Real perfume; how to select? How to distinguish real perfume from cheap, low-quality fake, well-known types of fake perfumes, what to look for when buying, and what products should not be chosen. Perfume is an integral part of both female and male images. They create a unique atmosphere and give a pleasant feeling. Each person can easily select the one that will charm their state of mind the best among various charming fragrances. It is more difficult to find a high-quality perfume that will accompany its owner for several hours and delight the sense of smell with a pleasant aroma. How to distinguish a fake perfume from the original, how not to fall for the tricks of scammers – read the answers to these questions in this article.
Table of Contents
Types of fake perfume
Original perfumes are the product of the perfume industry, created through a multifaceted technique that begins with the birth of an idea. It gets its maturity thanks to the detailed creative work of the perfumer, who selects and combines fragrant ingredients (essential oils and various aromatic substances), creates a perfume composition filled with alcohol, and goes through several stages of heat treatment and filtration. And the result is a unique fragrance.
A critical stage is to create a unique image of the perfume, the style of the bottle, and the packaging, which makes the product recognizable not only by the fragrance but also by its appearance. All this requires serious investment and labor costs.
Therefore, evil people, who skip the expensive stage of product development, often try to make money from already advertised brands. So, many, not original products but fakes, appeared on the world market. Sometimes the number of branded perfume units released is significantly lower than the total amount of fakes.
Currently, there are several types of non-original perfumes. Let’s take a closer look at them:
- Licensing … When the buyer chooses a perfume, the seller argues for a lower perfume price because third parties produce this product under the developer’s license. Most often, the so-called license holders are companies in Poland or the UAE, i.e., where production is cheaper than in France or Italy. Such a product is like the original – both in composition and external performance. But this is not true.
- Imitation … Imitation is another way to mislead buyers. Its essence is to change at least one letter in the perfume’s name or to mix the terms of two brands. An example of imitation is a “misprint” in the title: Chanel. This technique is quite adequate because It is easier for people to remember not the name itself and its correct spelling but the image of the perfume, for example, the label or the shape of the bottle.
- “A step ahead” … enterprising scammers flood the market with so-called “innovations.” They. Under a well-known brand, they release a completely new product that no one has heard of before. One only has to guess what quality such perfume can be. However, the presence on the packaging of the corporate brand is a more popular luxury perfume, which makes many people still buy such a product.
- Release … the manufacturer labels products as expensive fragrances. This counterfeiting is legal in some countries, and the packaging will always indicate that the perfume is not original but only imitates a costly scent. However, the production uses the cheapest components that do not allow you to preserve all the actual colors. The manufacturer does not repeat the image, the packaging, or the logo of natural perfume, but only the smell. Such perfumes are often sold in bottles in different containers.
- Copy … This type of perfume counterfeiting is the most serious because fraudsters use all the images of a branded product (packaging, bottle, color). Sometimes the reproduction is so accurate that only an expert can detect a fake.
- Confiscation … This term is used to control an inexperienced buyer’s mind, which is considered a widespread phenomenon in modern commerce. Not only clothing, shoes, and other consumer goods but also perfumes are sold under this concept. The seller creates a myth about the illegal importation of perfume into the country, which was shut down by the relevant authorities and then product confiscation. Furthermore, the allegedly confiscated goods are offered to the buyer at a reduced or cost price. It is a perfect imitation of the original fragrances.
- Samples … Most luxury perfumers do not produce pieces except for the Salvador Dali brand. Therefore, finding expensive fragrances in small bottles, “pens,” “and pencils” is almost impossible. However, there is the production of test equipment. This product meets all the manufacturer’s quality standards; only the bottle is marked “Tester. Not for sale. You can find such perfumes in the windows of large shops selling perfumes.
The main difference between authentic perfume and fake
The difficulty in distinguishing high-quality perfume from copies is related to the high demand in the market for this product and the desire of evil people to profit from someone else’s name. It is how large-scale fakes of expensive perfumes are born.
