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From: edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Cheap copies of brand-name perfumes
Message-ID: <2858@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Jan-86 01:40:44 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.2858
Posted: Tue Jan  7 01:40:44 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jan-86 05:41:47 EST
References: <128@pedsgo.UUCP>
Reply-To: edhall@rand-unix.UUCP (Ed Hall)
Distribution: net
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 21

Some friends and I once did a test of an Opium-imitation (Opium is a
perfume, for those who don't know) against the Real-Thing.  (It was
an otherwise dull party, so what the hey...)  We made two interesting
discoveries:

1) The fake worked much better on some people than on others.  It's
   a well-known fact that the resulting odor of a perfume can be
   strongly affected by the skin chemistry of the wearer.
2) Some people were able to find a much stronger difference ("Gee,
   these don't smell a bit alike") than others ("They smell pretty
   similar to me") between the two, even when applied to (the right
   and left wrists of) the same individuals.

But the bottom line was: in all cases, people were able to tell the
difference.  (One, in fact, prefered the smell of the imitation.)

So much for an informal, non-blind test.  The quality of various
imitations may vary.

		-Ed Hall
		ihnp4!sdcrdcf!randvax!edhall