Best places to shop for perfumes in Paris and how to save money by getting a VAT refund in France

Paris, the famed city of romance and fashion, is widely celebrated for its opulent fragrances and perfumes. From historic perfume shops to modern perfume boutiques, Paris offers an extensive range of fragrances for everyone. If you're planning a trip to Paris, indulging in perfume shopping should definitely be on your itinerary. Here are some of the top places to shop for perfumes in Paris. Additionally, by utilising the Wevat tax refund app, you can save up to 13% on your purchases!

So let's dive in!

Best places to shop for perfumes in Paris

Designer perfumes

If you’re shopping for popular designer perfumes such as Chanel, Dior, Hermes, YSL, Gucci, Cartier, Givenchy, and the like, department stores like Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marche should be your first stop. With a wide selection of designer brands to choose from, you won't need to visit multiple fragrance shops to try out your favorite scents.

Another excellent option for a vast selection of designer perfumes is beauty stores like Sephora, Marionnaud, and Nocibé, which are highly popular among French locals for makeup, skincare, perfumes, and hair products. These stores have multiple locations throughout Paris, so finding the nearest one to shop for your favorite brands shouldn't be difficult.

Additionally, for perfume enthusiasts, a visit to Maison Guerlain and the Lancôme flagship store on Champs-Élysées is a must. In addition to their impressive collections of fragrances, they offer exclusive services like bespoke fragrance creation. These luxurious services provide a unique and personalised touch to your perfume shopping experience, making it truly unforgettable.

Niche perfumes

If you’re more interested in niche perfumes, France is undoubtedly a perfect destination, with numerous fragrance boutiques offering unique and exquisite scents. Some of the most well-known fragrance boutiques in Paris include Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Atelier Cologne, L’Artisan Parfumeur, and Diptyque. These brands have gained immense popularity for their unique and exclusive fragrances that cater to individual preferences.

If you are looking for something truly rare and extraordinary, perfume concept stores are the place to be. Jovoy Paris and Nose Paris are two of the most popular perfume concept stores in Paris that offer an extensive collection of niche perfumes from around the world and a unique experience that allows customers to discover their scent preferences through a personalised scent consultation. You're bound to find your perfect scent at these stores, and you won't leave empty-handed!

Traditional French perfumes

There‘re also many traditional French perfumes that are difficult to buy anywhere else except in France. One of the most renowned ones is Fragonard, which offers a unique collection of fragrances inspired by the French Riviera. The Fragonard store in Opéra is a treasure trove for classic and contemporary fragrances that are perfect for any occasion.

If you’ll travel to the South of France, a visit to The Fragonard Museum and Factory located in the historic town of Grasse, the birthplace of French perfumery, is highly recommended. The museum offers a fascinating journey through the history of perfume, and visitors can explore the process of creating perfumes, from the selection of raw materials to the bottling of the finished product. The museum also has a boutique where visitors can purchase Fragonard perfumes and cosmetics.

Can't wait for fragrance shopping with good prices? Non-EU citizens, which includes British travellers as a result of Brexit, can now take advantage of tax refunds on purchases made on a majority of items. You may have heard that the usual requirement for tax refunds is a single purchase of over 100 euros within a store. However, with the Wevat tax refund app, you can easily obtain a tax refund without the need to spend more than 100 euros per transaction, and with less paperwork to keep track of! Keep reading to learn more!

How to get a tax refund on your shopping for perfumes

There are two main ways you can get a tax refund on shopping in France – using a traditional in-store paper method, or a mobile tax refund app like Wevat. The main perk of using a digital method like Wevat is the higher refund rates you can enjoy compared with the traditional in-store method, not to mention the convenience of not having to deal with paper forms ever again.

In the past, you’d have to bring your passport around with you when shopping and show it to the store every time you buy something to get a tax refund form. With Wevat, all you need to do is to ask for a purchase invoice addressed to Wevat at the till – no more hassle and waiting around at the checkout.

Another benefit of shopping with Wevat is that there are no partner store restrictions. When shopping at some fragrance boutiques that are more popular among locals than tourists, you might find they are not partnered with traditional tax refund companies to offer a VAT refund to tourists. However, by using Wevat, you can still take advantage of the VAT savings by asking for a ‘facture’ (’Invoice’ in French) when shopping for purchases made at stores not set up to issue a refund form.

And there’s no minimum spending required in a single store with Wevat, as long as you spend a total of over €100 across all your purchases during your trip in France, you can claim your tax back! It couldn’t be better to shop for perfumes and save some money by getting tax refunds with Wevat!

When departing, traditional methods require you to undergo complicated airport procedures with customs, and you’ll have to wait up to 8 weeks to get your money back. Wevat’s scan-and-go system makes it much faster and easier, and you can track the refund progress from the in-app refund tracker or check with the friendly customer support team from the app. (See these articles to learn more about what you need to do at the airport, train station and ferry port you’re leaving from).

Recap of how to use Wevat

Follow these five steps to get your VAT back in a simple way with Wevat.

Download the app – make sure you have signed up and have onboarded before visiting the store
Request a ‘facture’ (invoice) - show the ”request an invoice” screen in the app to get a business invoice with Wevat name and address. Make sure the invoice is not addressed to yourself!
Snap your invoice – upload it straight to the app, ideally immediately before you’ve left the store
Generate refund barcode – follow the prompts on the screen to get your digital refund form
Scan and go – visit the tax refund kiosk at your departure point, scan your refund barcode on the Wevat app, and off you go! Make sure to keep your goods on hand in case customs inspects the goods (in unused and original packaging).

Examples of a valid invoice and Wevat address can be found in the app. We also have helpful step-by-step videos on our YouTube channel.

Tips for getting an invoice:

Ask for a “facture” (Invoice in French) with Wevat name and address (Click our mascot on the app homepage to find the “request an invoice” screen. Simply show the screen containing Wevat’s address details to the store staff to get the right purchase invoice
Do not mention tax refund in the store, otherwise the sales assistant will issue you a paper tax refund form from a traditional tax refund company and you will not be able to use Wevat

To wrap it up, shopping for perfumes and fragrances in Paris is an extraordinary experience that allows fragrance lovers to explore exceptional scents and indulge in the lavish world of perfumery. With so many alluring options, it's easy to be tempted to buy multiple fragrances. Luckily, by shopping tax-free with Wevat, you can feel a little more comfortable knowing that those tax savings can potentially offset any extras you happen to purchase.

About Wevat

Wevat is a digital tax refund app that makes it easy for travellers to save money on their shopping in France! We are a community of people who love traveling, shopping, and saving money. Since our launch in 2019, we've helped refund travellers from 88 countries more than €18 million on their shopping.

Compared with in-store VAT refund providers, Wevat gives you up to 23% more VAT back with no minimum spending requirements on each purchase. With Wevat, you can simply snap a picture of your purchase invoices and then generate and scan your barcode when you leave France. There are no paper forms, repeated scanning, or dropping off forms required with us. Our super-friendly, multilingual customer support team will be always on hand to support you throughout your trip via our app.

We are fully regulated by both French and UK customs and tax authorities.

Download our app now to start saving money on your shopping in France!

Download Wevat