Escentual

Escentual is the rare online fragrance retailer with a chemist's counter behind it. The site has traded since 2000, but the business underneath is older and duller in the best sense: R.K. Aggarwal Ltd, company number 02031097, incorporated in 1986, VAT number published on the site, registered in Whitchurch, Cardiff. The physical premises is Central Pharmacy on Wellfield Road, a registered dispensing pharmacy whose superintendent pharmacist, Raj Aggarwal, holds an OBE. When a fragrance site tells you it is genuine, that is usually a sentence. Here it is a regulated pharmacy licence.

The range is broad rather than specialist. Dior, Guerlain, YSL and Prada sit alongside Amouage, Parfums de Marly, Initio, Mancera and Montale, and the site is at least as serious about skincare, with the French Pharmacy names (La Roche-Posay, Avene, Bioderma, Uriage) that Britain otherwise struggles to buy well. There is no Chanel, which is not a warning sign but a fact of how Chanel controls UK online resale.

The mechanics are good. Delivery is free over £30, standard is £3.95, and a £9.95 annual Delivery Pass covers unlimited next-day on orders over £20 if you buy often. Returns run 60 days, which is generous, though unopened and seals intact, and you pay the postage on an unwanted item. Escentual Points give 2 points per £1 automatically. The end-of-month Payday Deals are the moment to watch if you are price-led.

One honest note: a scent you simply do not like is not a returnable fault, so buy a sample first. Trustpilot sits at 4.8 from over 3,600 reviews, a base big enough to actually mean something.