L'Artisan 5 Piece Discovery Perfume Collection Try Me Price

Thanks Donna, I find perfume really interesting and your post gave me more interesting reading. You have explained the civet confusion I had- when I was reading up on it they said "cat" and there was a photo, and I remember thinking "what an odd looking cat"!

I hate sniffing round department stores though, although I enjoy finding a scent I like I get p'd off with an assistant coming up to me what seems like every few minutes If I need help with anything. If they just left me alone with the tester bottles I am sure I would have acquired loads of bottles of scent by now rather than just 5! I find this forum helpful and really enjoy reading the perfume threads.

I wonder whether Tova has ever said if she used real absolute Jasmine in her perfume? Or does she use the synthetic version like everyone else and use the line as a sales pitch? I suspect the latter.

I love watching some of the vids on you tube about different scents. I watched on on Tova handsome, this American dude in a baseball cap talking about it. I liked his vid so much I bought a bottle as a joke for my husband. He does not like the name " hansdome" but he loves the smell! It's that smoking jacket, rugged man's man kind of smell and he was amazed that he liked it so much. So was I after I returned the womens ones I had for a refund as they did not smell right on me.

Akimbo said:

The car boot sale we sometimes sell at (lots of old QVC mistakes) has an old dear who is actually a hard-nosed dealer who comes round at 06:30 asking if anyone has perfume for sale. The stall next to me one time had a few bottles and thought she was buying for her own use until she haggled like Ali Baba. She was unimpressed when I offered her an impulse gift set my DD got for Christmas but never used.

Jude xx

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I tell a lie, it was £2 not 50p but still a fab bargain.

I know those "hard-nosed" dealers well as I see them every week at ours too. Despite them, I have managed to get some amazing stuff, partic beauty stuff for an absolute song. I picked up a few brand new Liz Earle bits last Sunday for 10p each including full size Instant Boost Skin Tonic and Foot Scrub. Week before was an Elemis one with full size Rosepetal Cleanser & Ginseng Toner for £1.50 each. I hardly buy brand new beauty products from QVC or elsewhere these days as I have been lucky to stock up at car boot sales. Last skincare I bought was Decleor from QVC as I like the Iris oil.

I do haggle though. It's car boot etiquette.

Sometimes I think we become brain washed that more expensive means it smells better or that vintage is THE bees knees. I`d never be afraid to tell someone the perfume I was wearing was from Avon, Lidl, Body shop etc. I`ve had really expensive perfumes which have smelled like cats p** on me and cheaper versions which people have commented on. I must be the only person who once used a very expensive bottle of Joy as air freshener !
I once received a free bottle from Yves Rocher ( Moment de Bonheur ) when I ordered some skin products and lost count of the number of people who ask me what I`m wearing and when I looked on the website it costs around 5 quid a bottle to buy, I still wear it for daily use and save my more expensive coveted stuff for outings, evenings or special events. There`s a small perfumers called The Cotswold Perfumery and they do courses where you can go along, learn about perfume, experiment by making your own scent and then go onto phase 2 course to develop more complicated smells. You could look on their website and see their perfumes start from £11 bottle a bottle and think oh yeah, cheap nasty stuff etc and yet delve deeper and you`ll see the owner has made perfume for the Queen and Queen Mother and can see details about his ingredients and the family history of this small business etc and he`s simply happy doing what he loves to do in a small way but that doesn`t make him any the less skilled or his products poorer quality, in fact they`re much better quality I`d say. I adore their Cymbelline perfume. All the large perfume houses are in it to make as much profit as they can and spend millions on marketing to make us believe we`re buying the dream. i once read that it costs just 60p to make a bottle of Chanel no 5 , the rest is packaging, marketing and profit. It`s made in bulk, they buy the ingredients in bulk and have the latest technology to help them create it as cheaply as possible, I daresay all the big houses do the same and farm out the manufacturing to whoever will do it the cheapest.

Weathergirl, jasmine is one of the most expensive ingredients as is rose. So it had to be synthetic. Jasmine and I don't get along at all, Chanel No5 smells like a plastic bag on me because of the jasmine.

I love a bargain. I have a few Avon older perfumes bought for £2.50!!!!! Occur and Fantasique.

I recently ordered something from Space NK (first time). They sent me a sample of a perfume from Aqua di Parma, Minto de Panerea. I had never heard of it, but I am not usually into perfumes. OMG I absolutely love it. It looks like I will have to order from Space NK as I would not know where to get it, but I baulk at their delivery charge.. Nearly £9.00 to ROI. Cheeky buggers. But I REALLY want the full size.

Itchy
Fragrance X sell it and its free postage to anywhere in the world if you spend more than $46, just put FREE 69 in the coupon box as you check out. It`s £53.29 for the 75ml or £59.27 for the 118ml. I`ve had perfumes from them with no problems at all but they do take a while to arrive because they`re coming from America

Oooh, thanks Vienna. SpaceNK want £50.00 for the 50ml size and £90 for the 75ml size. Robbing sods!. I will check out fragrance X. I have a real bee in my bonnet about this now, which is strange as I only have about 2 perfumes and just usually spray whatever is to hand. Cheers.

