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 was interesting to diff the bottles and figure out what was different between them. Obviously the perfume is different, but could one spot the fake just from the exterior?

What I noticed from the fake one:

• the rubber at the top of the daisy smelled bad
• the injection molding was sloppy (there was a line where the mold came together)
• the printed text was not completely straight at the bottom
• the bottle cap was looser
• oh yeah and the perfume smells like shit

Anyways, what I learned is that 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.