Making your artificial flowers look real

Despite their obvious differences, faux flowers can look just as real as natural blooms with just a few simple tricks.

Below, we'll show you how to make fake flowers look real with 10 steps including how to hide the stems, finding quality flowers, and using scent to convince your guests.

Making your artificial flowers look real

If there's one thing we want from our artificial flowers, it's for them to look as real as possible. After all these years, we’ve gotten to know our fauxs like the backs of our hands, along with all the little tips and tricks that make them look their best.

Now it’s time we passed our knowledge on to you, to help make your fake flowers look real.

Step by step: how to make fake flowers look real

1. Compare against real flowers
2. Choose quality flowers
3. Arrange your flowers
4. Remove any creases
5. Trim your flower stems
6. Hide fake flower stems
7. Try scenting faux flowers
8. Use in-season flowers
9. Mix with real blooms
10. Clean your fake flowers

1. Compare against real flowers

How can you make your faux flowers look real without checking their natural counterparts first?

You can’t. 

Before you rush into buying your flowers, study the real thing. Take note of the flower shape and check the texture of the stem. Are the leaves a distinctive shape? What does the inside of the flower look like? 

This is perhaps the most important stem of all. By comparing faux flowers to their real versions and carefully checking any photos, you can whittle your options down to only the most realistic options, so you’re ahead of the game before you’ve even bought your flowers. 

2. Choose quality flowers

Once you know what you’re looking for, you can steer clear of any less-than-realistic options that give faux flowers a bad rep. 

Good quality artificial flowers will use innovative materials to make them extra authentic. Faux lilies and roses may use latex to give them soft petals that feel real. Artificial poppy flowers should have soft stems with tiny hairs, just like the real thing. And fake sunflowers should have a detailed centre with lots of tiny disk petals. 

On the other hand, poor-quality flowers may have plasticky leaves, less detailed flowers and plain plastic stems. 

You’ll also need to check that your flowers have a wired stem that can be adjusted to replicate the gentle bend that real flowers have.

3. Arrange your flowers

Arranging the faux foliage and gently bending out the stems will help you to pull off the look of faux plants and flowers. An easy way to get started is to use a photo of the real thing as a guide.

For example, arrangements like our paradise bouquet and Bahama mama bouquet use palm leaves around the outside, which should have a gentle curve to them instead of being totally straight.

The tulips in our tulip bunch should be bent slightly to mimic the way that the weight of the flower heads causes them to bend over slightly.

And a tip that works for any arrangement is not to make it look too perfect. Natural flowers aren't perfect, there are always small imperfections, so allowing some in your faux flowers will only add to their realism. Anything absolutely perfect will only raise suspicion.

4. Remove any creases

Occasionally when arranging your flowers, you may notice small creases in the leaves. This is just a side effect of being securely packaged during shipping and you should be able to remove them. To do this, coax them out by bending the leaf against the fold and rolling it gently between your fingers. 

You may find that carefully ironing leaves on a low heat, under a cloth, can help to smooth any creases, but you need to be careful not to damage the foliage. 

Alternatively, there are pre-made options available like our artificial flower arrangements, which are arranged by hand and ready to go in your vase without any fuss.

If you’re planning on creating your own artificial bouquet comprised of different faux flower stems, we’ve got an excellent guide to help arrange your artificial flowers into a bouquet.

5. Trim your flower stems

In most cases, you’ll need to trim your flower’s stems to fit your vase. Plus, it helps them to look more authentic. 

You can do this using a strong pair of wire cutters to get through the internal wire. Simply measure your vase and compare it to your flowers. Then snip any extra length off.

To make your flower arrangement look real, leave a few of the middle stems slightly taller, which will give it a natural, rounded shape on top.

For more in-depth tips, check out our guide on how to trim artificial flower stems.

6. Hide fake flower stems

There are a couple of reasons to hide your fake flower stems. One is if you don’t believe the stem looks very realistic, the other is if you decide not to use water in your vase. 

Why wouldn't you want to use water with faux flowers?

Well, your flowers should have a wire inside the stem to help shape your flower. The downside is that it can rust in water. Fortunately, an easy way to get around this is to use an opaque-coloured vase like our Stefanie vase or concrete-style globe ceramic vase. 

If however, you’d like to use a clear vase, there are a few things you can do.

How to hide fake flower stems:

1. Fill your vase with beads 

   This is as simple as it sounds, find some decorative beads or pebbles to fill the base of your vase and hide the fact that there’s no water.

2. Try a UV-stable resin 

   This option is permanent, so it’s only viable if you’re happy to sacrifice your vase. Sit your stems in your vase and fill the base with resin to replicate the look of water. Just make sure it’s UV-stable resin to stop it from turning yellow in the sun. 

3. Use clear nail polish 

   If you really want to use water, you can try coating the ends of your stem, including the wire, in clear nail polish and let it dry. This will act as a barrier between the water and the wire to prevent any rusting.

7. Try scenting your faux flowers

By appealing to the different senses, you can make your flowers look, feel and even smell real.

Faux flowers won’t have a natural floral scent, which means they wouldn't pass the 'smell test' should you have any particularly curious visitors.

To fix this, we’ve tried and tested different methods to scent your artificial flowers including essential oils and perfume. For all the info, read our guide to scenting artificial flowers.

You can use a general floral scent all over or go the extra mile and use specific scents to match the flower type.

8. Use in-season flowers

Having tulips out in July will be a dead giveaway! Instead, try swapping out a few arrangements throughout the year to keep them in theme with the season and make your artificial flowers look real.

Spring:

Tulips, anemones, peonies, hydrangeas, ranunculus

Summer:

Sunflowers, hydrangeas, delphiniums, dahlias, roses

Autumn:

Chrysanthemums, dahlias, cyclamen, amaryllis

Winter:

Primroses, camellias, hellebores, carnations, anemones

When you swap out your flowers, make sure to store them correctly. Keeping them in an air-tight box is best so that they don’t get squashed or crumpled up. Store them out of sunlight to avoid any sun damage, and your flowers will look good as new when you bring them back out.

9. Mix with real blooms

You don’t have to choose one over the other, we believe that real and faux plants can live together in harmony. ✌️ 

Blending real with faux can add extra colour when natural flowers begin to fade, and your fake flowers will look more realistic if they’re surrounded by real blooms.

10. Clean your fake flowers

A layer of dust will show that your flowers have been there a while and scream faux!  

For waxy leaves and flowers, use a damp cloth to remove any dirt. For intricate silk flowers, try either a hair dryer or a paintbrush to clean all the small creases. 

For a step-by-step video, take a look at our guide to cleaning artificial flowers.