House of Fraser do Aqua Di Parma. I don't about delivery to ROI but anything over £50. You can also buy online and collect instore.

Tinkerbelle said:

House of Fraser do Aqua Di Parma. I don't about delivery to ROI but anything over £50. You can also buy online and collect instore.

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Thanks, I will have a look online. We don't have House of Fraser here (or anything else for that matter). Oh, I do miss the shops in the UK.

Itchy - John Lewis now deliver to RoI and they sell this.

Many thanks to Tinkerbelle and Vienna for your help. I have ordered it from House of Fraser. We have one in Dublin apparently, but thats 3 hours drive from here. It is slightly cheaper than fragrence X and free shipping, even to ROI on orders over £50.00. Also, being in the UK, it will get here quicker than from the US. Excited now! A lot of department stores in the UK do not deliver over here, so I am lucky. Ta again!

Okay, be careful of ordering from outside the EU. You might get hit with a big customs charge.

Aqua Di Parma are a very old company and recently relaunched a lot of their range.

A friend when to Florence I got her to bring me some aqua di cologne from Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, they have been around since 1600s. The monks used to make herbal remedies etc. I got Sapone Latte Soap in Iris, Crema Calendula and Garofona(carnation) edc. All totally gorgeous

Disenchanted said:

Itchy - John Lewis now deliver to RoI and they sell this.

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Ooh, thanks to you too! I just looked. Their prices are exactly the same as House of Fraser. Really handy to know these things. I am a complete dunce when it comes to sourcing things online. Thats why I love this forum.

Perhaps should have started a new thread for this but thought better of it as it's not strictly a QVC topic. Anyway, I've just spotted an amazing bargain - 50ml bottle of Guerlain's Shalimar - edt - is available online from T.J. Hughes at £30.

Hope this is of use to someone because, sadly, it smells like cream soda on me!!

Vienna said:

Itchy
Fragrance X sell it and its free postage to anywhere in the world if you spend more than $46, just put FREE 69 in the coupon box as you check out. It`s £53.29 for the 75ml or £59.27 for the 118ml. I`ve had perfumes from them with no problems at all but they do take a while to arrive because they`re coming from America

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Did you pay any customs charges Vienna? It's now anything over £15 of declared value is taxable.

I think I must have been lucky Marina and didn`t get a letter from HM Customs when I last ordered from Fragrance X. I also recently bought a ring from an Etsy vendor in America and didn`t get charged on that either but whether it was because both vendors used the regular postal service and not courier firms such as fedex, I don`t know.
I`ve had things from abroad in the past and been charged customs and always try to weigh up whether its worth ordering the item from abroad or not. The diamond for my engagement ring we had made 2 years ago came from America but only because i couldn`t find what I wanted here and we paid full customs charges on it but that was a one off special purchase.
The last perfume I ordered from Fragrance X was a gift for someone and I simply couldn`t find it here at that time. It`s swings and roundabouts, if I`m charged customs then i pay, if I`m not charged then it`s my lucky day and if I can find what I want in this country cheaper than foreign prices with customs charges on top, then i buy from the UK

Marina said:

Did you pay any customs charges Vienna? It's now anything over £15 of declared value is taxable.

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And don't forget that 15 quid includes shipping charges, not to mention the £8 rip-off charge good old Royal Mail charge as a handling fee......! :bandit:

Vienna said:

I think I must have been lucky Marina and didn`t get a letter from HM Customs when I last ordered from Fragrance X. I also recently bought a ring from an Etsy vendor in America and didn`t get charged on that either but whether it was because both vendors used the regular postal service and not courier firms such as fedex, I don`t know.
I`ve had things from abroad in the past and been charged customs and always try to weigh up whether its worth ordering the item from abroad or not. The diamond for my engagement ring we had made 2 years ago came from America but only because i couldn`t find what I wanted here and we paid full customs charges on it but that was a one off special purchase.
The last perfume I ordered from Fragrance X was a gift for someone and I simply couldn`t find it here at that time. It`s swings and roundabouts, if I`m charged customs then i pay, if I`m not charged then it`s my lucky day and if I can find what I want in this country cheaper than foreign prices with customs charges on top, then i buy from the UK

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Thank you Vienna. Some companies put a parcel value on customs declaration let's say $5 and describe it as "toiletry samples". I was wondering if Fragrance X did the same?

House of Fraser do a thing where you order online and can get it delivered to a store of your choice free(no matter what the cost). Not sure if they do it in the ROI?? Hopefully it will.

Oh and back to those L'Artisan pots. Seems the tops are just peel back not a proper lid so you cannot real close them!!!!!!