On special occasions, selecting the perfect gift for that special woman in your life may seem hard. One fail-proof gift idea is... Perfume. What woman doesn't love perfume? Perfume makes a wonderful gift for women of all ages. It helps them feel confident and flattering, and helps them overcome any lack of insecurity or self esteem.

Buying name brand perfumes may be unaffordable to some, but fortunately there are more affordable means of purchasing perfumes:

* Perfumes often end up on the sales rack, because of imperfections in the product or packaging. Retailers tend to mark down the price if the product or packaging is damaged.

* Perfume brands or scents that do not sell well are often taken off the retail shelf to be replaced with newer brands or scents. These discontinued perfumes are then shipped to the sales rack to be sold at a discount. These discount perfumes are still in perfectly good quality but now at a more affordable price.

* Perfumes aimed at specific seasons may be moved off with the approach of the new season, for example, shops would not sell gingerbread scented perfume during the summer as it is more suited for a winter or Christmas release, and obviously after Christmas this perfume would then be taken off the shelf too.

* You can even get perfumes without paying, by asking for free perfume samples. Many companies, especially those that retail online, offer consumers free perfume samples. All you have to do to get your free sample is to simply fill in some basic information on their signup web pages.

* You could team up with a bunch of friends or families and purchase perfume wholesale. As wholesale perfumes come in bulk, their prices are reduced to a great degree. There are many companies that sell wholesale perfumes, but be sure to take time to find the company with the best quality perfume at the lowest prices.

* Buy cheaper knock off perfumes in discount and dollar stores. These perfumes are often produced by unknown companies that copy the scent and packaging of popular designer perfumes. You can spot these cheap perfumes by looking for the label "compare to," or the packaging may look similar to the original but with a different brand name. Knock off perfumes usually do not smell exactly like the original, but for their price, they are still a cheap option.

As you can see, it is not so hard looking for good deals on popular and designer perfumes. These discounted perfumes can be found anywhere, from perfume stores, department stores to drugstores.