A repeat of a simple poll we did back in 2010: tell us about your best perfume bargain or incredible find.
Note: image is 2148 Blue skies and fuschias [cropped] by crabchick at flickr; some rights reserved.
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I picked up Sideris, Exultat, and Manguier Metisse at 60% off this summer when Bendel’s was clearing out anything that wasn’t house branded ( it’s kind of sad to go there now since the beauty floor is cleared out). I also got a 50ml bottle of Centennial at less than 50% off in Soivohle’s current sale. I also got a 75ml bottle of Kalimantan for under $60 on cyber Mon — the site glitched and put the price for the travel size instead of the full size plus 25% off that. I really lucked out on that one (grin)
This is a good time of year for a deal!
Makes me sad to think of Bendel’s lovely fragrance selection gone
It makes me sad also. Two years in a row, I picked out my Christmas present there. Both fragrances I love.
What’s on the beauty floor now?
They are pretty much selling nothing but accessories and candles
I’ve had a few good finds. I think the best were my vintage Guerlains. I found a half-full 30ml Shalimar (estimated to be from the 1960s or a bit earlier) for $30 in an antique shop in Galveston. And I found a still-sealed 1/4oz bottle of L’Heure Bleue parfum (forgot to ask the age but it’s obviously old) for $50 at a different antique shop.
Jealous about the L’Heure Bleue–one of those classic scents I don’t entirely adore, but I *want* to! I also got my oldest Shalimar at a steal–half an old fan stopper bottle for $20 at an estate sale. Keeps a girl going back to digging through other people’s junk, doesn’t it?!
Wow, supremely jealous of your L’Heure Bleue. I’ve seen empty bottles but never one with any juice left.
That was the first and so far only time I’ve come across L’Heure Bleue in an antique shop, so of course I couldn’t pass it up. I did some googling to see if I could date the bottle. It’s in an “umbrella” bottle, which apparently dates it anywhere between 1952 and 1978. I don’t have a great deal to go on beyond that – just the number 4 stamped on the bottom of the bottle, no numbers on the box.
My (export) bottle of Tubéreuse Criminelle remains my best deal – after using various discounts and vouchers, a grand total of 3 whole pounds left my bank account
Most recently, I got a 50 ml bottle of No 5 EDT for £32 (down from £54), plus there was that £14 bottle of Tam Dao in the Space NK sale.
On the subject of discounts – I need help! Artisan are offering that 30% off deal right now and I’m doing a basket dance with a bottle of Séville à l’Aube. I’m really trying to be good, but I’d love a small bottle of it since I’ve almost drained my sample *sigh*
Wow–that TC really WAS a bargain! Holy smokes!
I fear I’m not much use to you on the L’Artisan sale! I immediately went through my to-buy list and double-checked that I didn’t have anything there from L’Artisan. Already have my back-up bottle of Traversee du Bosphore. . .
It is very important that you be good…….to yourself.
Oh, I so AGREE!
How often does Artisan have a sale? If it’s, say, quarterly perhaps you can wait a couple of months…
Not sure if you purchased it already, but I have about a 4-5mL decant, and I’m not super in love with it. You are welcome to it, if that helps make up your mind. If innarested, email me at kgoodw2 at hotmayl dot com.
Thank you, that’s incredibly sweet. I gave in and ordered it last night, but I’m sure someone else will snap it up in no time!
Hahaha the basket dance! Have two of ’em going on right now…sadly neither are 30% off… although one is free shipping + a free sample set, and the other has a GWP… but I’m not certain I -need- either…
Ack, I gave in. The extra 10% off for subscribing to their newsletter took care of the shipping charge and was the final push. I’ve been looking for a perfect summery floral for a few years now and I think Séville might be it – it’s so feminine and pretty.
Lol, I am simultaneously happy and sad you mentioned the L’Artisan sale because it encouraged me to break down and buy a bottle of Dzing!
Gee, I wish *I* had some worthy recent bargain to brag about!
Great finds are also brag worthy
I don’t have any recent ones either!
Ha, allow me to translate (or maybe I am spilling the beans!)–MR snagged her 4oz Art Deco Guet Apens/Attrape Coeur bottle at a fraction of the going rate on eBay. Haha I am STILL so excited about that and it’s not even my bottle!
Yes, I meant that a little tongue-in-cheek! I feel like it was a total deal!
Dear Marjorie, You with the Guet-Apens? I could never imagine anything that is MORE brag-worthy that that!:)
Whoops, that was meant to go for Marjorie Rose’s comment up there:) Sorry.
tee-hee. Read that with my sarcasm voice.
