How do you buy perfume without smelling it first?

Read the descriptions with an understanding of top, middle, and base notes . Fragrance blogs can also be helpful when it comes to reviews of scents. Remember, however, that fragrance is subjective, so it's more important to look for objective claims, like what notes make up a fragrance, as opposed to whether or not someone likes or dislikes it. If you don’t know what notes to look for, King recommends doing research on your current favorites. If you find two notes in a new fragrance that are also in your top perfume, there’s a good chance that you’ll like it. She also points out that many online fragrance retailers have quizzes to help determine which are the best for you, so you should definitely take advantage of those if they are available.

What are common fragrance notes?

Typical top notes, your first impressions, are usually light and alluring. They tend to be made up of citrus like orange and lemon , as well as herbal essences like lavender , basil, or sage. Typical heart notes, making up your fragrance foundation, are usually warm and full-bodied, like rose, neroli, and cinnamon. Typical base notes, long-lasting notes that make up the dry-down, are vanilla , musk , and sandalwood .

The 18 Best Places to Buy Perfume Online In 2024

Collage of three bottles of perfumes on a grey and white background — Byrdie / Kevin Liang

Although it may seem strange to buy a fragrance without sniffing it IRL first, online scent shopping has a long list of benefits (here's our favorite luxury fragrances we always buy online, FYI). Of course, there’s the universally appealing convenience factor that applies to all kinds of virtual purchasing. But as it pertains to perfume specifically, the internet is also a veritable treasure trove for not only good deals and steals but also a place where you can discover a wide array of new and interesting brands that may not yet be available at the department or big beauty store where you’d otherwise be shopping. Not to mention that many sites offer all kinds of different sampling and tester options, so you can, in fact, take a scent for a test run before you buy a full-size.

A few things to keep in mind: It’s helpful to know what types of scents you gravitate towards (florals, woody, etc.) since many sites do—very helpfully—categorize their olfactory offerings according to those. “Usually they will list out the top/middle/base notes,” says cosmetic chemist Ginger King. “If you like those notes, you should like at least 80% of how the fragrance will smell (the other 20% being dependent on the concentration of ingredients).” Also, be sure to check on the return policy, since you want to know what your options are in case you don’t love what you end up with.

We conducted hours of research to find the best online destinations to buy perfume, evaluating each retailer based on how robust its descriptions are, whether it offers fragrance samples, and more. We also consulted a fragrance expert to learn more about what to look for when perfume shopping online. The goal: To help you find the best places that will make you seriously rethink how you scent shop.

Nordstrom

Jo Malone Londonâ¢Red Hibiscus Cologne Intense

Nordstrom

View On Nordstrom

Of all the online department store options, this is one of our fave. Yes, the amazingly flexible Nordstrom return policy (no time limits on returns and exchanges) applies to fragrance, too, and you can even order online and pick up in-store if you’re really in a rush. They also offer a ton of store-exclusive perfumes and scents, such as Chanel Paris Les Eaux De Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne, and Jo Malone Red Hibiscus Cologne Intense. Not to mention that they always hold the iconic anniversary sale every summer, where you can find hundreds of markdowns.

Fragrancenet

View On Fragrancenet.com

Those who love a good deal will appreciate the notably discounted prices and the plethora of coupons always available, making this a great pick for more affordable perfume shopping (you can find luxury favorites up to 70% off). Shipping is free, too, and there’s a good selection of samples, like Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Dew, and Mugler Angel, that you can also buy.

FragranceX

View On Fragrancex.com

Ever finally find a signature scent that you’re obsessed with, only to find out it’s been discontinued when you go to re-stock? Yeah, us, too. Search for it on this site since they have many fragrances available that were discontinued on other retailer sites. They also have a loyalty program where you earn a point for every dollar you spend, with discounts on future orders once you reach 100 points. Always an added benefit in our book.

Sephora

Tom Ford Fucking Fabulous Eau de Perfume

Sephora

View On Sephora

The in-store fragrance shopping experience at Sephora is quite good, but so is the online version. There’s a helpful quiz that can help you figure out what kind of fragrance you might like (great for those who just aren’t quite sure what they’re looking for), and plenty of brands and sizes are available. You can also return anything you don’t like within 30 days as long as it’s only “gently used.”

