Melanie Martinez "Portals" Perfume Resells for Nearly $1,000

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By RC Staff

05 January 2024

After going quiet for the last few years, Melanie Martinez came back in 2023 with a new album. If you’re a fan of hers, maybe that’s a big deal to you. For the rest of us, resellers included, Martinez had something else in store. A special collection of perfumes was produced and available for preorder in late 2023. This isn’t the first time the artist has done something like this, and the new “Portals” perfumes are reselling for an incredible premium right now.

Portals Melanie Martinez Parfum

First let’s talk about the album that inspired these smells. “Portals” is the third album from Melanie Martinez. It released in March 2023, which is her first major release since K-12 in 2019.

The album’s content and imagery especially are a departure from her previous work. For one, the cover and music videos feature a supremely weird, four-eyed forest creature.

Compared to her previous lolita-babydoll-schoolgirl persona, it’s pretty striking. The music is about what you’d expect. Droning vocals over drum machines mix with corporate-approved edge. At least the visuals are imaginative.

But this isn’t (entirely) a music review blog. Yeah, we talk about new albums and vinyl releases a lot here, but our interests are in making money. And yes, there is money to be made here.

Martinez announced in late 2023 that a perfume based on “Portals” was in the works. Featuring four fragrances specially packaged in a replica of the creature’s head, this was also quite visually striking.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Martinez also released a perfume for her 2015 record “Cry Baby“. This one was shaped like a bottle of milk complete with rubber nipple, and was enormously popular.

For the past few years resellers have been flipping the “Cry Baby” perfume for incredible prices. After selling out at $50, sealed bottles have resold for as much as $2,000 in recent months.

It’s no surprise that Melanie Martinez is eager to try her hand at perfume again, although this time she’s looking to make a bit more profit.

What's in the Melanie Martinez "Portals" Perfume?

So first let’s mention the price. When these perfumes went up for preorder in November, they cost $275. That’s a bit of a price hike from the last collection.

Each “Portals” perfume collection contains five products: a molded plastic creature head to house the perfumes, and four different fragrances containing 60 ml of perfume each, or 2 fluid ounces of perfume in the whole package.

The perfumes available are based on the four elements. You get “Fiery Passion“, “Air of Clarity“, “Water of Intuition“, and “Earthy Abundance“. It’s also worth pointing out the artwork used to represent each perfume looks to be AI-generated.

Maybe that annoys you or maybe  you don’t care, fine with us either way. The reception to the perfume collection has been very positive. Martinez’ fans have been active on social media and posting reviews and unboxing videos with praise for the design.

@zayaperysian

Is Melanie’s $275 Fragrance Collection worth it? 🤔🥰 #PortalsParfums #MelanieMartinez

♬ original sound – Zaya

The perfume collection has started shipping to those who placed preorders in November. While her “Cry Baby” perfume is notable because it never restocked after the initial release, the “Portals” perfume restocked earlier this week and individual perfumes are now available for $50.

Melanie Martinez "Portals" Perfume Resells

So now these are back in the spotlight. Despite complaints about build quality or the price tag, these perfumes are wildly popular.

Of course the “Cry Baby” perfume is on everyone’s mind. A $50 product reselling for $2,000 is always going to catch people’s eyes, and it seems like Martinez elected to produce an entirely new product instead of restocking it. Maybe she just likes resellers and didn’t want to mess with the market.

Currently, the Melanie Martinez “Portals” Perfume collection is reselling for around $800. Some sellers have managed to flip theirs for more than $1,000, but most are seeming to sell for just under that.

There’s also a ton of volume. Since December, almost 100 of these perfume collections have traded hands. For something that resells at a $300 to $600 premium, that’s pretty impressive.

Keep an eye out for more restocks of this product in the upcoming weeks. It’s unclear what the plan is for these, but now that they’ve restocked once anything can happen. As far as we can tell these will be worth buying as long as the demand stays solid.

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