Perfume Review: Perfume Subscriptions

Perfume has been offering discount perfumes over the internet since 1995. Their inventory consists of more than 13,000 brands - not just the classics like Chanel and Donna Karan, but also throwbacks like Liz Claiborne (remember the triangle bottle designs from the 80s?) and niche labels like Desigual and Amouage. To make it even easier to find a fragrance that you love without having to commit to a whole bottle of it, Perfume provides a subscription option too.

You can't see everything until you sign up

We're still a little annoyed by how Perfume sets up their subscriptions. First off, you have to choose a plan for women or for men - there's no mixy-matchy goodness here, unfortunately. But even more irritating is the fact that you can't even see which specific "exclusive fragrances" might be included in the 500+ brands unless you move forward with creating an account on the Perfume site. Sure, we're fans of Prada, Versace, Dior, and Guerlain just like the next person, but it's a disadvantage not to show off what's on offer (and to make people give up their info first).

Best-sellers aren't that impressive

Even when you choose "Get Started Now", you only get to queue up your Perfume subscription with a curated selection of their best-sellers. We're not sure about you, but Elizabeth Arden Red Door and Calvin Klein Eternity aren't really avante-garde or exciting in our book. It leaves us wondering if the entire "portfolio" of perfumes here skews older (we spotted White Diamonds and even the drugstore favorite Exclamation by Coty). Then again, because so many people shop here for full-size bottles of fragrance, you'll have hundreds of customer reviews to help you sift out the winners from the stinkers (literally).

Under $15/month

You may also be drawn in by the pricing at Perfume. Your first delivery automatically comes at a 50% discount ($7.47), and then the following months are priced at $14.95. Just keep in mind that you only get 0.27 fl.oz in the vial, while some rivals give you 0.30 fl.oz (we think that's about 120 vs. 150 sprays). Shipping is included in the price, and from what we can tell, you get a new atomizer/case - in one of seven different colors - each time your perfume arrives. Given that some competitors only give you one free case at the start of their subscriptions, Perfume pulls a bit ahead by not making you swap out your glass vials every time you get a new scent.

Company has a good track record overall

Reputation-wise, Perfume makes a solid showing with an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau. There were just 33 complaints filed with the BBB over the last 3 years, and that "A" grade means that Perfume gets the BBB's approval for responding to those issues promptly and appropriately. And, on Trustpilot alone, this scent shop has gotten a commendable 4-star average across nearly 20,000 reviews, with 83% of ratings coming in at a perfect 5 stars. It's a good sign that Perfume reps respond to complaints on the Trustpilot platform as well.

Perfume subscription can be hit-or-miss

On the other hand, when we dug deeper to find reviews specific to the subscription option at Perfume (since the vast majority of customers leave comments about buying full-size bottles), we weren't consistently impressed. One reviewer said she absolutely loved the fragrance that came with her first delivery and couldn't wait for the next one, but several others said that they felt like they were getting cheap, watered-down versions of scents they know very well. As one customer said, why would you pay $15/month for a knock-off when you can pay $10 for it at a drugstore? We don't think Perfume is actually diluting their fragrances, but there seems to be something about their decanting process that can leave an "odd, overpowering alcohol smell" that doesn't exactly scream "luxury perfume".

Just okay as a perfume subscription

Perfume comes in with a "just average" rating in our review. We appreciate the lower-than-rivals pricing and the new case included with every delivery, and there are certainly some scents we know and love in the inventory. We're just not confident that their subscription really competes well with services landing higher on our list: some of the "best sellers" offered in the initial lineup are, indeed, cheapie drugstore scents that remind us a little bit too much of our mother's teen years (or our grandmothers). You could safely keep Perfume as an affordable backup option, but we wouldn't sign up here until we'd checked out some of the classier and/or edgier subscriptions that are out there first.

On the Perfume website