Preventing Fakes!

CHANEL has made it a top priority to stop the sale of counterfeit products.

CHANEL continuously monitors the Internet and auction websites and takes action where appropriate including but not limited to filing civil lawsuits and lodging criminal complaints against counterfeiters.

To those of you out there who may be considering the purchase of counterfeit items, we urge you to recognize that by purchasing a counterfeit product you are supporting criminal activity and ask therefore that you refuse to purchase counterfeit goods.

To the counterfeiters, bear in mind that we are watching and we are taking action.

WHY SHOULD I CARE THAT I AM BUYING A COUNTERFEIT ITEM? NO ONE IS BEING HURT!

• Counterfeiters sell poor quality products. You may think you are getting a good deal but more often than not the product quickly will break, rip, fade or just fall apart. • Counterfeiters often engage in other unlawful conduct, such as identity theft and failing to deliver goods that were paid for. • Counterfeiters may be part of organized crime networks or terrorist groups, with profits often used to support their activities. • Counterfeiters do not pay taxes, leading to millions of dollars in lost revenues that would otherwise go to cities and states from the sale of legitimate goods.

HOW DO I KNOW IF THE PRODUCT IS COUNTERFEIT?

If the deal is too good to be true you are probably being sold a counterfeit.

If you buy a "CHANEL" product through an unauthorized dealer, you could be purchasing a counterfeit. CHANEL distributes its products only through authorized outlets. Most authorized outlets are listed at www.chanel.com.

If a product bearing the CHANEL mark or CC monogram is advertised as being of "AAA quality" or as a "replica", the product is fake and is illegal. The fact that there may be postings for such items on the Internet does not make them legal.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Why are counterfeiters allowed to sell their products over the Internet if it is against the law? A: Like many criminals, counterfeiters routinely ignore the law. While Internet service providers and hosts claim to prohibit counterfeiting, they generally do not pre-screen postings. Q: Why do auction sites allow the posting of counterfeits? A: While auction sites may state that counterfeit items cannot be offered for sale, generally no auction site will guarantee the authenticity of the products sold and counterfeit goods are often available. Most auction sites make money based on the listing or sale of goods including counterfeit goods. Due to the explosion of postings for counterfeit goods on auction sites, companies like CHANEL cannot always monitor them for counterfeits and cannot and do not guarantee the authenticity of the products sold. CHANEL and companies like CHANEL have repeatedly requested that auction sites take direct responsibility for monitoring their sites and for ensuring that unlawful merchandise is not offered for sale but counterfeits continue to be available on line Q: Can I trust that websites listed by search engines are not selling counterfeits? A: No. Search engines generally do not pre-screen websites that are linked to their search engines. Q: I just bought a CHANEL handbag from a website and I think it may be counterfeit. Can CHANEL help me? A: As much as CHANEL would like to help the victims of counterfeiting, CHANEL cannot get back money that was paid to a counterfeiter or repair counterfeit products. Chanel regularly sues counterfeiters. In this way, CHANEL is helping existing and future victims of counterfeiting. However, to avoid problems, the best advice is to purchase CHANEL products only through authorized CHANEL retailers. Q: How can I tell if an item is genuine? A. Unfortunately, CHANEL cannot provide the public with detailed information on how to identify genuine CHANEL products since obviously counterfeiters could use this information to further deceive the public. The only way that you can be certain that you are purchasing a genuine CHANEL product is to purchase it from an authorized CHANEL retailer.

Fake Chanel Perfumes:

Chanel perfumes are among the most common of faked perfumes. These counterfeit perfumes run rampant all over the internet and at flea markets, street stalls and even kiosks and perfume stores in the malls (not Ulta or Sephora)

In response to an ABC News story about counterfeit perfumes the Personal Care Products Council released the following statement:

"Counterfeit products are damaging to all facets of American business and can be hazardous to consumers. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the value of seized counterfeit fragrances increased by more than five times from 2007-2008 to a street value of $6.7 million. Counterfeiting and piracy have taken a serious, negative toll on our economy, contributing to the loss of an estimated 750,000 American jobs."

