How to distinguish a real perfume from a cheap low-quality fake, known types of perfume counterfeits, what to look for when buying, which products should not be chosen. Perfume is an integral part of both the female and male image. They create a special mood, give pleasant sensations. Among the variety of enchanting aromas, any person can easily choose the one that will best impress the state of mind. More difficult is the search for a high-quality perfume that will accompany its owner for several hours and delight the sense of smell with a pleasant smell. 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.
Types of fake perfume
Original perfumes are a product of the perfumery industry, created using a multi-stage technology that begins with the birth of an idea. It gets its development thanks to the painstaking creative work of the perfumer, who selects and combines aromatic ingredients (essential oils and various fragrant substances), creating a perfume composition, which is subsequently infused with alcohol, goes through several stages of heat treatment and filtration. And the result is a unique aroma.
An important step is the creation of a unique image of the perfume, the style of the bottle and the packaging, which makes the product recognizable not only by its aroma, but also by its appearance. All this requires serious investment and labor costs.
That is why unscrupulous people, skipping the expensive stage of product development, very often try to make money on an already advertised brand. So, a large number of not original goods, but fake ones, appears on the world market. Sometimes the number of branded perfume units released is significantly lower than the total volume of counterfeits.
Currently, there are several types of non-original perfumes. Let's look at them in more detail:
- License … When a buyer chooses a perfume, the seller argues for the lower prices of perfumes by the fact that this product is produced by third-party firms under the developer's license. Most often, the so-called licensees are companies in Poland or the UAE, i.e. where production is cheaper than in France or Italy. Such a product is positioned as completely identical to the original - both in composition and in external performance. But this is not true.
- Imitation … Imitation is another way to mislead buyers. Its essence lies in changing at least one of the letters in the name of the perfume or in mixing the names of two brands. An example of imitation is a "typo" in the name: Chanel - Chenel. This technique is quite effective, because It is easier for people to remember not the name itself and its correct spelling, but the image of the perfume, say, the logo or the shape of the bottle.
- "One step ahead" … Particularly enterprising scammers fill the market with so-called "novelties". Those. under a well-known brand, they release a completely new product that no one has heard of before. One has only to guess what quality such a perfume can be. However, the presence on the packaging of the corporate logo of popular luxury perfumes makes many people still buy such a product.
- Version … There are products that are labeled by the manufacturer as interpreting expensive fragrances. This type of counterfeit is legal in some countries, and the packaging will always indicate that the perfume is not original, but only imitates an expensive aroma. Although the production uses the cheapest components that do not allow you to preserve all the colors of the original. The manufacturer does not repeat the image, packaging, logo of real perfumes, but only the smell. Such perfumes are often sold by bottle in different containers.
- Copy … This type of perfume counterfeit is the most serious, because scammers use the full image of branded goods (packaging, bottle, color). Sometimes the reproduction is so accurate that only a professional can identify a fake.
- Confiscated … This concept is used as one of the forms of manipulating the mind of an inexperienced buyer, which is considered a very common phenomenon in modern trade. Under this concept, not only clothes, shoes and other consumer goods go on sale, but also perfumes. The seller creates a legend about the illegal import of perfumes into the country, which was suppressed by the relevant authorities, followed by the confiscation of the product. Further, the allegedly confiscated goods are offered to the buyer at a reduced price or at a cost price. In fact, there is a complete fake of the original brand fragrances.
- Probes … Most luxury perfume manufacturers do not produce samples, except for the Salvador Dali brand. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find expensive fragrances in miniature bottles, "pens", "pencils". Although there is a production of testers. This type of product fully meets all the manufacturer's quality standards, only the bottle has the mark “Tester. Not for sale. " Such perfumes can be found on the windows of large boutiques specializing in the sale of perfumes.
The main differences between real perfume and fake
The difficulty of distinguishing high-quality perfumes from copies is associated with the high demand in the market for this type of goods and the desire of unscrupulous people to make money on someone else's name. This is how massive fakes of expensive perfumes are born.
Original perfume quality certificate
The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for the mandatory certification of all products in the category "Perfumery and cosmetic products", which is why the seller has all the necessary documents - an additional guarantee of the originality of perfumes.
A certificate of conformity is a document that is issued for the import of perfumes into the country. Without it, the customs will not allow the consignment to pass. This document indicates that the product has passed all the necessary studies of medico-biological and physical-chemical properties. Its presence is required in all retail outlets. Every buyer has the legal right to familiarize himself with it.
Doubts about the authenticity of the product or the legality of its sale on the territory of the Russian Federation may be caused by the seller's refusal to provide the buyer with a certificate for review. But the certificate itself is not enough to safely buy an expensive perfume. It is necessary to check all the data specified in it.
The certificate contains the following information:
- The exact name of the product;
- Requisites;
- Validity;
- The code of the organization that carried out the certification (it must correspond to the code printed on the package);
- Detailed description of the product;
- Live printing.
How to distinguish perfume from counterfeit by packaging
When buying perfumes, the first impression is most often made on us by the packaging. Needless to say, the manufacturer selects for each fragrance the most harmonious design not only of the bottle, but also of 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 examining the packaging:
- Integrity is essential in any situation. A self-respecting manufacturer will not allow damage to the packaging during transportation, taking all safety measures.
- The cellophane wrap can immediately cut off the counterfeit. The original boxes are tightly covered with cellophane, the edges of which are neatly sealed with a high-quality seam. On fake goods, the edges are most often glued together, the seam is uneven. Although some companies do not use cellophane at all.
- The name of the perfume must exactly match both on the packaging, on the bottle, and on the certificate. No typographical errors are allowed in original perfumes.
