Posted on 10-Dec-2012

Is it real or a factice

Have you ever had a sealed bottle that you wondered if it was real perfume or a factice. Here is how to find out without opening the bottle. Water freezes. Alcohol and oil does not. If you put a bottle into the freezer that is a factice with water inside, the water inside will freeze. If you do test a bottle this way, be sure to check on the bottle within 30 minutes. If you let the bottle stay in for too long the water will freeze and expand and break the bottle. I learned this the hard way this last week. First time this ever happened. But I think it was also the first time I put a factice with just water inside into the freezer. Unfortunately, I left it in the freezer over night and the water expanded so much that it broke the bottle. sigh. But I now know it was a factice. lol. All I could save was the stopper.

But if there had been alcohol in the bottle the stopper would have become loose and it could have been opened. Use the freezer with caution in opening bottles. Don't leave a potential factice in the freezer without checking within 30 minutes. And remove it if the contents start to cloud up.

While this did not happen with the bottle in the above photo, I do believe this is a factice. But the French started using plain alcohol instead of water at some point in time, and this probably has just alcohol, because it did not freeze when I put it in the freezer. I have tried everything to open this bottle, but have been unsuccessful. The first time I put it into the freezer, the enamel printing on the bottle rubbed off when I took it out of the freezer. I chipped the stopper trying to open it. It is frustrating to have a bottle you want to open, that just refuses to give up its contents. But I haven't given up. I put it in the window in the sunshine, and then after awhile put it in the freezer again. I have been working on this bottle for months. Someday, I know it will loosen. I just need to be patient and keep trying.