How to check if perfume is authentic: label, batch code, seller and price

None of this needs special tools. You need the box, the bottle and a few minutes with the label. The sections below take the checks in the order we would run them.

Start with where you buy

The seller matters more than anything printed on the bottle. A perfume that travelled from the house to a retailer the house works with has a short, traceable route. A perfume that passed through several unnamed hands has a long one.

A house can tell you which retailers it supplies. Check with the house before you buy from a seller you do not know. If the seller is not on it, ask where the bottles come from.

A good seller answers that question in plain words and without fuss. A seller who dodges it has told you what you need to know.

The same rule applies to decants, which are small portions poured from an original bottle. A decant seller should say where its bottles come from. We come back to this below.

Read the label

Perfume sold in the EU must carry a set of details on the label. They come from Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, the EU rules for cosmetic products, and they give you a short list to tick off.

Article 19 asks for these items to appear on the container and the outer packaging:

• The name and address of the responsible person, the company answerable for the product in the EU.
• The nominal content, the amount of perfume the pack says it holds.
• The batch number, which identifies the production lot.
• An ingredients list headed "ingredients", with the fragrance itself listed as "parfum".

When the container is too small to carry everything, the batch number goes on the packaging. That is why a tiny travel bottle may show less than its box.

A missing item is not proof of anything on its own. Treat a gap as a reason to ask the seller, not as a verdict.

Match the batch code on box and bottle

The batch code is the most practical check. It is a short run of letters and digits, and it normally appears on the box and again on the bottle itself, often on the base or etched into the glass.

Put the two side by side. On an original they should match. If the box says one thing and the bottle says another, ask the seller to explain.

A few habits make this easier:

1. Look for the code before you remove the cellophane, so you know what the box says.
2. Check the base of the bottle, then the back of the box, then the flap.
3. Write the code down or photograph it. If you later have a question, the house can tell you what it knows about that lot.

Do not rely on a third-party website to tell you a code is valid. The house is the right place to ask.

Treat a very low price as a question

When a listing sits far below every retailer a house supplies, ask what explains the gap.

Ask the seller what explains the price. If the answer is vague, move on.

Compare at least two of those retailers before you decide what a fair price looks like. A single low price tells you very little. A price far below every one of them is the clearest warning on the list.

For reference, the house's own price is the anchor. Everything else is measured against it.

What a decant is, and what to ask

A decant is a small amount of perfume moved from the original bottle into a travel-size atomiser. The liquid is the original perfume. Only the container changes, which is why decants are a sensible way to try a scent before committing to a full bottle.

Because the bottle is no longer in front of you, the questions shift from the label to the seller. Ask:

• Where do the bottles come from?
• Is each decant filled from an original bottle?
• Does the seller say which perfume and which size you are getting?

For our own answers to these three questions, see how we source and decant every perfume. Our guide to what a perfume decant is explains the idea in more detail, and about our decants shows how we fill ours. For storage after you buy, see our guide on whether perfume expires, and for a gentle way to choose a first scent, safe blind buy perfumes.

Fresh scents for daytime

Once you know how to check a bottle, the next question is what to try. Community voters pick these two most often for day wear.

Aventus by Creed

Aventus opens bright and fruity, with bergamot, black currant, apple, lemon and pink pepper. The heart turns to pineapple, patchouli and Moroccan jasmine. The dry-down is woody, with birch, musk, oak moss, ambroxan and cedarwood.

It launched in 2010 and is listed for men, with going out as its occasion. On longevity, community votes lean long lasting. Community votes on its sillage lean strong. It is most often picked for the warmer months and for day wear.

Sauvage by Dior

Sauvage opens with pepper and Calabrian bergamot. The heart is more layered: Sichuan pepper, lavender, pink pepper, vetiver, patchouli, geranium and elemi. It dries down to ambroxan, cedar and labdanum.

It launched in 2015 and is listed for men, with going out as its occasion. Most voters call its longevity long lasting. Its sillage votes lean strong. Spring, summer and daytime are where voters place it most often.

Warm scents for evening

Community voters pick the other two most often for night and evening wear.

Baccarat Rouge 540 by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Baccarat Rouge 540 starts with saffron and jasmine. The heart brings amberwood, ambergris and hedione. The base is cedar, sugar, ambroxan and oakmoss.

It launched in 2015 and is unisex. Votes on its longevity lean eternal. Votes on its sillage lean strong. Voters place it most often in fall, winter and spring, and in the evening.

Oud Wood by Tom Ford

Oud Wood opens with agarwood, Brazilian rosewood and cardamom. The heart adds Sichuan pepper, sandalwood and vanilla. It settles on vetiver, tonka bean and amber.

It launched in 2007 and is listed for men, with work as its occasion. Votes on its longevity lean moderate. Most voters call its sillage moderate. Voters place it most often in winter and fall, and for night wear.

Try the shortlist as decants first

Reading a label is one half of buying well. Knowing you like the scent is the other half, and a decant answers that without the cost of a full bottle.

We fill decants in three sizes:

• The 3ml size lets you discover a scent, with around 60 sprays.
• The 10ml size lets you wear it for weeks, with around 200 sprays.
• The 30ml size lets you keep it, with around 600 sprays.

One example: a 3ml of Aventus is €11.88, and each perfume above is listed in all three sizes.

Start with a 3ml of the one that sounds closest to you. Wear it on a few different days, then decide whether to move up.

The bigger picture: How to find your signature scent in three steps.