"Cosmetic and personal care product companies take great pride in producing safe, quality products, including fragrances. However, unlike authentic fragrances, counterfeit fragrances are not subject to the same strict safety substantiation requirements required under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Consumers should purchase fragrances from reputable, recognized retail outlets or directly from the manufacturer, to be assured they are purchasing an authentic, safe product."

So what is actually inside a bottle of fake perfume?  An article from ABC News talks about the actual ingredients and their side effects:

"Active ingredients found in counterfeit fragrance include things like urine, bacteria, antifreeze," Valerie Salembier, senior vice president and publisher of Harper's Bazaar, said.

Salembier and her staff have dedicated themselves to exposing counterfeits for more than six years. In the January issue of Harper's Bazaar, they target fake fragrances. They brought the issue of counterfeit perfume to "GMA's" attention.

"You're putting something on your face, on your neck, on your wrists. Those are sensitive parts of the body, so, to have active ingredients that could endanger your life is a very serious health risk," Salembier said.

Authorities in Britain and Ireland tested fake fragrances they'd seized and detected urine. Experts speculate it's used as a ph balance stabilizer and for its color.

Dermatologist Jeannette Graf, of Great Neck, N.Y., said she had never seen a reaction from real perfumes, but fake ones can cause contact dermatitis, or an inflammation of the skin.

"They will invariably say that they felt different as soon as they put it on. They felt burning. They saw redness. It felt uncomfortable, it didn't smell right. And that's almost immediate," Graf said.

Graf said she is beginning to see more cases, because counterfeit perfumes are easy to buy on the streets and the Internet. "People have access to things ... they would not have necessarily had before," Graf said.

Police are stepping up their raids to get the merchandise off the streets and off the market. But just as one shop is shut down, another one pops up.

ABC News' undercover cameras documented shelves upon shelves of fragrances that experts said contain the telltale signs of counterfeits.

"We see it happening every day. I mean, whether it's vendors [selling] out of their trunk at athletic events, whether it's kiosk-type people at flea markets, sometimes, they actually get into the shopping centers," Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's secretary of state, said.

Earlier this month, Marshall's team and other federal and county agencies conducted a raid at a liquidation sale in downtown Durham. The team seized $3.6 million worth of counterfeits, including fake perfume.

"We want to drive down demand. We want people to realize that it's not a bargain. It's not a bargain because they're dealing with some bad folks," Marshall said.

So the next time you reach for a fake another word should come to mind: fraud. "It is not a victim-less crime. The money spent on counterfeit goods supports terrorism, child labor, drug cartels," Salembier said.

Chanel perfumes have been faked since the 1920s!!!

Chanel No. 5 has been faked since it's inception by people who are trying to capitalize on the brand's success, status and popularity.

In 1953, a newspaper article mentions that two men were arrested for selling counterfeit Chanel perfume. Aaron Schwartz of Chanel Co. in New York and New Haven complained that the perfumes sold by the two men were not his company's product. Samples of the phony product were sent to the New Haven Agricultural Station and the State Food & Drug Commission for analysis. Both agencies reported that it was a cheap grade cologne.

Newsweek, 1954:
"Police of Hackensack, N.J., have exposed a smelly ring of racketeers who during the past two years have flooded the New York area with an estimated 30,000 bottles of fake Chanel No. 5. "

In 1956:
"Quantities of perfume, in imitation of Chanel No. 5, with counterfeit labels and containers, appeared on the North Carolina market, mainly in the Raleigh and Charlotte areas ; and, according to reports, were distributed by drivers of Cadillac cars."

