Differences between branded cosmetics and fake ones. How to spot a fake when purchasing cosmetics
Every girl dreams of long and lush eyelashes. The purpose of decorative cosmetics is to make dreams come true. Mascara is used for these purposes. Today, in stores and on the market you can see a huge variety of this product, represented by various brands - both budget and luxury. Every self-respecting fashion house has launched its own cosmetics production line. Their assortment includes both decorative and caring cosmetics:
- Chanel
- Saint Laurent
- Lancome
- Maybelline
It is worth noting that among budget brands, the most popular mascara is from Maybelline. And in the field of professional cosmetics, many girls prefer mascara from MAC.
All of the listed brands are very popular and loved all over the world. Therefore, there are a great many who want to profit from this love. How can you resist the temptation and not sell a fake luxury mascara at the price of the original? The difference in price, of course, is also significant. But counterfeits can, in principle, be deadly for people prone to allergies. After all, their manufacturers have never thought about testing their products or including hypoallergenic components in them. What for? Then the cost of the product will actually increase.
The surest way to recognize fake mascara is to take it to a laboratory. Laboratory workers will carefully analyze its composition and compare whether it corresponds to what is stated on the packaging. But, unfortunately, this also costs money and takes a long time. If you need mascara here and now, then remember the following recommendations to avoid a dangerous purchase.
How to spot fake mascara yourself
Package
In principle, these tips are suitable for determining the authenticity of any of the above brands of mascara. Since we do not have special equipment at hand to study the carcass itself, we will conduct a thorough examination of the external features of the original carcass sample.
- Let's start with the packaging. Brands Dior, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Lancome most often place their cosmetics in branded boxes. Evaluate the quality of the cardboard. It should hold its shape well and not be deformed. The box is pleasant to the touch, its whole appearance should indicate that these are premium cosmetics.
- Pay attention to the inscriptions. First of all, check for errors. The most common ones are rearranging letters or replacing one letter in a brand name. Please also note letter size and font type. Check also the location of the brand name. For example, in copies of the company's ink MAC the famous three letters are located slightly higher from the center of the product.
- Companies usually put a special number on the box ( batch code). Check if it matches the number on the sticker attached to the bottle of mascara, if there is one.
Today I would like to talk about counterfeits of professional cosmetics and scammers who make money from it. It’s been said a hundred times on the Internet: “Don’t buy palettes of fifteen hundred eyeshadows for 2 rubles!” and still people are actively shelling out their money. Even someone boasts that the shadows are “really super!” In particular, I read on one of the sites a review by Elena Kushnir about a palette of 120 colors from the Manly brand (Hong Kong)
Eyeshadow palette 120 colors
I read it and couldn’t believe my eyes (review taken from the website _http://www.manlycosmetics.ru):
So, we purchased a palette from the Manly brand (Hong Kong) with 120 shades. This palette initially interested me more than the more well-known Coastal Scents palettes, since this palette contained larger shadows (a little more than a 10-kopeck coin compared to 1 kopeck Coastal Scents), because I took it not for personal use, but for work ( I am a make-up designer). Overall, I can say that the experience was surprisingly pleasant. The box itself is strict and black, quite in the spirit of professional cosmetics. Almost all shadows are pearlescent, but there are matte ones. All shades are very bright and beautiful. Below is an assessment of the quality of shadows on a 5-point scale.
Pigment saturation (brightness) - 5 points. The colors when applied are exactly the same as in the photo. Very bright and saturated.
The degree of shading is 4.5 points. Although the shadows blend well, I won’t give the highest score due to the hyper-saturation of pigment. The fact is that it makes it difficult to shade shadows until the transition from one shade to another is completely invisible. In order for the border between colors to become invisible, you have to try.
Durability - 4.7 points. The shadows hold up very well (I have already tried them both at home and on set), but a little worse than some particularly armor-piercing “long-lasting” shadows, for example, Kryolan.
Flowability - 3.5 points. The main disadvantage of the shadows is that they crumble quite a bit when applied. But overall it's acceptable. Less than, for example, Isadora, but incomparably more than the same Kryolan or Bobby Brown.
Summary: a very good palette for working as a makeup artist (you can’t really do natural makeup with it, but for evening and creative looks it’s just fine) and an excellent option for everyday makeup in terms of playing with colors, “you want something bright for the summer.” “or “I want everything and more.”
Excuse me, what kind of quality are we talking about? The palette on the website costs 1,699 rubles, if we divide it into 120 colors, the price of one eyeshadow tablet turns out to be 14 rubles 16 kopecks. Girls from Ukraine, sit on a chair and don’t fall, translated into hryvnia, a tablet will cost 3 hryvnia 80 kopecks. This cost also includes the palette in which the shadows are collected, and the earnings of the manufacturer and seller. By the way, school crayons, 4 pieces, cost 9 rubles (2.43 UAH), does this give you any thoughts? If not, then read on.