How is it going with your new beauty?! Please give us all the details–you decanted some into a spray? What method did you use? (I’ve been carrying a funnel around in my purse for a month now because I used it to decant some Champaca and it still smells heavenly! Ha.) What did you decide about storage, a seal, etc.?
It has been a crazy week, so I haven’t had a chance to play too much, yet. It is sitting in my dark perfume cupboard, with the stopper firmly in place. No decants made, yet, but I have dabbed a little–you know, for scientific testing!
Funny about the funnel! I love the way scents can be retained!
Well, if it’s for science!
Found a 1 oz bottle of Ca Sent Beau from the ’90s. Not only was it unopened in box, but the cellophane was still mostly intact on the outside. Front of box faded slightly, so I know it stood in a display case for years. Perfume is unaltered and simply wonderful…so exciting.
Nice! That one definitely still has an avid group of fans.
My best deal was getting Mohur for free! Thanks to the airline losing my luggage, I got reimbursed for necessities. If perfume in Paris isn’t a necessity, I don’t know what is…
Silver lining! I like the way you think!
Hahaha this is brilliant and would massively ease my travel frustrations, if every time an airline screwed up, they apologized with a bottle of perfume!
Looking forward to the Kenzo Flower Oriental, selling on auction sites for Plenty of Money, and me for about 1/3 of Plenty.
The TJMaxx Homegoods by me has a mini set of Kenzo bottles for $39.99. I am tempted because it includes Jungle, which I really wanted to smell but couldn’t justify $40 for unsniffed bottles when my Christmas shopping isn’t done yet!!
That sounds like a good deal! I love finding things like that.
Sounds like I need to stop by the local TJMaxx Homegoods!
Probably my 30ml hounds tooth bottle of Diorissimo EdT that looked untouched. Only $5. I rehomed it though since it didn’t make me swoon.
That or my 5ml of My Sin parfum for $1.50 at a different antique mall. Love the old Lanvins so much
I have several bargains, they used to make this antique fair near my house once a month and I scored a lot of bargains there. Guerlain Shalimar extrait, looks very old but smells heavenly for 10 $, Chanel No.5 Eau de Cologne big bottle for 5$, Hermes Caleche vintage for 5$, Nina Ricci l’Air de temps lalique bottle very old but the smell is out of this world. I am sad that they stopped doing these fairs since they weren’t popular . I think I was the only one interested in the perfumes.
I love Caleche but I probably never would have tried it until I found a vintage 200ml edt splash bottle for $12. Yum!
That’s a great find. I can not bring myself to use up these vintage beauties though, thinking that once they are finished they will be difficult to replace.
I don’t know if this counts because it happened during the summer. We were on a beach vacation in Florida, when we stopped in a small perfume boutique. One of the brands they carried was Juliette Has A Gun. They sold me the tester of Juliette Has A Gun Midnight Oud for $5. The bottle felt almost full (bottle was not clear, so I can’t tell for sure). I gave it to my friend who loves oud scents, but didn’t have any. She was so happy!
I don’t know if this counts, but I recently bought 2x 100ml bottles of Eau des Missions lovely vanilla cologne for 10€ each. It’s warm and comforting and great for layering too. I also just ordered a 50 ml bottle of Chasse aux Papillons Extrème for 40€. Not a steal, but a good price for a back-up bottle.
Hope you all have a great weekend. It’s raining in sunny Andalusia!
Solid deals!
I froze my *** off one December at the Alhambra – so beautiful, but clearly designed to be cool in summer rather than warm in winter.
That’s still the case here. Marble floors, poor heating. I’ve never a known a colder place in winter than my mother-in law’s old town house with it’s high ceilings and continuous draughts,
Sounds beautiful, though!
I’ve now forgotten the exact price, but I got an ounce of vintage Diorissimo in perfect condition for…def less than $20, maybe it was even like, $8? The consignment store that had it is truly bananas, on more than one occasion I’ve walked in to find the staff screaming (literally, screaming) at each other, but after finding a gem like the Diorissimo, I can’t stay away!
Other people’s bad behavior (when it has no effect on me) is eternally fascinating.
Wow. I haven’t seen that, although I’ve stood waiting to buy something a few times and never had service arrive to sell it to me!
That happens to me all the time – it’s as if I’ve become invisible. If I could just control that “power” …
Yes–could come in handy! I’ve been wanting to maybe finally try a Lush store, for example, but since I’ve heard so many stories about the pushy sales people, I haven’t been brave enough to go in, yet!