Consumer Bulletin, 1968:
"PERFUME IS A FAVORITE CHRISTMAS GIFT, particularly likely to be purchased by the unwary male shopper. For the peddler of phony perfumes, it is harvest time. Anything that has the color of perfume is bottled attractively, and has a name that sounds like a famous scent can be and is sold to many at a high price. Counterfeit labels of popular brands are used on cheap imitations. Sometimes only initials are shown, to fool the purchaser into thinking that C stands for Chanel, A for Arpege, or MS for My Sin."

My Life in the Mafia, by Vincent Teresa, 1973:

“One of his hottest items around the holiday season was fake perfume - Chanel No. 5 - in a phoney bottle. It cost sixty cents a bottle for him to produce, and the real stuff sold for about thirty bucks in the stores."

Money, 1974:
"So perfume fakery thrives, particularly around Mother's Day and Christmas, the two big holidays for the industry. Police in New York turned up 100,000 bottles of fake Chanel No. 5 between December and March. Expensive perfume is diluted and sold as the real thing."

A 1974 newspaper article stated that sales of counterfeit perfumes have become an increasingly large problem. Sold at a fraction of the real item's cost, a bogus scent will soon fade after it is used. "There is just no way of accurately estimating the losses in sales from the peddling of fakes. People are always looking for a bargain. It's been a problem and its growing" , said a Chanel spokesman. He said that large scale counterfeit sales apparently center in New York, but also reported in Chicago, St Louis, Boston, the west coast and southern states as well as upstate New York.

The article also stated that a Chanel representative inspected 30,000 one ounce bottles of fake perfume in which the police seized in Manhattan. "The problem is biggest around the holidays, particularly Christmas, Mother's Day, Easter and Valentine's Day. The stuff turns up all over the place".

The article went on to explain that much of the phony perfume was created by members of the mob and filtered throughout mob owned bars, clubs and other establishments, or sold to street vendors. It then goes on to say that the other faked perfumes are Arpege by Lanvin, Tabu by Dana, Joy by Jean Patou, Shalimar by Guerlain, Nuit de Noel by Caron, Youth Dew by Estee Lauder, Evening in Paris by Bourjois and much more like the men's cologne Aramis.

I notice on some of the parfum extrait bottles that the labels are askew, the font is completely wrong and the printing is very sloppy or faded. Many times the bottles themselves are even completely wrong. The boxes too tell a story and are not always correct. The labels should be pushed up a little higher towards the top of the bottle and not stuck in the very center of the bottle or lowered or pushed to one side. Older outer boxes have stripes going down the front of the bottle.


The informant said that you can determine the real deal from the fakes by the bottles themselves:

• "The neck, if you feel around the legit bottle, is all smooth. The fake bottle for some reason has a little edge on one corner of the bottle." 

• Authentic Chanel bottles are from a solid mold. The fake is made in two parts with the adhesive joint clearly visible. 

• Stoppers for the extrait bottles are always glass, on the fake ones, they are plastic. Counterfeit bottles have ripples and impurities in the glass. 

• Authentic bottles are perfectly flat from each top corner to the bottle neck. The phony bottle has an upward slanted effect from the corner to the neck. 

• One way to detect a counterfeit is by the label as many are gloppy, fuzzy, blurry or faded appearance. 

• Some authentic vintage bottles have an inscription on the back denoting the amount of perfume in ounces (in black lettering)- this is usually found on the USA made and filled bottles. 

• Real Chanel perfume has a distinctively darker color than the fake perfume. 

• Also, the length of time the scent lasts with the fake perfumes is no longer than 15-30 minutes after being applied. 

• Many of the fake Chanel perfume boxes may be marked "Imported From France". The real Chanel doesn't have anything but the size on the bottom and "Made in France". 

• Another way to tell a fake from a forgery is the way the little black wax seal is created on the threads wrapped around the bottle neck, the fake bottles usually have very badly forged seals. 