Scentbird

View On Scentbird.com

The tagline of this site is "date perfumes before you marry them." We can get into that. The subscription service lets you choose from over 500 designer and niche fragrances (including Jason Wu’s eau de parfum, Commodity Milk+ Bold, and Tom Ford Black Orchid; for $17 a month, you get one 8ml spray—about a month’s worth of daily spritzing). You can also change the frequency of your subscription if monthly is too often for you.

Ulta

View On Ulta

The offerings on Ulta's site are helpfully divided by scent families—like floral, fresh, and warm and spicy—on the fragrance landing page, making this a great pick for those who know what types of perfumes they like. They have a great loyalty program where you can receive discounts and rewards with every purchase, and you can return anything you don’t like (even without a receipt, as long as you paid with a credit card and/or are part of the loyalty program).

Neiman Marcus

View On Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus is a quiet luxury retailer known for its elegant, high-quality designer offerings—and their fragrance options are no exception. The robust selection includes best-sellers like Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Tom Ford, Jo Malone, Givenchy, and Hermès—to name just a few. In addition to full-size bottles fit for your vanity, you can get travel-friendly rollerballs, gift sets, and even fragrance sample collections if you want to try out a few scents before committing to one.

Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdales

View On Bloomingdales

With options to search the many offerings according to price, fragrance type, and notes, this is one of the easier sites to navigate and find your fave. We love that they have such an extensive selection for men’s cologne, including popular favorites like Dior Sauvage, Bleu De Chanel, and Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille.

Credo Beauty

Credo Beauty

View On Credo Beauty

Clean beauty is nothing new, but this now applies more and more so to fragrances, too. With very rigorous standards as to what ingredients they do and don’t allow in the products they carry, you can feel confident knowing that any of the fragrances here are completely clean. The added benefit? This is a great spot to find all kinds of smaller indie brands (like Ellis Brooklyn, Sana Jardin, and Heretic) that you may not yet have heard of.

Net-a-Porter

Net-a-Porterï»¿

View On Net-a-Porter

Just like the fashion offerings on this site, expect an ultra-chic, curated collection of sophisticated scents that are sure to both smell good and look great on your vanity. It’s a great spot for sourcing beautifully packaged fragrance gifts (be they for someone else or for you, we won’t judge) like Gucci Moonlight Serenade or Diptyque’s limited edition Do Son. Just keep in mind that all fragrance sales are final.

Macy’s

OSCAR DE LA RENTA Bella Rosa Eau de Parfum

Macy's

View On Macy's

Remember how you used to go to the Macy’s at the mall as a teen to stock up on Tommy Girl perfume? No? Just us? Anyway, their site is the place to shop now, with amazing sales pretty much all the time, plenty of sets, and a nice selection of travel-friendly rollerballs, too.

Luckyscent

View On Luckyscent.com

We appreciate that the wide variety of brands offered on this site range from the big-name mainstream options, like Maison Francis Kurkdjian, to smaller, niche companies, like D.S. and Durga. There’s a never-ending amount of choices for men, women, and home scents, too. If samples are your thing, you’ll be into the extensive array they offer. Oh, and if you spend over $150, you get five free samples with your purchase. Also helpful: The glossary, which breaks down the most commonly used fragrance terms, and their video library of fragrance reviews and tips. Because really, does anyone know the difference between an eau de toilette and an eau de parfum?

Perfumania

View On Perfumania.com

What we love: The offerings are broken down into super helpful categories here—by price, what’s trending, deals of the month, and more. You get free shipping over $59, and returns can either be sent back or brought back to one of their retail stores throughout the country (though they do have to be unopened, FYI).

Scent Beauty

View On Scentbeauty.com

This newcomer on the scene is not only a shopping site, but a company launching its own fragrance brands. These range from celeb and influencer fragrances to niche options like CBD fragrances. In other words, the goods you find here you won’t find anywhere else. Either way, the descriptions of all the fragrances are clear, concise, and very helpful, making it easy to get a sense of what the perfume you’re considering actually smells like.

Luxury Scent Box

View On Luxsb.com

Those who prefer a hands-off approach to shopping will appreciate that this month-to-month subscription service offers an option where you simply get a new “fragrance of the month” each month. You can also complete a survey about your preferences and let them choose for you, or pick your own—$30 will get you two 9ml spritzers per month.