Original perfume quality certificate
The legislation of America stipulates mandatory certification of all products in the “perfume and cosmetics” category. Therefore the seller has all the necessary documents – an additional guarantee of the originality of the perfume.
A certificate of conformity is a document issued for importing perfume into a country. Without it, customs will not allow the shipment to leave. This document indicates that the product has passed all necessary tests for medical and physiological properties. Its presence is required in all stores. Every buyer has a legal right to study it.
Doubts about the product’s authenticity or the legality of its sale on the territory of the Russian Federation may arise from the seller’s refusal to provide the buyer with a certificate for review. But the certificate itself is not enough to buy expensive perfume safely. It is necessary to check all the data specified in it.
The certificate contains the following information:
- The exact name of the product;
- Demands;
- Validity period;
- Code of the organization that carried out the certification (it must correspond to the code printed on the packaging);
- A detailed description of the product;
- Live to print.
How to distinguish a perfume from a fake by packaging
When you buy perfume, the first impression is usually made on us by the packaging. The manufacturer chooses the most harmonious design for each fragrance, not only on the bottle but also on the packaging, which serves as a distinctive feature. However, counterfeiting a box is much easier than anything else. Therefore, first of all, pay attention to her.
How to distinguish a perfume from a fake by looking at the packaging:
- Honesty – This trait is essential in any situation. A self-respecting manufacturer does not allow damage to packaging during transportation and takes all safety measures.
- The cell envelope can immediately cut out the fake. The original boxes are tightly packed with cellophane; their edges are neatly sealed with high-quality stitching. On false lips, the edges are usually glued together; the seam is uneven. However, some companies do not use cellophane at all.
- The perfume’s name must match exactly on the packaging, on the bottle, and on the certificate. No typographical errors are allowed in original perfumes.
- Fonts can also tell about quality. If the inscriptions are unclear or blurred, these are fake products. Sometimes developers use separate effects – bold, italic, uppercase, and lowercase. Scammers often don’t waste time and money making exact copies, especially if they don’t try to sell their fakes at the price of the original.
- When shaken lightly, the bottle should not wrap around the box. The original packaging fixes it carefully thanks to the inner cardboard construction.
- At the bottom of the packaging is the unique product number; it must match the code printed on the bottle.
- The cardboard should be of high quality, snow white inside. The thin, gray color inside the package signifies a fake.
- The presence of stickers is also a sign of poor quality.
- Each package must contain data on the country of origin (be sure to write the phrase “Made in,” and not just the name of the country), barcode (pay attention to the correspondence of the first digits with the code assigned to the land of production), the strength of the alcohol base, ingredients.
The packaging made with 100% accuracy with original material does not guarantee the authenticity of the perfume. Therefore, you should continue researching the product after opening the original box.
How to distinguish fake perfume from the original by the bottle
Another level of brand protection is the design and quality of the bottle, and finally, the spray bottle.
In addition to the general design, the original bottle must have the following characteristics:
- She perfectly poured a bottle of the bottle, pure transparent glass without streaks, without airdrops. We can only achieve these results with high-tech production facilities or the handiwork of professional glaziers.
- Printed font. The indistinctness of the font, blurred partially blurred.
- Solid cover. Manufacturers of original perfumes use high-quality plastic to decorate the bottle, from which the caps of the perfect shape are molded according to a unique design.
- Neat, tight-fitting spray bottle. It should be executed in the general style of the bottle and protected by a metal ring. A small percentage of factory defects are allowed when the atomizer is defective.
- Engraved code on the bottom of the bottle. Fraudsters use stickers instead of engraving.
Counterfeit products have bottles with light, often crooked caps, but their surface may be excessively rough with irregularities and stones.