• All fake parfum bottles are incorrectly shaped with sloping shoulders and these were made by Pochet et du Couval (small entwined "HP" symbol) and the bases are only embossed with "bottle made in France on base". On real Chanel bottles the top of the bottles should be straight across and not having sloping shoulders, the bottles will also display the "Chanel" name.

• My research has concluded that some authentic parfum bottles, including miniatures were made by Pochet et du Courval, their marking is a small "HP" molded into the glass - along with the name "Chanel" (if it does not say "Chanel" in the glass - it is fake). These HP bottles date from 1970s-1990s. The minis that are marked with "HP" were often sold in the "wardrobe" sets. Note: these authentic bottles DO NOT have sloping shoulders!

• Most Chanel bottles have been made by Verreries Brosse and usually the bases will be embossed with a "VB" or "BR" logo, molded with the name "Chanel" into the glass. 

• On fake bottles, stoppers are incorrectly shaped and lack the extra faceting shown on real Chanel bottle stoppers, and the labels have incorrect font, centering, etc. 

• Chanel never made any products called "Essence of No.5 Chanel", the company also never made a roll-on perfume oil. 

• The Greek solid perfume bottles do NOT hold genuine Chanel No. 5 perfume, they are filled with a knockoff "version". Do not be fooled!!! These are souvenirs from Greece.

Another 1974 newspaper article states that hustlers were filling Chanel styled bottles with liquids other than perfume and attempting either to sell them or return or exchange them to busy stores trying to get a refund. They also mention that sugar water is usually inside the counterfeit bottles instead of perfume.

Among the many questionable values peddled during the season, phony perfumes bearing misleading labels ("Chanel-type" or "Channel" with two N's, or "Our Version of..") should be avoided. Other promoters bottle phony fragrances in bottles marked with various initials "A" for Arpege, "WS" for White Shoulders, "MS" for My Sin, "C5" for Chanel No 5 and others, sometimes the sellers are falsely claiming these are codes used by the perfume companies to identify their product, no such number existed for Chanel perfume.

Fake pricing can also fool the unwary shopper too, sellers will often affix a fake price tag to the perfumes and then try to sell them for $5, trying to show you how much money you would be saving. Also, instead of perfume, its likely you are getting badly scented alcohol.

Sweet Street, 1975:

"There's a guy in town that he's got counterfeit Chanel Number 5 and Coty's all put up in special boxes, we pick 'em up at six bits a bottle and sell 'em for five dollars. He makes the stuff with two or three drops of the of the original plus a lot of junk and water. The perfume don't last, but it lasts long enough to sell.

Ripoffs, 1976:

"police in Ozone Park, New York, recently broke up a phony-perfume scheme in which homemade perfume was packaged in 54,000 counterfeit Chanel No. 5 bottles"

US News & World Report, 1978:

"Bargain perfumes: often a fragrant ripoff. Among the most prevalent schemes now coming to light — Counterfeit perfume. One is likely to be a small vial referred to as "Essence of Chanel No. 5," a perfume roll on oil for just $5 or $10. The customer of course winds up with either a bottle of toilet water or colored water. and not the real deal."

Piracy and the Public, 1983:

"Having identified this major source of phoney French perfume, he next established that a big consignment of counterfeit Chanel had been flown out of Taiwan to Los Angeles in the mid-summer of 1982."

New Society, 1984:

"For some reason, Britons are big in fake perfumes. Last September, for example, an illicit factory was uncovered in London which had been mass-producing phoney fragrances under the Chanel and Aramis labels."

Marked to Die, 1984:

"Together they hired a chemist to concoct a bogus perfume, "Chanel Number Five," which was packaged in counterfeit boxes and sold (for five dollars a bottle, where normally it cost about thirty-five) under the pretense that they had stolen it."

Concord Weekly, 1985:

"Ladies who are fond of Chanel perfume products are prepared to pay fantastic sums for the scented water. But how do they know that they are buying the real thing. Apparently there's a booming trade in counterfeit Chanel. The real thing costs as much as £35 a bottle, but the fake a mere £4.50."

