Shopping diary / Part one
I ordered from four places.
The boxes are here. Now for the interesting part.
Rio Perfumes. Dubai Perfumes SA. Husain Fragrance. Eternal Scent. Four shops, four orders, and now the boxes have arrived. Before we get into the unboxing and the bottles themselves, here is the shopping record: where I ordered, what the confirmations show, and what I paid.
By Bibi Burness · Published 31 October 2026
The orders at a glance
| Retailer | Items shown or confirmed | Order total |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Perfumes | 10 items | R 6 961,00 |
| Dubai Perfumes SA | 14 items | R 6 862,00 |
| Husain Fragrance | 4 items | R 2 845,00 |
| Eternal Scent | 3 product lines visible | R 2 379,00 |
Purchase figures from the supplied order confirmations, not current prices or offers. Product names and sizes below follow the checkout descriptions; bottle labels will be checked during the unboxing.
Order diary / 1
Rio Perfumes
First up: Rio. This order has ten items, although the screenshot only shows part of the basket. Here are the four product lines that are fully readable — not the complete order.
- Lattafa Eclaire 100ml Eau de ParfumR 560,00
- Lattafa Khamrah Qahwa 100ml Eau de ParfumR 540,00
- Armaf Club De Nuit Imperial 105ml Eau de ParfumR 875,00
- Lattafa Mayar Cherry Intense 100ml Eau de ParfumR 520,00
Order total: R 6 961,00. Free shipping shown at checkout.
The remaining items are outside the visible area or obscured. I will add the full line-up with the unboxing update.
Order diary / 2
Dubai Perfumes SA
Then Dubai Perfumes SA. Fourteen items in this basket, so there is more to show than fits in one checkout screenshot. These are the four unobscured product lines visible in the confirmation.
- Teriaq Lattafa Perfumes 100mlR 575,00
- Imaginari Jacques Yves EDP 100mlR 249,00
- Aqua Pura EDP 70mlR 349,00
- Oud Madness 60ml by Fragrance WorldR 349,00
Order total: R 6 862,00. Free shipping shown at checkout.
Another product line is partly hidden by the scroll prompt. Rather than guess the label, I am leaving that and the rest of the basket for the full order update.
Order diary / 3
Husain Fragrance
Third is Husain Fragrance. This confirmation shows all four items, so this is the complete basket rather than a preview of it.
- Paris Corner — Ibisco Nirvana — 65mlR 650,00
- Arabiyat Prestige — Marwa — 100mlR 800,00
- Lattafa — Queen of Arabia — 100mlR 695,00
- Rasasi — Hawas for Him — 100mlR 700,00
Order total: R 2 845,00. Free shipping shown at checkout.
The order confirmation is the starting record. Packaging photographs and fragrance impressions will follow separately.
Order diary / 4
Eternal Scent
And fourth: Eternal Scent. The confirmation is dated 21 October 2026 and records payment through Payfast. Three product lines are visible; the lower part of the order breakdown is cut off.
- Opera Noir by Maison Alhambra 100mlR 350,00
- Conquer 100ml by MykonosR 899,00
- Inferno 100ml MykonosR 950,00
Order total: R 2 379,00. The delivery charge is not visible in the supplied screenshot.
The total is reproduced exactly as shown on the confirmation. The visible product lines do not explain the whole total, so I am not assigning the difference to delivery or any other charge without the full breakdown.
What comes next
Next comes the shoot: the parcels, the packaging, the boxes and the bottles. Those photographs will go here, alongside the details that do not fit into a checkout confirmation. Then there is the separate business of actually spending time with the fragrances. A first spray is a first impression. It is not the whole story.
For now, I am not giving any shop a score or declaring a winner. These are different baskets, not a like-for-like price test. An order confirmation tells us what was ordered. It does not tell us how a perfume wears, how carefully a parcel was packed, or how a retailer handles a problem.
And the same rule applies here as anywhere else: cheap does not necessarily mean counterfeit. Expensive does not guarantee genuine. If there is something worth checking, we will describe what we can actually observe. Warning signs. Not verdicts.
The boxes are here. The rest of the story will be added to this page as we document it.