fragrance consumers, who increasingly viewed perfume as mood, identity, and sensory escape rather than merely cosmetic adornment.

Earth Drops also featured culinary herbs, spices, and aromatic materials rarely marketed as standalone perfumes at the time. Basil, Caraway, Celery, Clary Sage, Coriander, Dill, Nutmeg, Parsley, Peppermint, Rosemary, Thyme, and Wintergreen transformed familiar kitchen and garden aromas into wearable scent experiences. Likewise, spicy and warm compositions such as All Spice, Cinnamon, Clove, Anise, Bitter Almond, and Turkish Tabac evoked warmth, comfort, and exoticism. These unusual fragrances would have appealed to adventurous consumers interested in layering oils together to create personalized blends. The line effectively encouraged experimentation, allowing wearers to combine florals with woods, herbs with musks, or spices with resins according to mood and personality.

Certain Earth Drops fragrances drew inspiration directly from classical perfumery traditions. Chypre, Fougère, and Cuir de Russie referenced entire perfume families rather than singular natural notes. Chypre likely featured bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli, and labdanum in homage to the great mossy fragrances descended from Coty’s legendary Chypre. Fougère probably recreated the lavender-coumarin structure associated with barbershop masculinity and aromatic freshness. Cuir de Russie, named after the famous “Russian Leather” accord, may have suggested smoky birch tar, leather gloves, tobacco, woods, and animalic undertones reminiscent of vintage European perfumery. These references reveal that Earth Drops was not merely a simplistic natural oils line, but one informed by classical fragrance vocabulary and perfume history.

The inclusion of animalic names such as Civet, Musk, Ambergris, and Eastern Musk also reflected lingering fascination with old-world perfumery mystique. By the 1970s, genuine civet and ambergris were becoming less common due to cost, ethics, and regulation, so these Earth Drops fragrances were likely built from synthetic recreations. Nevertheless, such names carried strong associations with sensuality, luxury, and erotic warmth. Consumers of the era often perceived musk oils as intimate, skin-like fragrances meant to mingle with the wearer’s natural body chemistry, contributing to the decade’s broader preference for softer, more personal scent styles.

Fruit and citrus compositions added brightness and accessibility to the line. Bergamot, Fresh Lemon, Green Apple, Island Coconut, Lime, Mandarine, Orange, Tangerine, Wild Strawberry, and Verbena likely provided sparkling freshness that contrasted with the heavier incense and musk-oriented oils. These scents fit neatly within the optimistic, sunny California aesthetic associated with Beverly Hills beauty culture during the decade. Sherrell’s location itself likely influenced the line’s breezy, relaxed identity—less rigidly formal than traditional European perfumery and more aligned with the casual glamour of the American West Coast.

The sheer scale of the Earth Drops collection suggests that Sherrell intended it to function almost like a fragrance wardrobe or apothecary library. Consumers could choose scents that reflected mood, season, fantasy, or personality. One day might call for the powdery softness of Heliotrope or Violet, another for the meditative darkness of Frankincense and Patchouli, and another for the bright innocence of Honeysuckle or Sweet Pea. In this way, Earth Drops anticipated later trends in indie and niche perfumery, where layering, customization, and note-focused fragrances became central to fragrance culture.

Though Sherrell itself disappeared by the late 1970s, Earth Drops remains an evocative artifact of its era—a line that captured the decade’s longing for nature, mysticism, sensuality, experimentation, and accessible self-expression through scent.

• Acacia
• All Spice
• Amaryllis
• Amber
• Ambergris
• Anise
• Azalea
• Balsam
• Basil
• Bergamot
• Bitter Almond
• Camellia
• Cananga
• Caraway
• Carnation
• Cedar Leaf
• Cedar Wood
• Celery
• Chrysanthemum
• Chypre
• Cinnamon
• Civet
• Clary Sage
• Clove
• Coriander
• Cuir de Russie
• Dill
• Earth
• Eastern Musk
• Eucalyptus
• Fire
• Fougere
• Frangipani
• Frankincense
• Freesia
• French Lily
• Fresh Lemon
• Galbanum
• Gardenia
• Geranium
• Grass
• Green Apple
• Green Fern
• Heliotrope
• Honeysuckle
• Hyacinth
• Iris
• Island Coconut
• Jasmine
• Jonquil
• Juniper
• Labdanum
• Lavender
• Lilac
• Lime
• Lotus
• Magnolia
• Mandarine
• Marguerite
• Marigold
• Mignonette
• Mimosa
• Mistletoe
• Muguet
• Musk
• Narcisse
• Nutmeg
• Oak Moss
• Oleander
• Opoponax
• Orange
• Orange Blossom
• Parsley
• Patchouli
• Peony
• Peppermint
• Potpourri
• Rain
• Rose
• Rosemary
• Sandalwood
• Sea
• Styrax
• Sweet Pea
• Tangerine
• Tea Rose
• Thyme
• Tiger Lily
• Tuberose
• Turkish Tabac
• Vanilla
• Verbena
• Vetiver
• Violet
• Water Lily
• White Rose
• Wild Strawberry
• Wintergreen
• Wisteria
• Ylang Ylang