Business Week, 1985:

"At the highest level are true counterfeit products. These look as much like the original as possible and use the same brand ... Perfumes such as Channel No. 5 and Chanel No. 6 are clearly intended to pass as the real thing. "

Fakes

The pictures below are to show you the various examples of the most common vintage fake Chanel perfume bottle. Vintage examples of fake Chanel perfumes are easy to come by as the newer ones, and this guide is meant purely for the education, identification and reference purposes only, and I feel they are serving the public a great purpose by having them here.

Counterfeit Chanel perfume bottle and box shown below.

All the bottles shown below are counterfeit Chanel perfumes.

Fake Chanel perfume, photo from fragrantica

Most sellers have no idea their perfume is a counterfeit, and I would rather not use a seller's ID or name to prevent embarrassment or blacklisting them, so any watermarks bearing a seller's name will be edited. But in the case of those sellers who have a clear history of selling fake Chanel bottles, I have provided a list below.

Please take time to review their feedback, and see that they have a history of selling Chanel fakes, or multiple Chanel perfumes, especially factory sealed, larger sizes and those sellers using stock photos.

Remember Chanel does not wholesale to just anyone. Higher end department stores, Sephora and Ulta are the exception, not the perfume kiosk at the mall, the perfume store in the mall, the flea market vendor, craigslist sellers or your ebay seller.

I have spent a lot of time looking through thousands of ebay auctions over the last few years and compiled a short list of ebay sellers who have a history of selling fake Chanel perfumes. Chances are if they are selling fake Chanel, their other perfumes are probably fake too...buyer beware!

WARNING: If I look at your ebay listings and find that you are selling more than one Chanel perfume over a period of time, I will check your feedback, if you have feedback saying that your products are fakes/knockoffs/etc, or if customers have purchased a fake perfume from you and report this to me, your ebay name may wind up here to prevent other ebayers from buying your counterfeit garbage. Chanel does NOT sell their products wholesale, they do not sell factory seconds either. I urge all buyers who have been duped to always file a claim with paypal or ebay.


Ebay sellers selling fake Chanel perfume:

• 662mon
• glamourspot
• perfume-cali
• krystaldaw
• taheram90
• renew413
• 21bter
• shahidur586
• forever1237 
• comfortedge
• mossabanf
• hermix79
• bleuelements
• happy_deals08
• 2011_fragrances
• gifts-unlimited
• anthonytn113
• smartnmart 
• lowpricesonthego
• perfumefactory 
• windmills009
• point3965 
• patpat5678 
•  matin1005
• a1fragrance
• afusatop
• owenbray
• bestdealperfume
• treometra2012
• designer_perfumes
• homestuffonsale
• travyperfumes
• belleperfumecom
• to_zembla
• kathleenle5672
• designer_perfumes
• beautypromise59 
• avalonchristians123
• pavelpavlovbg
• worldcosmeticsinc
• katharina.61
• swankycreations
• perfume-lover
• newmillennium77 
• originalfragrance
• 2011ptown85 
• bestbuys123
• shefed
• newmillennium77
• thatsmagirl
• estrada4051
• formomseyesonly
• *acanthus
• jerouyt
• lulustyle19
• bobbies*hobbies*2010
• ymonagan1
• wilson_2020
• avalans1
• kissofdeath9291
• lecalloway2012
• lisaperfumes
• pacman-us
• girlpowersale
• duchenko2011
• perfumedepot.123
• revive-couture
• maemae9989
• stevnsop8
• index918

To help protect yourself from fakes, especially buying on ebay,

BEFORE YOU EVEN PLACE A BID, always ask questions. 

CHANEL DOES NOT WHOLESALE ANYTHING. 