How to distinguish real perfume from fake perfume by smell
The fragrance is the essential thing in a perfume. Determining its authenticity is the most challenging task. People can only list their preferences and express them with the words “like” or “dislike.” However, it should note that expensive luxury perfumes carry something more than the first impression.
So, what characterizes the original perfume – we will describe them in detail:
The structure of the smell must be complex. Quality perfumes are created so that the fragrance is in several stages. When spraying, the original smell appears, i.e., the first notes, which are kept for 15-20 minutes and gradually disappear. They are replaced by heart notes that define the type of perfume scent. They continue for several hours. The fragrance dies with a base note containing fixative ingredients.
- Interestingly, the smell of a high-quality perfume changes gradually, without breaking off, without changing the fragrance type significantly. Even the final notes of a luxury perfume give a pleasant feeling, which cannot say about fakes. Even their most pleasant fragrance, fluttering after spraying, ceases to please soon enough, and only an unpleasant smell of synthetic components remains. The scent is usually harsh, obsessive, and monotonous.
- The persistence of natural perfumes is at least 6-9 hours when applied with just a few drops. This result is achieved by including a high content of aromatic oils in the composition and high-quality and safe auxiliary components. Counterfeiters use cheap, unstable materials for their production. The durability of counterfeit products may be limited to 1-2 hours.
- Original perfumes have a distinctive color. Also, a multi-component perfume blend is characterized by transparency and no sediment. To produce fakes, dyes of “chemical” shades are often used – bright blue, bright green, etc.
Manufacturer and cost of perfume products
In addition to visual and informational criteria, as well as the individual perception of the quality of the fragrance, you should also pay attention to several related variables.
Additional criteria for distinguishing a fake from an original perfume are as follows:
- Price … High-quality branded perfumes cannot be cheap because the cost of this product is relatively high. Therefore, a low price is the first sign of a fake. The price level ratio also plays an important role, i.e., the same perfume with a volume of 30 ml may not cost more than 50 ml by volume. Preserve the difference between perfumes of different brands. The presence of products at the same price indicates that the product is probably not only not certified but also fake.
- Range … Should vary. The content even is within the limits of products of the same manufacturer. So, on the shelves of a store with all the necessary certificates and sells the original product, there should be bottles of different volumes, for example, 25, 30, 50, 100, etc. If the perfume is mainly presented only in the most required book, say, 100 ml, it is worth considering its reliability.
- Shop … The original perfume will never be sold in the market, in the aisle, in small grocery stores, and at sales points. Look for quality perfumes in large, reputable specialty stores. The most correct, but not every available option is to buy from the manufacturer’s stores.
- Manufacturer … The manufacturer’s data, as already mentioned, must be present both on the packaging and the bottle. The company’s logo should not be disturbed; all its proportions should be precise. French and Italian perfumes of the best quality. If another country is indicated on the packaging, there is risky to buy a low-quality perfume.
Helpful tips when buying perfume
In addition to applying the knowledge about the main difference between an original perfume and a cheap fake, there are some additional tips that you can use.
Here are some helpful tips:
- Before you decide to buy an expensive perfume, check the manufacturer’s website with the features of the product you are interested in. It will help you understand what characterizes a particular perfume.
- Contact the supplier, although the seller may often refuse to provide such information. The websites of several original perfume manufacturers have information about distributors and the stores that have the right to sell their products.
- Don’t miss the opportunity to use the tester.
- Ask the seller to show you a promotional copy that you can see inside the package; try a spray bottle.
- Avoid shopping online, as often, in this case; it isn’t easy to return the product.
Do not buy perfume if you have doubts about its authenticity. The use of such products can lead to health problems. Some attackers replace ethyl alcohol with the more dangerous methyl alcohol. Likewise, cheap excipients can cause allergies.
Conclusion
The correct answer to the question of distinguishing an authentic perfume from a fake is its aroma, structure, and persistence. After all, the smell is most important in the purchase; he can emphasize the image’s individuality, make passers-by turn around, and create a special aura.