I fear I am not the MOST polite person in those situations. . . I have a local Pier One where they want to chat with you the whole time you shop. One day I was shopping for bunco gifts–so just browsing for anything cute–and I had my iPod on, earbuds in. Clearly, I was in my own zone. But a girl kept talking to me after I nodded at her and then turned back to my shopping. I took one earbud out and said as nicely as I could, “I don’t want to have a conversation with you.” She walked away, which is what I wanted, but I could tell I had crossed some sort of line!
Invisible would have been easier.
A Lush just opened recently in my local mall. I’ve been in twice now and not experienced any pushiness. (No perfume for sale either–there were testers for a few solids the first time, and nothing the second.)
This year’s find was a full 1-oz bottle of vintage Jolie Madame extrait for $43 at a local consignment shop. I had to stop myself from dancing off with my purchase. Lovely stuff.
What a wonderful find – congratulations!
I only just discovered Jolie Madame this month, in the edt concentration, and it’s lovely. I’ll bet the extrait is absolutely gorgeous! I’m also thinking (after reading through this thread) that I need to start visiting consignment shops – it never occurred to me that they might have perfumes. Hmm.
Well, I’m not sure if this counts as a deal or not, but my older lady friend Cili has decided to move into a home for elderly people (no worries, save some rheumatics she’s totally okay, just wants to be in company as shes widowed a long time, and her daughter and grandkids have moved to Italy last summer, and believe me, as I know her she’ll be dating lovely elderly gents in no time!) so she did not want to carry all her stuff and is selling the flat, so as she knows I am into perfumes long ago, I could have a few of her gems. Yesterday’s vintage Diorella (hounstooth pattern) is among them, and a few old Avon bottles (I never knew they made cars and snowmen:)), but the rest are mostly soaps and powders, though one of them is Youth Dew bath oil that I believe is pretty old. It smells a lot more sweet and resin-y than the YD I know now.
So I consider these a score, as I had no money to buy perfumes for a long time, and that 15 mls of Diorella is the star of the whole lot.
Congrats on all these great bargains and finds!
Your friend must be a charmer! Congratulations on the Diorella – such a wonderful perfume.
My best find is a mostly full bottle of vintage Mitsouko in edt form in the teardrop bottle for $50 and a half an ounce bottle of Chanel no 22. Both were only used once but I was over the moon with the bottle of Mitsouko and this bottle having real oakmoss. Brand new, it would have to be a 3.4 ounce bottle of Amouage Epic for $200.
Great finds – mmm, mmm oakmoss!
I started into the perfume game as an extension of my thrifting one. I have found half full Shiseido FdB EDP for 8$, 1/3rd a bottle of Amouage Dia for 3$ (given to a pal), and a mostly full vintage Diorissimo for 6$ (which I have decanted for swaps, and also grown to appreciate).
Most recently I spent 30$, which is not exactly *cheap* on a vat of original Fendi EDT, still in the box, which I will likely swap or sell, because it is sadly Not Me.
Oh, that is a great deal for the Fendi. I already have a partial bottle but I bet you will find a taker soon!
Wow, I should really apply myself to figuring out if there are any good thrift shops in my area and pay more attention to the estate sales. The Goodwill store near me has nothing. Congratulations on your amazing finds!
A dear friend of mine recently moved to a different continent and the cost of shipping forced her to downsize her perfume collection considerably. She ended up giving me a bunch of stuff for free which is pretty much the best bargain you can get, right? This windfall included bottles, samples, and minis and best of all I think of her whenever I wear any of them!
I often wish I had the now vintage perfumes I gave away or tossed before various moves. Now I’m realizing what a consolation it would have been if I could have given them to a dear perfumista friend who would have really appreciated them!
Happy weekend! Love reading all your posts. I got a sealed bottle of vintage Piguet Futur parfum in a perfect box in tissue paper and all for…$4.00. Funny thing is next to it was a Kim K half empty $10.00 lol!
That’s hilarious – it pays to be an informed perfume shopper!
You mean the Kim K was not a deal LMAO!
I’m not a bottle collector, but I do own a Guerlain Baccarat Coque d’Or bottle, the fabulous Art Deco gilded cobalt crystal bow-tie. It’s even more beautiful in person than in the photos.
Mine was a bargain because the lower edge of the stopper is chipped off. Happily, this isn’t visible at all when the stopper is in place.
That sounds beautiful
Fantastic topic! I love reading about everyone’s “scores”!
