How To Spot Fake Perfume: 14 Ways To Determine Whether A Perfume Is Authentic

When you decide to treat yourself to a high quality perfume, it’s important to make sure you are buying the real deal. Buying a counterfeit perfume can not only make you feel cheated and upset, but it could also be bad for your health. Many fake perfumes use cheap and synthetic ingredients that could cause irritation. Not only that, but the effectiveness of the fragrance is lack-luster to say the least.

How to Spot Fake Fragrances

Purchasing an authentic perfume is worth every penny, as they provide exceptional longevity and sillage while offering a high-quality perfume experience. If you aren’t too familiar with perfumes, knowing how to spot fake perfume can sometimes be challenging. Check out these tips on how to spot fake perfume and determine whether or not it’s authentic.

1. Know The Seller

The best way to avoid accidentally purchasing fake perfume is by going to a reputable seller. There are many trusted places where you can buy authentic perfumes, but there are equally an amount of places that aren’t so trustworthy.

In Person Purchase

Department stores are one of the safest places to buy perfume, as you have the advantage of examining the packaging in person. There’s also the added benefit of talking to the retail staff and having the ability to return perfume if it’s not authentic.

Places like flea markets and swap meets are great for finding deals, but be very careful. Unethical sellers can easily rip you off and sell you counterfeit perfume without recourse. It’s a good idea to carefully examine the perfume and packaging before purchase and, if possible, get the contact information from the vendor in case the product ends up being unacceptable.

Online Purchase

If you decide to purchase a perfume online, it’s important to check for product and online seller reviews. You also want to make sure that the vendor has a return policy, safe shopping guarantee and that their website or listing is written in proper spelling and grammar.

2. Research Perfume Before Purchase

Before you decide to purchase online or through a third party, it’s important to research your desired perfume beforehand to get an idea of what to expect. Check the manufacturer’s website to see if they have provided adequate information on the packaging and bottle. A trip to the department store in the mall doesn’t hurt either, just to get an idea of how the authentic perfumes are packaged.

3. Pay Attention To Price

As exciting as it might be to find a luxury fragrance like Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille listed under $20, it’s likely too good to be true. Although price isn’t always an indicator of the quality of the perfume, if the product is listed extremely cheap for the brand it claims to be, it’s most likely not the real deal.

4. Check The Wrapping

Typically, authentic perfumes come boxed and wrapped in cellophane wrap. The cellophane around the box is usually wrapped flawlessly and tightly around the box. If the cellophane is loosely or poorly wrapped, this could be an indicator of a fake perfume, especially if it’s to the point where you can move the cellophane around the box freely. If the plastic wrapping on the perfume box is sealed in a bad-looking way (excess glue, uneven seam, etc) then be wary.

5. Read The Box for Errors

An easy way to indicate whether or not a perfume is fake is to simply read the packaging. Carefully examine the box and check for misspelled words, grammatical errors or an odd layout of information. These kinds of mistakes are good indicators of a fake perfume.

6. Inspect The Packaging

Real packaging is made from a high-quality paperboard that is designed to protect the perfume bottle from any damage. On the inside of the box, you should find a special construction that keeps the perfume bottle in place. You also want to look for a barcode on the packaging. If there is no barcode at all, then the perfume is fake.

How Can I Tell if My Barcode Perfume Is Real?

To check if the barcode on your perfume is real, you want to make sure that it’s located on the lowest back portion of the box. If it’s located somewhere else, like the sides of the box, then it could be a counterfeit perfume.

7. Check The Numbers

Authentic perfumes will have a control, batch and serial number on the packaging. These numbers are used to independently verify the authenticity of the perfume. If you have any doubts, consult the manufacturer to see if the numbers match with their production numbering.

8. Bottle Quality

Another good way on how to spot fake perfume is by observing the quality of the perfume bottle, as a designer perfume treats the bottle as part of the perfume experience. An authentic perfume bottle will have smooth containers made from high quality glass material and have spill-proof caps that are perfectly symmetrical (unless otherwise designed). A fake perfume bottle is usually rough or poorly made out of cheaper materials such as plastic and could have an uneven perfume cap.

9. Perfume Color

A designer brand doesn’t use a lot of dye in their perfume products. If you notice that a perfume seems really dark or has a striking chemical color to the liquid, this could be a sign of a fake perfume. If you aren’t sure, compare it to a perfume you find at a high end department store.

10. Perfume Complexity

If you are new to perfume, this step may be harder to distinguish, but the scent of an authentic perfume is complex and intricately made. If you are a perfume connoisseur who is very familiar with a specific perfume, then simply smelling a perfume can be an easy way to spot a counterfeit one.

11. Notice Longevity

It’s true that a fake perfume can smell very similar to the real thing, but longevity will be the telltale sign of a fake perfume. Longevity refers to the lifetime of the perfume, meaning how long it lasts on the skin as well as in the bottle. A real perfume will last way longer on the skin and has a shelf life up to 18 months. A fake perfume only lasts up to a couple of months in the bottle once it’s opened.

12. Ingredient List

Real perfumes are intricately constructed and have complex scents, as mentioned before. This is due to the ingredients they use, combining a mixture of scents developed from natural and synthetic products. A fake perfume tends to be cheaply made with completely synthetic products. This is the reason why a fake perfume lacks the complexity of a real perfume.

13. Know The Scent Notes

Scent notes are a great way to know how to spot fake perfumes because they are hard to imitate. A real perfume from a high-end brand will have a tapering top note, middle and base notes that reveal themselves throughout the day. A fake perfume usually only has a top note that isn’t very long lasting. Doing your research beforehand to know what scent notes to expect is important to help you figure this out.

However, there are authentic perfumes that are supposed to have a single note, so just because you notice one top note doesn’t always mean it’s fake. When checking a single note perfume’s authenticity, pay attention to whether the scent smells odd and if the fragrance matches the description listed on the manufacturer’s website.

14. Test It

Check the packaging and analyze the scent first. If you find no indication of a fake perfume, then you can try out the perfume on your skin. A fake perfume can cause an allergic reaction. That’s why you want to make sure that you only spray on your skin once you’ve completely analyzed everything from the previous steps.

Apply the perfume and pay attention to the scent throughout the day. Like stated before, you should notice the tapering top notes and the middle and base notes revealing themselves as the day goes on. A fake perfume will often only keep the top scent for a few hours.

It’s important to know how to spot fake perfume not only for your wallet and sanity, but for your health. Here at FragranceX, we sell completely authentic perfumes at the best prices. So, you can feel comfortable and confident with your purchase. Don’t settle for anything less than high-quality perfume at a budget-friendly price. Want to see what authentic perfumes are trending? View our top 100 best-selling authentic fragrances!