Walmart

Walmart

View On Walmart

Walmart used to carry only drugstore brands, but the big-box retailer is now an online destination for many high-end beauty brands. In terms of fragrance, this means you can buy premium perfume by Juicy Couture, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, and Gucci—often at a sweet discount. There are many mid-price-range options, too, like Elizabeth Arden, Montblanc, Ariana Grande, and Dossier.

Amazon

View On Amazon

Amazon has just about everything, so it should come as no surprise that it's a go-to destination for perfume shopping. The online mega-retailer carries women's fragrances at various prices, including full-size bottles, travel-friendly spritzers, and gift sets. We like that you can read buyer reviews and take advantage of fast (often free) shipping and easy returns with a Prime membership.

Pro tip: Do some digging to ensure you're always purchasing from an Amazon-approved retailer. If a product has bad or seemingly fake reviews, is priced suspiciously low, or is advertised with poor image quality, it's most likely a scam. Other signs to look for are odd seller names, a recent create date on the seller account, and abnormally long shipping times.

Bluemercury

View On Bluemercury.com

In addition to skincare, makeup, and haircare, Bluemercury offers an impressive selection of fragrances, including perfume, eau de toilettes, and cologne from brands we love. We're talking Lake & Skye, Oribe, Diptyque, Tocca, Jo Malone, and Vilhelm Parfumerie.

Where We Stand

When it comes to buying fragrances online, our best overall pick is Nordstrom, which features an amazing variety of fragrances, including many exclusive offerings and samples for you to test out a scent before committing to it. We also love their generous and flexible return policy. Not sure what you like? Consider trying Scentbird, a subscription service that takes sampling to the next level.

How We Researched

To compile this list, our team of editors and contributors spent hours researching the best on the market, evaluating their key features in addition to reviews from customers and input from fragrance experts. We then used this research to choose the best retailers on the market to inform this article.

Attributes we evaluated each perfume retailer on:

Scent genres
Return policy
Fragrance sample options
Personalization features
Brands available

What to Look for When Buying Perfume Online

Samples: Many perfume online retailers offer free samples or samples you can buy inexpensively to try out a fragrance, such as Fragrancenet and Luckyscent. Isolating fragrance samples might be a more effective way of trialing scent as oftentimes, when you're sampling perfume in the store, you might mix scents and not get the most accurate read on each particular fragrance on its own.
Description: Fragrances will have a description of their notes, so it's important not only to pay attention to these descriptions but understand what they mean. Each fragrance is made of layers called notes. There are top or head notes, which are the first impression of the fragrance and the fastest to evaporate; the middle or heart notes, which are the foundation of the fragrance, and base notes, which are the last notes to evaporate and typically associated with what's called the dry-down of a fragrance. Many brands will offer fragrances for women and men and unisex options (although we don't believe any scent is gender-specific!). Sephora and FragranceX have some of the best, most detailed product descriptions for perfumes on their websites.

FAQ

How do you buy perfume without smelling it first?

Read the descriptions with an understanding of top, middle, and base notes. Fragrance blogs can also be helpful when it comes to reviews of scents. Remember, however, that fragrance is subjective, so it's more important to look for objective claims, like what notes make up a fragrance, as opposed to whether or not someone likes or dislikes it. If you don’t know what notes to look for, King recommends doing research on your current favorites. If you find two notes in a new fragrance that are also in your top perfume, there’s a good chance that you’ll like it. She also points out that many online fragrance retailers have quizzes to help determine which are the best for you, so you should definitely take advantage of those if they are available.
What are common fragrance notes?

Typical top notes, your first impressions, are usually light and alluring. They tend to be made up of citrus like orange and lemon, as well as herbal essences like lavender, basil, or sage.
Typical heart notes, making up your fragrance foundation, are usually warm and full-bodied, like rose, neroli, and cinnamon.
Typical base notes, long-lasting notes that make up the dry-down, are vanilla, musk, and sandalwood.

Why Trust Byrdie

Byrdie contributor Melanie Rud has over a decade of experience in the beauty industry, writing for some of the biggest magazines and websites out there. She considered dozens of retailers for this roundup, and, after careful research and pouring over third-party reviews, named these places the best to buy fragrance online.

Byrdie commerce updates writer Shannon Stubbs conducted additional research for this article. She has several years of experience testing and recommending beauty products, with expertise in skincare, body care, and makeup. She's been a writer at Byrdie since 2022. She also spoke with an expert for more insight: