Watch Out! Counterfeit Fragrances Contain Anti-Freeze And Urine

Anti-freeze? Urine? We don't want anyone to lose their lunch here, but this is really disturbing information Harper's Bazaar magazine is reporting today, about the huge business of counterfeit fragrances and the unbelievable ingredients found in them.

And faux fragrances are different from fake handbags or apparel, simply because, you are applying a fake perfume to the skin. And sometimes, though not always, you can develop an ugly reaction, says Jeannette Graf, a dermatologist in Great Neck, New York. "Knockoffs are poorly made, cheap, and reactive. You don't have accountability with a knockoff. It could be made in someone's bathtub for all you know." Bad reactions, she says, range from a runny nose to redness and eczema.

The Bazaar magazine article goes on to explain that, counterfeit fragrances have not been subjected to the quality-control tests and research and development on which legitimate makers spend money and time. "When you wear a fake, the experience is a lot different," Patrick Bamburak, a Dior Perfumes executive says. "It's either more concentrated and will be more strong or will have an alcoholy smell that won't last." And fakes have been found to contain contaminated alcohol, antifreeze, urine, and harmful bacteria.

Yuck. Enough to turn your stomach. And yet, these knock-off perfumes are sold everywhere, and not just on the streets of New York City. You can find counterfeit fragrances at flea markets, discount drugstores, and even supermarkets. And the most common place of all.....on some online sites, especially on Ebay.

Don't get us started with Ebay. We got taken, snowed, conned, and whatever other word you want to call it, when we innocently purchased what we thought were two bottles of Estee Lauder's Beautiful fragrance two Decembers ago, before Christmas.

The seller, with an almost stellar Ebay feedback rating, was peddling the fragrance in a big 2 1/2 oz. bottle for only the auction starting price of $24.99. Plus $5.99 shipping. A total of $30.98. A 'real' bottle of Beautiful in a 2 1/2 oz. bottle would run us about $70 or more.We were lucky to get our hands on two big bottles of Beautiful for only $61.96. Sealed and wrapped in the original box.

Well, the Beautifuls were big fakes. Two counterfeit fragrances.

Our beauty tip today: Buy right, like Harper's Bazaar is warning you:

"Top-quality perfumes are sold at department stores, beauty specialty stores such as Sephora, and sometimes high-end boutique pharmacies and apothecaries.