According to The NPD Group, Inc., one of the leading market research companies, while overall sales of prestige fragrances sold in U.S. department stores have declined, premium price fragrance sales are up significantly.

Premium fragrance products priced at $100 and above, represented approximately nine percent of total fragrance juice sales in Q1 2009, and generated $26 million, a 10 percent increase from Q1 2008.

— From NPD Reports Premium Price Fragrance and Makeup Sales Thriving at The Financial.

But these days, the sweet smell of success is proving elusive as customers walk away from fragrance counters empty-handed. While department store sales of beauty products fell 3 percent in dollars in 2008 — a drop credited to the recession — the decline was most profound in the fragrance industry, according to NPD Group, a market research firm.

— From The Hunt for That Genie in a Bottle at The New York Times.

When broken down by category, makeup sales fell 3% to $3.2 billion, fragrance sales took the biggest hit, dropping 6% to $2.68 billion and sales of skincare products were flat at $2.4 billion.

The decline in fragrance sales dropped for both genders, down 5% in women’s and 8% in men’s fragrances, NPD found.

— From Beauty Category Struggles, Some Bright Spots, a synopsis of the latest beauty sector report from NPD Group, at Promo. Click over to see the top 5 selling fragrance brands (Acqua di Gio for Men is #1).

Market data from the NPD group for luxury fragrances in 2007 showed that they failed to match the success of their counterparts in the luxury skin care and make-up categories, with overall sales slipping 1 percent to $2.5bn

However, sales of fragrances that have been on the market since 2006 or before grew by two percent suggesting that consumers are returning to well-known and trusted products.

"It may be that consumers are finding comfort in familiar brands because of the crowded marketplace," said NPD analyst Karen Grant.

— From Stars launch new fragrances in time for Christmas at Cosmetics Design.

Patty Geissler, the originator of the entertaining perfume blog Perfumeposse.com, has a separate room in her home dedicated to her vast collection of fragrances. 'I love scent, always have,' she says. 'Some of the things I have because they're old and impossible to find, or it's a beautiful bottle, others just because they smell great.'

— From Uncommon scents in the UK Telegraph.

Did the tidal wave of new scents send people back to their old standbys…

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