I found a vintage bottle of Shalimar perfume in it’s purple presentation box at an antique mall in Maine for 8 bucks. It had never been opened but 90% of the perfume had evaporated. On another trip to Maine, I found a huge quadrilobe Jicky bottle in it’s green presentation box. That one cost $35 but I was able to sell it on eBay for $100 and add to me PayPal coffer for buying perfume.
I just got my 100ml bottle of Lyric Woman for $153 during Cyber week.
It’s such a wonderful thing to get a full bottle of Amouage for that price.
Full price Amouage is just way too much money to spend on a perfume no matter how good it is. I feel lucky to own a bottle.
My second favorite deals are the discounted Amouages I’ve found over the last few months as they rotate stock (or whatever it is they are doing). Your Lyric is a beautiful deal, as are the Maine finds. Congratulations!
Thanks! I almost went psychotic with all the great perfume deals during cyber week. I ended up getting one really good thing (Lyric for me) and some Sabon items for my step daughter.
there’s a local perfume store which sells all their used testers for peanuts. picked up a half full 200ml bottle of Prada’s L’infusion d’Iris, 3/4 full bottle of the Absolue version, 7/8 full bottle of VC&A’s Orchidee Vanille, 1/4 full bottle of Guerlain’s Gourmand Choquin, 1/8 of L’Heure Bleu EDT, 7/8 of Shalimar Eau Premiere L’eau, Kenzo Amour (dunno how much is inside…), 1/6 of Hermes Equipage, 1/5 of Estee Lauder Sensuous Noir. all for way less than 100 Euros.
and that was just last time! they usually do that twice a year and i ALWAYS find something. how can you resist, with prices of 5-10 Euros for used testers (depending on how much is left)
best deal there so far? 30ml of Shalimar Extrait, in the spray tester bottle, for 30 Euros, new in box, unsprayed (the nozzle smelled of nothing). my heart was racing when i bought it!
So fun reading all the great treasures y’all have found .
I got a bottle of Truth or Dare Naked for $12 this year . I went through it really fast as it’s so delish and snugly . I’m always in the discount chemist and usual discount outlets looking just in case I find something that is really hard to find or a discontinued perfume . You never know your luck .
These great deals are somehow romantic, it’s like reading love stories! I recently fell for Rochas Femme, and was very happy to get a 100 ml bottle for 35 bucks at fragrancenet. This one feels so good on me, I might actually use it up!
I don’t know that I’ve gotten any real bargains this year, but I have scored some good finds:
Vintage Replique, Abano, and Mary Chess Strategy bath oils.
Lush Violet Nights bath oil (from the Lush UK Kitchen).
Vintage D’Orsay perfume minis in Intoxication, Divine, Le Dandy, and Fantastique, still in their boxes and some with the outer cellophane overwrap still intact.
Vintage Zibeline PdT
A coffret of Mary Chess minis
More perfume nips than I can count
All of the above courtesy of eBay. The Lush bath oil was new, but all of the others are vintage, and all turned out to be in an excellent state of preservation. I have been surprised at how well those vintage bath oils have held up, especially considering that they were likely kept in the warmest, most humid room of the house.
Most recently, just about a week ago, I nabbed a 30ml bottle of Amouage Dia at fragrancenet for $39 shipped. They had a few of these for maybe a day. There may be some of those bottles there now, but at higher prices.
Otherwise, I think my best find was from an antique mall: a half-full quarter-ounce bottle of vintage Balmain Vent Vert extrait. I think it was maybe $20.
Fun to hear from all the bargain-finders!
Wow, great scores!
I haven’t scored any really good buys lately. The last I can remember was the bottle of Estée Lauder Tuberose Gardenia for about $20. I haven’t been on eBay in forever. I never seem to do well at antique shops or yard sales either.
I love hearing everyone else’s lucky finds. It gives me hope that one day I’ll stumble on a fabulous find when I least expect it.
My best deal was at an estate sale when I stumbled upon a barely used bottles of Samsara for $7.00 and Cristalle which had been on my “to buy” list for $35! My eyes are always open for yard and estate sales, and depending on my company in the car, sometimes it’s easier than others to stop. My teen daughter never wants to stop, my husband on occasion, and my 12 year old son is always up for a swing through any yard or estate sale!
mostly full bottle of CHER for….$3!!!!
A friend would have arm wrestled you for that one!
