Where to Find the Best Fake Flowers That Look Real
A round up of the best fake flowers that look real, 12 places to buy them, + tricks to make artificial flowers look even more realistic.
So uh… I blacked out the other day and accidentally bought like 8 bunches of fake flowers.
I don’t know how it happened. Total mystery. Just my need for spring, I guess.
Like in my blind rage against the latest cold snap we were in as the freezing temps shriveled all of my plants outside that I potted during an overly optimistic winter warm front and forgot to cover them up, I launched myself down the rabbit hole of reading reviews of faux florals (of all things).
It resulted in these gorgeous fake flowers that look real, I SWEAR! I’m a total snob when it comes to plastic-y fake looking artificial flower stems, but I hate the mess fresh flowers make. And I don’t really have the green thumb to grow them in the first place. So here we are…
Where to Find Fake Flowers That Look Real
Not all faux flowers are created equal, even from retailer to retailer. From high-end to low-budget stores, some of their products are just hit or miss.
So I pulled together a bunch of my favorite beautiful faux flowers later in this post that I own myself or have seen/felt in person (because pictures online are often deceiving).
If you prefer a vase of fresh flowers on your kitchen table without the need to change them every week, these look SO much like the real deal.
But if you need a good starting point, these retailers have some of the best fake flowers that look real.
4 Tricks to Make Fake Flowers Look Real
1. “Fluff” Your Stems
Just like you would when decorating an artificial Christmas tree, your first step should be to bend your flower stems in different directions to make them appear more full.
This is so they fall naturally within the vase when making your artificial flower arrangement.
Separate individual stems. Smooth out the leaves. Gently reshape any flower heads with your hands.
Sometimes it even helps to fluff up fake blooms for a few seconds with a hair dryer set on cold. This will quickly create the look of fresh flowers in your faux flower arrangements.
2. Cut the Stem Ends to Fit the Height of Your Vase
If you’re using an opaque vase, you can get away with just bending your faux flower stems to the height you need.
But if you’re using a clear vase, cut them with some wire snips to look more like real flowers. Don’t those faux dried look roses in the glass vase on our coffee table below look real?
3. Add a Few Inches of Water
When using a clear vase, fill the bottom with 2-3 inches of water. (Put a dab of hot glue at the ends of the stems to prevent the metal wire inside from rusting in the water.)
Make sure to refresh the water every week or two since the stems can still discolor, but that one little detail can make fake flowers look real. To create permanent floral designs, use clear acrylic fake water instead.
4. Add Scent
Spritz a little bit of floral perfume or essential oil on your silk flowers to even fake the scent of real ones. It’s the perfect way to convince our noses that they might be the real thing.
The Best Fake Flowers That Look Real
These are some of the best artificial flowers that look incredibly realistic and even FEEL real with some featuring petals made with Real Touch latex.
Gather several stems of the same type for a simple flower arrangement or mix several blooms of varying height and shapes to make more complex flower bouquets.
Tip: If you need help making faux floral arrangements in vases, try this tape grid method.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure
Vases That Don’t Break the Bank
It’s helpful to have a wide variety of vases in your stash in different heights and shapes to accommodate different faux flower types so that you can use them in any room alongside any other decor. These are my absolute favorite transitional vases to keep in my capsule.
Or if you love shopping secondhand, I find vases at thrift stores all the time. They’re so easy to change up with spray paint. This brass vase below was just a couple dollars at Goodwill, but I decided to leave the patina because I loved the character it added.
Realistic Fake Flowers Around Our Home
These faux roses on our bathroom shelf even feel real! I placed them in a brass planter I found at the thrift store.
I put these cream fake lilacs on our dining room table and made them look even more realistic using the stem fluffing trick.
I’m so totally in love! They look and feel so real in person!
I stuck two of these absolutely gigantic bay leaf stems on the buffet too, and the drama they create in this little corner is so good!
Best Artificial Flowers for Outdoors
You can see our top recommended artificial plants and flowers for outdoors here. All of them are UV treated and made to last in all kinds of weather.
Have you discovered any realistic fake flowers lately?
Once I find a good one, I keep it in my stash for years and rotate them room to room constantly all year long with the exception of Christmas. (And even then, I’ll sometimes sneak them into our Christmas tree to fill gaps and stretch our ornament collection.)
Best of all, at least there will be no dead shriveled petals to clean off the floor in a week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Artificial flowers are usually less expensive than real flowers. Plus, they last much longer and require very little care other than an occasional dusting.
Not all artificial flowers are made to be used outdoors. If you want to use fake flowers outside, buy flowers that are already UV treated or spray them with a UV floral protectant.
1. Buy good quality faux flowers.
2. Fluff leaves and petals and bend stems so they look more natural.
3. Put artificial flowers in a pretty vase or planter.
4. Cut the stems to fit the container; don’t just bend them to fit if the container is clear.
5. Add water to a clear vase with faux flowers to look real.
Hi! Would love to see an updated version of this post as I’m just now getting into real touch flowers. Your arrangement is breathtaking! Does the company still carry that specific rose (and how many did you use?). The link now goes to the generic rose page.
Gorgeous flowers that look real. I typically don’t like fake flowers either but these days, they’re so much better made. Your home, decor ideas are all great. I may do that door painting as our door from the garage into the house is neutral cream and needs TLC. As for the faux flowers, one stem costing $13 at Michaels or even $28 from Afloral for example, that is not budget friendly imho. So when bloggers write posts about “budget friendly” decor ideas, I tend to be skeptical these days. It all depends on whose budget I guess lol. So paying $28 per stem (times however many we buy) adds up quickly! We are blessed to have a large, gorgeous home and I have decorated it according to our taste with mostly new buys when on sale/clearance or with items from our international travels. Only recently in the new state/new home did I get some amazing, brand new looking furniture through an estate sale as the seller wanted to just give them away for free! Gorgeous wood book/media cabinets with glass doors…score! We took them gladly. I want to save for traveling now and retire comfortably to travel even more :). Best Wishes for your continued success!
Totally understandable. The way I see it, I used to buy cheaper faux flowers at Walmart/Target but found I had to buy more to fill up a vase. The ones I buy now that cost more and are better quality are bigger and fuller, so I’m able to use fewer stems. I can often get away with 3-5 of the better quality/ pricier stems whereas before I was having to use 8-10 of the lesser quality/cheaper stems. That’s not always the case, and sales help. But that’s part of the “decorating math” to consider.
Lauren, I so appreciated your suggestions. I need to buy some faux flowers to decorate our church for spring, but REALLY hate the look of plastic-y fake flowers. I just threw out bins of them at church. UGH! Obviously, I’m working with a budget so can’t break the bank on this. One suggestion I would love is if you have seen realistic looking faux lavender stems. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you so much!
Linda
I know what you mean! I recently replaced our church flowers with these better looking ones, and the difference is amazing. I have searched all over for faux lavender, but I haven’t found any real “winners” of that type yet. I’ll have to report back on that.
What is the best way to clean artificial flowers…dust, etc…
Hey!! I am not always diligent about this task. However, it is as simple as just to Wipe them down with a damp cloth.