In order not to make a mistake in a purchase and to understand whether it is a fake brand or a real one, you must, of course, pay attention to the reasonableness of the pricing policy. In general, if we trace the cost of the same palettes in a set palette from well-known manufacturers of professional cosmetics, we will come to the conclusion that the cost of one tablet in the palette usually varies from a minimum of 40 hryvnia ($5) to a maximum of 150 hryvnia ($19-$20) ). The only thing cheaper can be chalk and other nasty things that are colored with pigments of unknown quality.
Often such palettes are sold under the name of the famous brand of professional cosmetics MAC
MAC palette for 120 colors. In reality, MAC does not produce such palettes, if you come across a palette with 120 colors (no matter what MAC name or not), you should know that these cosmetics are made in Asian countries and only there! It has nothing to do with professional cosmetics in any way! Almost always, these palettes are black, differ only in the logo that is a fake of the original professional cosmetics, and this logo changes depending on the wishes of a particular wholesaler customer. The sad thing is that money is invested in the promotion of this business and they are paid for writing positive reviews on a variety of both foreign and domestic resources.
On e-bay you can find a 12-color fake MAC palette. The original such palette does not exist in MAC!
You also need to look at the name that is written on the packaging. You can often see how Chinese, Malaysian and other brands strive to create packaging that is visually very similar to the original, even the names can be very similar, the difference can be only in one word or letter, in the distortion of the logo. So, for example, professional cosmetics Make Up For Life has now appeared on the Internet, a counterfeit of the well-known brand of excellent quality and quite expensive professional cosmetics Make Up For Ever. The fake is very similar to the original, the packaging, original style, logo, etc. are copied, so beginners can easily make a mistake. Judge for yourself, here is the original: 
And here are the original bottles for makeup bases 
Now let's look at the fake. Look at the logo and the same base bottles.
Palettes, shadows, etc., etc. are also completely copied in design from professional MUFE cosmetics. 
On the foreign website _http://accidentalbeauty.com, I also found information on how to distinguish counterfeit MAC products, which is also incredibly popular with scammers. The most common fakes of MAC are from the range of brushes, shadows and pigments. How to distinguish a fake? Be sure to look at the quality of the packaging, it must be of high quality. In this photo you can see the poor quality edge of the lid, which looks like it was cut off by a blade. 
This shade of glitter was very popular in MAC, then it became difficult to buy, and then online stores and e-bay were filled with fakes. But today, fakes are becoming less and less distinguishable in design and packaging features from the original, but the contents remain the same . Often, even experienced professional makeup artists cannot distinguish a fake. This can be done if you have a truly original product in your hands and a fake one. You will immediately see the roughness of the packaging material and the cheapness of the material from which the packaging of the fake product is made.
Be sure to check the batch code on the packaging; on the jar itself it should be on a self-adhesive label, but not printed, but as if embossed.
Where can you encounter counterfeit professional cosmetics? Yes, anywhere! And in online stores, in regular stores, in markets, in supermarkets, on e-bay, and on such resources as _www.brush111.com, _www.macmakeupshop.com, StrawberryNET, BombshellBargains (sells both real products and fakes) etc.
I have never had these products in MAC:
Goldmine shade in pigment. This name was only in the shadows. You can tell from the packaging that this is a fake, since the lid is shiny and not matte, the font on the sticker is not clear, the logo is not positioned in the same level as on the original, 
MAC has never had such a product either. Wet pigment for eyelids is an invention of swindlers! MAC professional cosmetics only have wet eye shadows. 
Also pay attention to this product. The application states that this product has an additional compartment at the bottom for a mirror and brush. In fact, MAC has never had such shadows that there was a lower compartment in the box. This feature in singles was only available in the mass market L’Oreal HIP Duos. In MAC this only exists in six colors, at least.
Here's another fake. As many as 50 pigments! 
Here's another fake. Visually it can be immediately distinguished. The lid is shiny (for real MAC it is matte), and the code at the bottom is A73, for real MAC pigments the code is on the label on the pigment jar itself, and the thickness of the walls of the jar is very large.
Here, on ultramarine, you can also see that the packaging is fake, again, the lid is shiny and the jar itself looks very cheap 
Finally, pay attention to the pressing. Along the very edge of the shadow tablet they seem to rise, that is, they are not pressed over the entire area. This is also a fake. 
