Shop for Perfume at Bluefly or at Discounters? That is The Question {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}

WWD announced this morning that Bluefly.com is now opened for perfume business offering up to 40% discount on luxury, prestige fragrance brands. “Our fashion-conscious customers view fragrances as an extension of fashion and personal style,” said Melissa Payner, president and chief executive officer of Bluefly.com. So we decided to go visit and take a look around.

A first impression is that the selection is very hum drum by perfumista's standards and particularly devoid of personality. Clearly the site is not trying to attract thanks to an unique selection or mix of fragrance labels. Second, suprisingly, prices that could be much lower are still healthy by perfume-discount-boutique standards...

Most fragrances there are not 40% off as advertised (is that surprising, we are pretending, that yes, it is) and it bears pointing out that fragrance discounters offer even deeper discounts, which are also more systematically deep, sometimes 60% off and more.

This is where the perfume shopper will have to think twice. The answer seems to be that if you are just a fragrance shopper you can turn to other e-commerce sites which offer better selections and prices. If you are a fashion-cum-fragrance shopper, it might then make relative sense to add a perfume-cum-fashion accessory into your Bluefly shopping basket, but you still might want to know that there are better shopping deals for perfume elsewhere on the internet.

Aquolina Pink Sugar for $47,50? You can get a 3.4 oz tester for $22 at Scentedmonkey.com, a reputable discounter, or pay $29 if you prefer to get the botte with its cap still on. You could also get the 1.7 oz size for $24.

Armani Code for Women can be had for bargain prices on eBay.com. Just use the function "Price + Shipping: Lowest First" option to hunt for the best deal. Personally, I have never had problems with perfume authenticity on eBay. Just avoid the most mainstream Chanel perfumes in general, which are the famous darlings of counterfeiters.

Other perfume discount sites which offer particularly good prices are Parfum1.com, which have also select niche, high-market fragrances at significantly reduced price tags; Scentiments.com is also noteworthy for their substantive discounts on both mainstream and harder-to-find scents, like old favorites that are not as widely distributed as they used to be; Beautyencounter.com have good prices and a good general selection plus one of hard-to-find fragrances, although their shipping delays, in my experience, can be a bit slow.