Chanel only distributes their products to authorized department stores and their own website. Any ebay or flea market seller who claims that they buy Chanel via wholesale is a liar and is probably buying fakes wholesale from counterfeit perfume manufacturing companies in China. 

Beware of sellers using the phrase: 

"We sell authentic surplus items and therefore they are inexpensive. Enjoy the saving!!!".

CHANEL DOES NOT SELL "SURPLUS" OR "OLD STORE STOCK" PERFUME OR COSMETICS. 

Chanel also does not sell "second quality" or "factory seconds"

Before You Buy - An Online Buyer's Checklist:

• If a bottle is being sold using a stock photo, ask the seller for a photo of the actual bottle for sale. 

• If the bottle is being sold as sealed, ask the seller to remove the item from the box and take a photo of it. Many times, a fake bottle is hidden inside a box and you wont know it is fake until you remove it from the box. 

• In the case of full size bottles with boxes, also ask for the serial numbers on the bottom of the bottle and the bottom back of the box -- if they don't match, that's a tipoff that the goods may not be the genuine article. 

• If the perfume is shown but its a blurry, dark or too far away picture, ask the seller for a better, clear, brighter photo. 

• Look at the seller's feedback, check to see if their negatives or neutrals have anything to do with the seller offering fakes, counterfeit, knockoff, impostor, fraudulent or suspicious fragrances. Also if a feedback says anything about leaking, diluted, weird smelling, rancid smelling, watered down, weak, or "airplane altered the scent", beware! Also I have read that fake perfume sellers will have extra accounts so that they can give themselves excellent feedback ratings, so keep this in mind too. 

• If the seller is selling a tester bottle, ask them what the bottle is marked. Tester bottles should be marked or engraved with "tester/demonstration". Also testers do not come in a retail box, they come in plain white boxes as they are not meant to be sold to the public. Tester bottles are usually marked "Tester", or with a code like "T1" or "Ch1". On some of the men's fragrance canisters, a sticker may be applied to the base of the canister, such as the ones for Chanel Allure Homme Travel Spray, Platinum Egoiste Travel Spray, Chanel Pour Monsieur Travel Spray. 

• Be suspicious of "too good to be true" deals. In the case of online purchasing, sometimes sellers will sell a fake perfume at a super cheap price, but the shipping cost is exorbitant to make up their loss in sales.

If you purchased a Chanel perfume on ebay, flea market or small time vendor, check your bottles against a genuine bottle that you already own or at a department store or smaller store like Ulta or Sephora.

Post-Purchase: A Buyer's Checklist:

• Check the color of the perfume against a genuine bottle, if the perfume's color is wrong inside your bottle, it is probably a fake, note that vintage perfumes will darken with age over time. Check to see if there is any floating debris, cloudiness or foreign matter inside the perfume. Also check to see if there is any separation of the contents. The color of a parfum should be slightly darker than eau de parfum, eau de parfum should be slightly darker than an eau de toilette, eau de toilette should be slightly darker than an eau de cologne, an eau de cologne should be slightly darker than a voile de parfum. However, this isn't always the case, so check your perfume with a genuine one at Sephora, Ulta or major department store and NOT a perfume kiosk at a mall, flea market, ebay, or computer screen. 

• Look at the glass of your bottle, if the glass has streaking, inclusions, is wavy, has messy corners or any flaws or inconsistencies, it is most likely a fake. Chanel's bottles are of the highest quality and have to pass quality control inspections at the factory. The bottle should not look cheaply or shoddily made and the glass should not look cloudy or have any air bubbles in any way. 

• Look at the box itself, if the cellophane is glued very sloppily or if there are noticeable globs of glue, this can be one of the hallmarks of a fake, but this isn't the end all be all. The glue on the real Chanel cellophane is clear, not white or any other color. 

