Last year I bought a Daisy, Marc Jacobs perfume from Ebay. I wasn’t a fan, but didn’t think too much of it. I tried it again lately and thought hmmm, this doesn’t smell like the perfume I loved in high school. I took a closer look by buying a real one.

Both the real and the fake had similar top notes, but as soon as the top notes vanished, the fake left nothing while the real turned into a woody scent that lasted for the entire day. Yet from the outside, the bottles looked nearly identical.

I thought it would be fun to figure out what is different between the two bottles. Could one spot the fake just from the exterior?

What I noticed from the fake one:

• Rubber at the top of the daisy smelled bad
• Injection molding was sloppy (there was a line where the mold came together)
• Printed text was not straight at the bottom
• Bottle cap was looser

If you look carefully enough, there are obvious differences. But the differences lie entirely in the details because if the intention of the manufactor is to scam you, then they will cut corners as much as they can in order to save money.