Sherrell Copy Cat Fragrances for Women:

• No. 2 - L'Origan by Coty
• No. 3 - Arpege by Lanvin
• No. 4 - Chantilly by Houbigant
• No. 6 - Bellodgia by Caron
• No. 7 - Shalimar by Guerlain
• No. 8 - Aphrodisia by Faberge
• No. 9 - Crepe de Chine by Millot
• No. 10 - Tabu by Dana
• No. 11 - Norell by Norell
• No. 12 - Joy by Jean Patou
• No. 14 - My Sin by Lanvin
• No. 15 - Cabochard by Gres
• No. 16 - Wind Song by Prince Matchabelli
• No. 17 - L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci
• No. 18 - Cachet by Prince Matchabelli
• No. 19 - Blue Grass by Elizabeth Arden
• No. 20 - Tigress by Faberge
• No. 21 - Nuit de Noel by Caron
• No. 23 - Chanel No. 19
• No. 24 - Miss Dior by Christian Dior
• No. 27 - Emeraude by Coty
• No. 28 - Ma Griffe by Carven
• No. 29 - Madame Rochas
• No. 31 - Charlie by Revlon
• No. 32 - Youth Dew by Estee Lauder
• No. 33 - White Shoulders by Evyan
• No. 34 - Givenchy III
• No. 35 - L'Interdit by Givenchy
• No. 36 - Chanel No. 5
• No. 37 - Audace by Rochas
• No. 38 - Mitsouko by Guerlain
• No. 39 - Via Lanvin by Lanvin
• No. 40 - Bal a Versailles by Jean Desprez
• No. 41 - Chamade by Guerlain
• No. 42 - Chanel No. 22
• No. 43 - Fidji by Guy Laroche
• No. 44 - Estee by Estee Lauder
• No. 45 - Femme by Rochas
• No. 46 - Replique by Raphael
• No. 47 - Maja by Myrurgia
• No. 48 - Y by Yves Saint Laurent
• No. 49 - Jungle Gardenia by Tuvache
• No. 50 - Calandre by Paco Rabanne
• No. 51 - Le De by Givenchy
• Musk Oil by Alyssa Ashley
• Civet Oil by Alyssa Ashley
• Ambergris Oil by Alyssa Ashley

Sherrell Copy Cat Fragrances for Men:

• No. M1 - Aramis by Estee Lauder/Aramis
• No. M2 - Arden for Men by Elizabeth Arden
• No. M3 - Aphrodisia for Men by Faberge
• No. M4 - Bacchus by Coty
• No. M5 - Bill Blass by Bill Blass
• No. M6 - Braggi by Revlon
• No. M7 - British Sterling by Speidel/MEM
• No. M8 - Brut by Faberge
• No. M9 - Canoe by Dana
• No. M10 - Chanel Pour Monsieur
• No. M11 - Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior
• No. M12 - English Leather by MEM
• No. M13 - Equipage by Hermes
• No. M14 - Givenchy Gentlemen
• No. M15 - Gravel by Gravel
• No. M16 - Eau de Cologne Imperiale by Guerlain 
• No. M17 - Hai Karate by Leeming
• No. M18 - Jade East by Swank
• No. M19 - Kanon by Kanon
• No. M20 - Lacoste by Jean Patou/Lacoste
• No. M21 - Monsieur Balmain 
• No. M22 - Monsieur Carven Vetiver
• No. M23 - Monsieur Houbigant
• No. M24 - Monsieur Lanvin
• No. M25 - Monsieur Rochas
• No. M26 - Moustache by Rochas
• No. M27 - Musk for Men by Jovan
• No. M28 - No. 4711
• No. M29 - Old Spice by Shulton
• No. M30 - Pierre Cardin by Pierre Cardin
• No. M31 - Pub by Revlon
• No. M32 - Royal Bay Rhum
• No. M33 - Royal Copenhagen by Royal Copenhagen
• No. M34 - Royal Hawaiian
• No. M35 - Russian Leather
• No. M36 - Tabac Original
• No. M37 - That Man by Revlon
• No. M38 - Woodhue for Men by Faberge
• No. M39 - Yardley Black Label
• No. M40 - Yardley Original
• No. M41 - Zizanie by Fragonard