Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9272 6867
Website
Hours:
Mon-Sat 10:00 - 17:00
Sun 11:00 - 16:00
Mariposa is one of my favourite words in Spanish and indeed one of those shops that honours their beautiful name. They are one of the few perfumerys, a real one, in Australia, and have a huge range of male and female perfumes from exclusive world perfumiers, Creed, L'Artisan, and Amuage included. I could expend my whole salary buying the many fanciful good-quality divine-smell soaps, creams, candles, sprays, perfumes and make-up items they have. Everything is chic and exclusive. They don't sell mass-produced corporate-owned fashion brands, but perfumes and perfume-related products that have a piece of history in the History of Perfume, or that have been making perfumes in a very hand-crafty sort of way, or are very innovative in the products they use. Mariposa is, indeed, a niche perfumery.
The ambience of the shop is very clean and modern, with the wood shelves full of bottles of perfume for you to test, and their beautiful goods and packaging really shining. The shop is a bit small, but it is easy to browse around.
Mariposa stands out not only for the products they sell, but also for their customer service. Mariposa's shop attendants are really wonderful. They will spend their time with you, generously, if you show interest in any of the perfumes, even if you say you aren't going to buy anything at the moment. They know their gild, and are passionate about what they sell, and about providing you with a great experience as a shopper. All the girls are approachable, chatty and very knowledgeable. Truly, they deserve the salary they get. They are that sort of shop attendants who can actually hold a conversation on perfume, instead of the usual lorikeets selling designer perfumes at Myers or David Jones. When you leave the shop, you leave feeling like a Royal, convinced that this is one of those places that truly understands what good service is and how to win customers.
Mariposa has two main downsides. The first one is their simplistic website, with barely any information about the shop, brands they cater for, or even an online-shop or sample program, as other high-end perfumeries have overseas. This should be Mariposa's next step. Facebook, is a bit, how to put it?, too "popular" for such an exclusive shop.
The second downside is the fact that they rarely have samples. Or at least this has been my experience in the past. This is, actually, a big downside for a proper perfumery. You win people with samples, so you make sure that they the big perfume houses send you a big bunch of those.
MIND
The products they sell are fantastic, high quality and very exclusive. Therefore, the prices have to match that. Still, you know that you pay the right price for the product, and that the prices are not inflated by the corporate brand behind the designer. These are nor corporate brands products, thank Gosh. Still, you can buy a box of adorable French Anisette drops or a posh Marseilles hand-wash or soap, and I am sure you can afford that. Sometimes you have to forget about the world and indulge yourself, because life it is too short, and you are a chic girl after all. Be grateful for being able to afford things like these, and enjoy your whimsical purchase at Mariposa.
On the other hand, they hold special perfume events and personalised attention from invited perfumiers. The last one was a hit, held on 8 and and an encore on 10 May 2013, with the presence of of Libertine's mastermind in the shop!