• Check the printing on the underside of the box, if it is faded, globbed, or isn't what it should say, it is most likely a fake. If the box looks cheap, or print rubs off easily, made up of low grade flimsy cardboard, lettering too bold or thick, not raised or embossed print or if the words are spelled incorrectly, you probably have a fake. Check to make sure the font used is correct. Chanel uses a font they call Avant Garde. Also check to see if your bottle has trademarks and serial numbers. The serial number should match the number on the bottle. The serial numbers should be imprinted on the base of the box and not printed with ink. 

• Look at the box again, in the case of Coco Mademoiselle, the box should be a pearly white, not a dead white without any pearly sheen. 

• Check the threads inside the cap (if any), if they don't screw onto the bottle correctly or don't fit, or is wobbly, it is probably a fake. Also be sure that the spray mechanism works properly. Turn the bottle upside down, if the cap falls off, its a fake, genuine Chanel caps fit tightly on the spray mechanism. 

• Look at the tube inside the bottle, if the perfume has never been sprayed or opened, there will be a tiny air bubble inside. Many perfume scammers will use old bottles or fake tester bottles and refill them with fake perfume. 

• Look at the small collar label around neck of bottle - is it off center, not fitted correctly? Cheaply printed: the CC Chanel logo letters look weird, too thick/thin or not overlapping correctly, blurry. Also look for different colored bands than normal: black instead of gold. Check the CC logo, if it isn't sharp and clear, you may have a fake. 

• Also check the label on the bottle. If the printing isn't clear and perfect or match the font of the genuine bottle, you might have a fake. There should also be no globs of ink or off kilter lettering. Also check to see if the label that is supposed to be paper is printed directly on the bottle, another indication of a fake bottle. 

• Check the bottom of your bottle, many fake perfumes have the information printed on the bottom of the bottle instead of a label, if the description can be scraped off easily with a fingernail, this is a good indication it may be a fake. Look to see if a cheap label is stuck on (some perfumes have these etched) applied crookedly or has any info missing or different. The label should be clear, centered and not missing any info. If the label overlaps the bottle, is off kilter, missing info or a weird color other than clear, it is a sign of a fake. 

• Check that the name of the perfume is spelled correctly, many fakes have a missing letter or the perfume name is slightly different than what it should be. 

• Look on the ingredients list to see of any of the ingredients is spelled incorrectly. 

• When applying the perfume, the fragrance should not alter after application within 20 minutes, it should last as long as you are used to. 

• If the perfume smells unusual or like a cleaning solvent or rubbing alcohol. If you're not sure, take this quick test: apply the perfume from the identical Chanel fragrance with the identical concentration (eau de cologne, eau de toilette, eau de parfum) department store or other genuine source on one wrist, and the unknown fragrance on the other wrist. Do a smell check to see if they match. If they do match, check again after 10 minutes. A fake won't be able to keep up the olfactory facade and will dissipate quickly. Vintage perfumes usually have their top notes bruised from age, how they were stored, climate in which they were stored and the overall natural shelf life of perfume oils. Take that in consideration if the item is vintage. 

• Sometimes you might mistake a genuine perfume for a fake one. This confusion can arise if you are nervous or not familiar with the perfume itself. If it's been years since you've last smelled it on your skin, your skin chemistry may have changed which will alter the fragrance. Other factors can be humidity in the air, age of the perfume, and the concentration.

If you've determined that your perfume is a fake, then follow the appropriate measures of filing a claim through ebay or paypal. 

Designer Imposter Fragrances:

Designer impostor fragrances ran rampant and are exactly what they claim to be, impostor's of the original fragrance, in other words, not the real deal. So don't buy these thinking it is REAL Chanel because they aren't!

These copycat perfumes are made by various companies to smell similar to Chanel, but no one has Chanel's genuine formula except for Chanel. Anytime you see the words "Essence of Chanel No. 5" , please note that it is NOT real Chanel perfume.


Thank You!

Thank you to So Feminine UK for mentioning me in their blog post on fake Chanel perfume: http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/perfumes/perfume-history-d21353x50017.html