Off topic, but big news for anyone who finds themselves doing a pilgrimage to Our Lady in the future {drum roll, please} . . . Starting next month, they are going to be carrying Frederic Malle! Sister Tracy says that they spoke with Malle himself, and they discussed the change in ownership, etc. She says that FM actually has plans of reducing distribution, as he hasn’t been pleased with how it’s been handled in some locales. He also said that if they aren’t able to make the original scents in a way that is to the level that they once did, he would choose to end production of those scents rather than reformulate and destroy the original art.
In any case, I told her to keep an eye out for the coffrets, and she said she’d ask about them. I reassured her she’d have at least one sure sale, if they carried them!
I moved to PDX in September and I’d be interested in the coffrets too. TPH has been at the top of my “must visit once the house renovation is done” list since I got here.
Ooh! Welcome! Let me know if you want company.
Mind if I join in? I’ve been in Portland since May and have only made it over to Our Lady once so far! Marjorie Rose, I’m reachable at: standing dot armsakimbo at gee mail dot com. Maybe we could even snag Angela to come along.
The more the merrier!
Soivohle Centennial 50% off, so happy about that one.
All of these deals are so exciting! I found a full bottle of vintage Youth Dew bath oil a few weeks ago at an antique mall for $6. A full bottle of Chanel No. 5 Cologne in a lot of perfume that I picked up for $40 off of Craigslist. There were lots of other fun things in the lot, too. Vintage Ysatis, Anais Anais, lots of Coty Musk and Muguet des Bois. Otherwise, I don’t usually have luck finding perfume at discounts. I did indulge in the L’Artisan sale for a bottle of Dzing!, which is terrible because I need to Christmas shop for other people! I haven’t bought a FB of perfume since I graduated in May, and this month I have purchased two. And not cheap ones, either!
So if a bargain is measured by the number one gets when one subtracts the discount price from the ordinary retail price, then Mille et une Roses was probably my best this year. Ascot a shop in South Africa is carrying it for about $70. But if one is to measure by how much one has actually used the perfume, the Madame Jolie for $30 probably wins
We could also have a poll regarding perfumes we bought because they were such great bargains but which we OUGHT not to have bought because we don’t love them. That being said – I bought Encre Noire a few years ago because although I found the bitterness off-putting I also found it compelling: every time I tried it I couldn’t stop sniffing my arm. Then I hardly ever actually wore it. Still, it turns out to have been a great buy because I just can’t get ENOUGH vetiver these days!
I think this is my very favorite weekend poll topic. I love reading about everyone’s stories and fantastic finds!
I’ve had a few good finds in the past, but nothing too recent. I’m thinking of the 25 mL of Angel in cute bottle for $1 at estate sale, or the 30 ML of 24 Fauborg for $30 at a rummage sale. However, the absolute best finds are the things fellow fumies are willing to trade and give away for free. Y’all are truly generous and I am continually grateful and astounded by all the goodwill shown in this community.
I paid full price for Eau Aimable/Botanical Cologne of Love by Le Couvent des Minimes ($38 for 100 ml) and it’s still a bargain. Notes: orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin, wild rose, nasturtium, and petitgrain. It’s sweet, slightly green, not indolic, not soapy, natural-smelling, and long-lasting for a cologne. It could be my HG orange blossom. I smell heavenly (insert dreamy sigh here).
I look forward to trying their vanilla cologne (Eau Des Missions).
When my finances recover from Christmas, the first thing I will do is go over the hill to Ulta to look for those colognes. Thanks for the mini-review–I love OB too, and am still looking for my HG.
I hope that you like it. Do let us know!
I got a tester of Jour d’Hermes from an online discounter for $36, shipped. (It was a typo, I think, but they sent it.) Love it, have worn it more days than any other single perfume since I fell down the rabbit hole and went sample-crazy. The next thing I ordered from that discounter was a bottle of Hanae Mori edp for my mother, for about $26, and that one turned out to be an obvious counterfeit. (The cap was too large for the bottle, and the juice was a pale wash of nothing that did not resemble HM at all.) So the Jd’H might be considered a $62 bottle, which is still a pretty good price.
It occurs to me that this post might violate one of the site rules, although I didn’t name the discounter. Sorry, delete if necessary.
Nope, and you’re free to name the discounter, although we don’t like people in general to use the comments as a means of disputing with or disparaging stores since we have to way to “judge” etc etc…but in this context it’s fine.
In that case, ScentMonkey.
Missed this on the weekend, but I’m still giddy from my purchase of Amouage Homage attar, full bottle for only about 80 quid or something like that.
Wow. Congratulations!