How to spot an authentic fragrance

A counterfeit fragrance is rarely a bad smell. It is usually a passable smell that fades in twenty minutes, paired with a bottle that almost looks right. The 'almost' is where the entire fake industry lives — and it is where a trained eye, in about ninety seconds, can tell the difference.

1. The cellophane

Authentic luxury houses use a tight, double-sealed cellophane with a single, clean seam at the back of the box. The seam is straight. The wrap is taut against the corners of the box, not loose. A fold that pleats or bubbles is the first quiet signal that something is off.

2. The batch code

Every authentic bottle has a batch code printed on both the box and the underside of the bottle itself. The two codes must match exactly. They are usually four to seven alphanumeric characters, laser-etched on the bottle (not stickered), and they can be verified against the house's public batch database — or, on every Purone product, against ours.

3. The atomiser

Original atomisers spray a fine, even, almost dry mist. Counterfeit atomisers tend to produce a wetter, coarser spray — droplets you can feel on the back of your hand instead of a fragrance cloud that wraps around it. Spray once at arm's length. If the dispersion looks like a garden hose, the bottle is suspect.

4. The dry-down

A real luxury fragrance has three acts — top, heart, base — that unfold over four to six hours. A counterfeit usually has a single act: a loud opening that collapses inside thirty minutes into something generic and faintly alcoholic. If your perfume disappears before lunch, the perfume is the issue, not your skin.

“A real fragrance tells you a story over a day. A fake fragrance tells you a sentence over an hour.”

When in doubt, buy from a house that publishes its authentication process. Then test it. A serious retailer will welcome the question.