Fragrances

How strong the bottle is, from body splash to extrait:

the label says how much perfume oil sits in the alcohol, which decides how long it lasts on skin. A body splash or body mist is the lightest; it often comes in a set with a shower gel of the same scent from bath and shower. Eau de cologne fades within a couple of hours, eau de toilette lasts a morning, eau de parfum carries into the evening, and parfum or extrait is denser still. One scent can come in several of these and they do not smell the same, so check which one a listing is. Scent family matters more than the label for him or for her. Citrus and aquatic scents are quiet enough for an office; amber, vanilla and oud, the styles the Arabic perfumes made fashionable, are heavier and carry across a room. Try one spray on the wrist rather than a paper strip and wait, because what you are really buying is how it smells an hour later.

Decants, the way to wear a perfume before buying the bottle:

a decant is a portion of an original perfume transferred from the full bottle into a little glass atomiser. It lets you live with a fragrance for days, and it is how many people sample niche scents they would never buy blind. A good one comes in glass rather than plastic, labelled with the name and concentration, and the seller should be able to show the bottle it came from, batch code included.

Arabic-house perfumes against a designer bottle:

this is the price difference that shapes most decisions. A 100 ml eau de parfum from one of the Gulf perfume houses costs around ₡18,000 to ₡25,000 new, while a designer bottle of the same size runs from about ₡60,000 to ₡95,000. Second hand, price follows how much juice is left and whether the box and cap come with it: a boxed designer bottle with a few sprays gone keeps far more of its value than a half-empty one, and a tester sells below a boxed retail bottle because it was never meant to be a gift.

What the batch code under the bottle can and cannot prove:

genuine bottles carry a short code printed or etched on the base, and the same code on the bottom of the box. If they do not match, or the box has none, walk away. A match is not proof on its own, because empty bottles of popular scents get refilled, so also check that the collar under the sprayer is crimped evenly with no glue or scratches and that the cellophane sits tight with neat folds. A tester, in a plain white or brown box and often without a cap, is a genuine bottle made for shop counters rather than a fake, but the listing should say so. Then smell the juice. Light and heat break perfume down from the top: a bright citrus opening turns flat or sour, and the liquid darkens or clouds. Ambers and woods keep for years; fresh citrus goes first. A bottle that lived on a sunny dresser or in a car is worth less than one kept in its box, whatever the fill level.

A half-used bottle, photographed against the light:

fill level is what a buyer wants to see, so shoot the bottle side-on in front of a window and say roughly how much is left. Add the base of the bottle and the bottom of the box so both codes can be read, and say how it was stored and how it reached you, whether a gift, a travel purchase or a bottle you wore twice. If the sprayer spits or the neck has leaked, mention it. Sets sell best kept whole, with the matching lotion from body creams and lotions still in the box. Arrange to meet somewhere you can sit for a while: a buyer in Cartago will spray once on the wrist, go for a coffee and decide on how the scent smells half an hour later.