- Font can also tell about quality. If the inscriptions are indistinct, blurred, then these are fake products. Sometimes development companies use separate effects - bold, italic, uppercase and lowercase letters. Fraudsters often do not waste time and money creating an exact copy, especially if they do not seek to sell their counterfeits at the prices of the original.
- When shaking 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 package, the individual product code is displaced; it must correspond to the code printed on the bottle.
- The cardboard should be of high quality, white inside. Thin material, gray color on the inside of the package is a sign of a fake.
- The presence of stickers is also evidence 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 to the code assigned to the country of production), strength of the alcohol base, ingredients.
The packaging made in 100% accuracy with the original does not guarantee the authenticity of the perfume. Therefore, you should continue your research on the product even after opening the original box.
How to distinguish a fake perfume from an original by a bottle
The second degree of brand protection is the design and quality of the bottle, cap, spray bottle.
In addition to the general design, the original bottle must have the following characteristics:
- Perfectly poured flask of a bottle, clean transparent glass without streaks, without air droplets. This result can only be achieved using high-tech production facilities or the manual labor of professional glaziers.
- Clearly printed lettering. Indistinctness of the font, partial blurring is not allowed.
- Solid cover. Manufacturers of original perfumes use high-quality plastic to decorate the bottle, from which the caps of the ideal shape are molded according to a special design.
- Neat, tightly attached spray bottle. Should be performed in the general style of the bottle and protected by a metal ring. A small percentage of factory defects is allowed when the atomizer is faulty.
- Engraved code on the bottom of the bottle. Fraudsters use stickers instead of engraving.
Counterfeit goods have bottles with light, often crooked, caps, the surface of which may be excessively rough with irregularities and burrs.
How to distinguish real perfume from fake perfume by scent
Fragrance is the most important thing in perfume. Determining its authenticity is the most difficult task. Many people can only note for themselves their own preferences, expressing them with the words "like" or "dislike". However, it should be borne in mind that expensive luxury perfumes carry something more than a first impression. So, what are the characteristics of the original perfume - we will describe them in detail:
- The structure of the scent must be complex. Quality perfumes are created in such a way that the fragrance has several phases. When spraying, the original odor appears, i.e. the first notes, which are held for 15-20 minutes and gradually disappear. They are replaced by heart notes that define the type of perfume scent. They persist for several hours. The aroma dies down with a base note, which is provided by the constituent substances-fixatives. It is noteworthy that the smell of high-quality perfumes is transformed gradually, without breaking off, without drastically changing the type of aroma. Even the final notes of luxury perfumes give pleasant sensations, which cannot be said about fake ones. Their even the most pleasant aroma, fluttering after spraying, ceases to delight quickly enough, and only unpleasant odors of artificial components remain. The aroma is most often harsh, obsessive, monotonous.
- The durability of natural perfumes is at least 6-9 hours when applied with just a couple of drops. This result is achieved by introducing a high content of aromatic oils into the composition, as well as high-quality and safe auxiliary components. Counterfeiters use cheap, substandard substances for their production. The durability of counterfeit products can be limited to 1-2 hours.
- Original perfumes have an unobtrusive color. Also, a multicomponent perfume mixture is characterized by transparency and no sediment. For the manufacture of counterfeits, dyes of "chemical" shades are often used - bright blue, bright green, etc.
Manufacturer and cost of perfumery products
In addition to visual and informational criteria, as well as an individual perception of the quality of the fragrance, you should also pay attention to some related parameters.
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 type of product is quite high. Therefore, a low price is the first sign of a fake. The proportionality of prices also plays an important role, i.e. perfumes of the same name with a volume of 30 ml cannot cost more than those with a volume of 50 ml. The difference between the perfumes of different brands must remain. The availability of goods at the same price suggests that, most likely, the product is not only not certified, but also fake.
- Range … The assortment should be diverse even within the limits of the goods of the same manufacturer. So, on the shelves of a store that has 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 demanded volumes, say, 100 ml, then it is worth thinking about their authenticity.
- Shop … The original perfume will never be sold on the market, in the passage, in small supermarkets and, even more so, in points of sale. Look for quality perfumes in large, reputable specialty stores. The most correct, but not every available option is to buy in the manufacturer's stores.
- Manufacturer … The manufacturer's data, as already mentioned, must be present both on the packaging and on the bottle. The company logo should not be distorted; all its proportions should be clearly maintained. Best quality French and Italian perfumes. If a different country is indicated on the packaging, then there is a danger of purchasing low-quality perfume.
Useful tips when buying perfume
In addition to applying the knowledge about the main differences between an original perfume and a cheap fake, there are some additional tips you can use.
Here are some helpful tips:
- Before deciding to buy expensive perfumes, be sure to check the manufacturer's website with the features of the product you are interested in. This will help you understand what are the distinctive features of specific perfumes.
- Check with the supplier, although often the seller may refuse to provide such information. On the websites of some original perfume manufacturers there is information about distributors and those stores that are entitled to sell their products.
- Don't miss the opportunity to use the tester.
- Ask the seller to show you a demo copy on which you can see the inside of the package, try the spray bottle.
- Try to avoid shopping online as often in this case it is difficult to return the goods.
Do not buy a perfume if you have any doubts about its authenticity. The use of such products can be fraught with health problems. some attackers are replacing ethyl alcohol with the more dangerous methyl alcohol. Likewise, cheap excipients can cause allergies.
How to distinguish high-quality perfumes from fake - look at the video:
The most correct answer to the question of how to distinguish a real perfume from a fake one is in the aroma, its structure and persistence. After all, it is the smell that is the most important in the entire purchase, it is he who is able to emphasize the individuality of the image, make passers-by turn around and create a special aura.