It's also worth talking about codes. For example, we noticed when examining the fake pigment that it was marked with code A43. The first letter in the code is the batch A - the first, B - the second, C - the third, the first digit is the month when the product was produced, that is, in this case - 4, which means it is April, the last digit is the year, for us this is a C, which means the product was manufactured in 2003. Nowadays in MAC they often use 0 (zero) at the end of the code, this indicates that the product was released in 2010. If you decide to buy a product, check the code and check with the real codes to see if the product was produced at the time it was stated by the code.
When buying cosmetics, many people ask the question: “Is this original or fake?”
I will try to tell and show how to distinguish original cosmetics from fakes... and I think that this will make some people run to their cosmetics table in order to frantically double-check everything that is there)!
I will not discover America, since perhaps most already know about such facts. If not, then let's get started!
Package
The first thing we must evaluate from all sides is to look at the packaging from different angles.
Shouldn't the sticker be stuck on crookedly like in the photo?
2. The box should not be wrinkled
Photo credit to luuux.com
Most often, the back of the box gives away a fake...
Almost always, on the back of the box of any cosmetic product there is an insert that can be read by pulling the corner of the sticker in the indicated direction.
And this is what you will see...
There are also fakes that resemble the game: “Find 5 differences!”
This happened with YSL lipstick
Photo credit to katrinalomidze.com
But manufacturers of counterfeits are now using such tricks that it is sometimes too difficult to distinguish the original from the fake.
Therefore, we are even looking closely at what... font slant and size!
Letters must be clearly printed.
On the left is a fake - the letters are printed in a thinner font without slanting.
On the right is the original - the letters are printed in bold, and the first part of the word is without slant, the second - with slant.
Packaging design - color
The color design of the packaging most often gives away a fake.
So, for example, the ribbon on the fake is pink, while the original is red.
This difference is quite easy to notice!
Photo credit to Makeup Savvy
Sometimes the color of the boxes themselves gives away.
Photo credit to addicted2benefit.blogspot.ru
Photo credit to cosmeticult.blogspot.ru
In addition to the color difference, there is a noticeable difference in the brushes that come in the set.
After opening the package, the internal design will tell you about the fake, for example, unevenly glued edges and the presence of glue in the corners.
Having a brush will help you distinguish a fake from the original.
On the right...it is immediately clear that this is a fake - the pile not only sticks out in different directions, but is also different in color, and the appearance is generally sad!
But sometimes it happens that the brush is not very different from the original and looks something like this...
Photo credit to maliberrymakeup.blogspot.ru
However, the difference in color and length of the pile speaks for itself!
Barcode and batch code.
The presence of a barcode and batch code on the packaging is mandatory.
Using the barcode, we determine the country of manufacture, and if it does not match the country indicated on the package, it is 100% fake!
Also, if there is no batch code on the packaging, then it is definitely a fake... so in this example? – this is the absence of code 7M5A
Photo credit to Makeup Savvy
Color
If we talk about creamy and liquid textures, then we can determine a fake by the difference in color in shade
On the left is a fake... the texture color is white in shade.
On the right is the original... the texture color is more creamy.
Photo credit to Makeup Savvy
The same goes for dry textures, such as blush.
You can see how different the color of the fake is from the original!
Photo credit to maliberrymakeup.blogspot.ru
Sometimes the texture itself gives away the fake!
Photo credit to cosmeticult.blogspot.ru
There is already a fake of the famous Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow palette.
Therefore, if you see a difference in weight, then there is a reason for frustration...
Photo credit to lululabella.wordpress.com
Conclusions: I named the most common and very real signs of fakes!
I think that when purchasing, it will not be difficult for you to look at the back of the box and see if there is a batch code, barcode and expiration date.
But for now, today, the most important differences between the fake and the original are in the outer packaging!
Therefore, before you go shopping, study in more detail the photographs and reviews of bloggers on the Internet, then you can protect yourself from fakes!
With the increase in demand for high-quality make-up products, the number of counterfeits has proportionally increased. Every woman sooner or later faces the question of how to distinguish a fake from an original. The use of analogues is fraught with disastrous consequences, including chemical burns and hospitalization.
You don't need to own a portable chemical laboratory to analyze a particular product. It is enough to know the basic characteristics of high-quality cosmetics. Today you will learn: how to distinguish a fake perfume from the original, how to buy a real foundation, how to choose the perfect mascara. Let's collect a complete cosmetics bag of real brand products.
Before considering specific products, you should quickly go over the general distinguishing features of original cosmetics and fakes. The first thing you should pay attention to is the condition of the packaging. If it is cardboard, then the box should not be wrinkled or glued together crookedly. Self-respecting manufacturers use high-quality plastic. Transparent cases never become cloudy over time; paint from painted containers does not transfer to the skin when rubbed with moistened fingers. Brands do not skimp on design; often there are engravings, imprints, and a pleasant textured surface. Obviously, there should be no grammatical errors in the name. After reading “Daor” instead of “Dior” on the bottle, the question of how to identify a fake perfume will disappear by itself. Cheap printing ink smears from the slightest friction. In fakes, the inscriptions are written crookedly, part of the text is missing (for example, storage conditions are reduced or the production date is not indicated). The numbers on the outer carton match the numbers on the contents.
