The new US website for the Serge Lutens brand allows online ordering of the entire line: no more worries about exclusive vs. export, although it's still cheaper to buy in Paris. (via press release)
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Oh, this is so dangerous! Access to the non-exports, too? Thank goodness they don’t have a really beautiful sample set available–I’d have difficulty resisting! (And there’s paint to buy! :] )
I put my email in for the newsletter (Serge Letter). Maybe now I can get samples of new releases when they come out? Always feels like a tease when I get those offers and can’t have them sent to the US!
Yes, but they’re really MUCH more expensive. I can’t imagine paying those prices. But, I would guess many people will!
And yes, will be interesting to see if signing up gets you on the sample distribution list! If you stick a bell jar in your cart, they do give you a limited selection of free samples.
So, for only $290, I get a bell jar and a few samples? How generous! 😉
Since I’ve never been to Paris (not really–there was a 12-hour layover on my way to Madagascar), I have no comparison for the prices. I do have access to the exports through the Perfume House, so I’d be less likely to order one of those. And let’s see . . . yes, the price is the same at Our Lady (without s&h).
A bell jar that will cost you $300 (some are $290) if you buy via the US website costs 130 euros in Paris, which is $169 (at today’s rate), so there is a huge markup, but, as Robin says, many people won’t be deterred by that at all.
If there was a more reasonable markup, I’d be tempted, but that’s too much of a difference. And seems like only a few years ago that the exports were $80 USD…
I have actually avoided trying most of the non-export SLs for fear that I would want a bottle and not be able to get one. I am afraid a trip to Paris is not likely for me in the foreseeable future, and I don’t have any friends who go there whom I could ask to buy it for me. At least now, I can sample knowing that if I really love something, at least a FB acquisition is not impossible. (And $290 is still way cheaper than a plane ticket.)
In all truth, I’ve had friends & family members who’ve gone to Paris & I only asked for tea. Even the $160 is an awful lot for me to spend, and I don’t need 75 ml of anything. I’m waiting for Iris Silver Mist in the travel atomizer refill size 🙂
Same here, as you know, R. I can’t justify forking out £106 for a bottle of perfume – *any* perfume.
I find that when I spend a lot on a perfume I actually enjoy it less. Its harder for me to open and almost every time I smell it I wonder about whether the cost was worth it. And I’m not talking Amouage here, I’m talking about Comme de Gsrcons and L’Artisans which are at a much lower price point. Some of the things I pick up from discounters at R250 or $32 (D.K.Gold, Halston Cologne) or even for R450, $56 (Encre Noir) are just easier to use and work out more enjoyable…
Although, just having said that I am thinking of asking someone to bring me Dzongkha from London as I’v finished my sample and am craving it!
I recently had a girlfriend purchase Encens et Lavande and Mandarin Mandarine for me when she visited Paris, (lucky me), it cost me $161 AUD and $155 AUD respectively. It was very exciting. Though of course we Aussies cannot take advantage of this new US site. I have just emailed the Serge Lutens website to see what they can offer Australians, so if anyone is interested I will post their response. Until now they would not send their full line unlike Montale or Guerlain, what a missed opportunity! This whole exclusivity thing must impact on their sales surely. I also had a friend who was visiting New York, buy some Chinatown body cream for me, as normally the cost is $150 postage to Australia. I am doing well this year, but I don’t have that many friends visiting NY or Paris on a regular basis 🙁
The Salons du Palais Royal opened in 1992 and the first Exports started being distributed in Europe in 2000, so for eight years they were exclusively sold in Paris. It was their extreme exclusivity that made them desirable. Being discussed on Internet forums, etc. made them better known outside and the company has had to made them more widely available. Exclusivity is very often a selling point, not a hindrance to business.
Its too bad that they did not think of preparing a set of minis to offer through the site, or even and exclusive set of minis for their Palais Royal line.
If someone has the cash, and a fervent desire for an exclusive, today there is one more option to get a slight discount. Barneys, whose New York store has the exclusive line, is running a gift card with purchase program that ends today. So if you call and buy a Palais Royal, you should be able to get a $25.00 discount. If there is something else you might want to buy at the store. (A lipstick,nail polish, save up for some more reasonably priced niche lines, you will be getting the Palais Royal for $25.00 less, (sort of).
OH I love the american website. So much clearer than the french one. New olfactive families for the fragrances, it’s much more commercial than the french version. Of course, the prices suck.
I LOVE BEING IN PARIS :)))
But where’s Rahat Loukoum? Or did I somehow look right at it on the site and miss it? I ask because it’s the only exclusive I have, purchased in Paris on a trip w/ a friend.
It is there, I checked the price.
Robin, I hear you on the prices of the past. I’m pretty sure I remember L’Artisans being 90 dollars for 3.4 ounces back in the day. Back then, the fanciest shoes were 350 dollars. Now everything is cray cray!