6. Price tag
Cosmetics that cost $20 a priori cannot be sold for 20 cents. Even the liquidation of a store cannot be a reason for such significant discounts. The maximum price will be reduced to the level of wholesale purchases.
10 types of cosmetics – 10 rules for choosing
Pay attention to the smell; it should not cause nausea. Make a test swab on your wrist - the original lipstick is applied evenly, without lumps or bald spots. On the bottom there is a round sticker with the color number and its exclusive name. The name of the product, for example, “Caramel Latte,” is present in the catalog on the official website. The brand name is carved into the stems of original lipsticks.
Let's talk a little about the brush - it is perfectly straight (we won't take unique products with a specially curved rod) and firmly attached to the lid. The villi are uniform. Often a maximum of three length variations are used simultaneously in one product.
The direction of the fibers corresponds to the trajectory indicated on the packaging. If the manufacturer declares a brush with straight, pointed bristles, then they should be strictly perpendicular to the base of the brush, and not stick out in different directions.
We all understand: if the packaging of a cosmetic product says “Canel” instead of “Chanel”, then this is an obvious fake. However, modern manufacturers of “fake” products have also learned other tricks that can mislead an inexperienced buyer. the site has made a selection of useful tips for its readers on how not to make a mistake in choosing.
A genuine product cannot have a crooked sticker or sloppy name printed on its packaging. Any branded product, be it cream or eau de parfum, is packaged in cellophane. Moreover, such a protective shell should tightly “tighten” the box without forming wrinkles or folds.
Often the original product, in addition to the sticker on the package, contains an additional insert with information. It can be seen by pulling the bottom edge of the sticker. This practice also occurs when designing mascara tubes.
Pay attention to the serial number or product article! Its digital data on the packaging and tube must match. If there are inconsistencies, this is a fake.
Manufacturer information may be embossed or printed in a printing house, but in no case embossed with paint on top of the packaging.
Tip three: don’t buy into a suspiciously low price
Branded cosmetics cannot be sold at low-quality prices. Today, many private sellers on social networks offer to purchase a cheap “Mac adaptation”. You can take a risk, but if your decorative cosmetics are unstable or an allergy occurs, no one will be held responsible to you.
Mini-investigation from Barb. Using the same Mac cosmetics as an example, we decided to see whether temptingly low prices are worth trusting. On one of the popular shopping portals, a private individual offers to purchase a palette of 120 (!) shades of eye shadow for 195 UAH. Can this price be considered adequate?
We find the official website of the manufacturer and go to the products section. In the subsection “Palettes and eye sets” there was only a palette of 15 shades - this is the maximum when it comes to eye shadows. Its cost is 65 dollars, which in terms of national currency is 1759.55 hryvnia. Think about it: is it really possible to buy a branded product second-hand that costs 9 times less?
Often, the websites of cosmetics manufacturers provide information about their representative offices abroad.
Conclusion: you will not find branded cosmetics either on the market or from individuals engaged in trading on popular social networks.
When testing foundation notice how it blends and absorbs into the skin. A high-quality product is applied without lumps, absorbs quickly, does not change color after application and does not cause irritation.
Regarding powder, blush or dry eyeshadow, then their consistency should not resemble crushed chalk.
A sure sign of a “linden”:
- after application with a brush, small glitter remains on the skin, and the surface of the product becomes uneven;
- the shade of the applied product differs significantly from that presented in the palette;
- When opening the tube, a strong unpleasant odor is heard.
If we talk about perfume products, pay attention to the color of the liquid in the bottle: it should not be too bright or cloudy. The aroma of real perfume appears on the skin after a couple of minutes, while the fake one “reveals” immediately, but it dissipates faster.
Tip five: check the information on the manufacturer’s website
If you have clearly decided on the choice of a specific product, go to the manufacturer’s website in advance. There you can study the packaging design in detail, find out the product article or information about the shade palette. Thus, you will come to the store as a “savvy” buyer.
Lifehack: Saw a set of Mac eyeshadows in the store? Check the name of each shade presented in it. If it is marked with numbers, this is a fake: this brand assigns specific names to the samples, for example, “Neoprene Green”.
For a branded product, the composition of the components is indicated in full, and they are in descending order of concentration of active substances. You can familiarize yourself with such information in advance on the manufacturer’s website, and at the same time check it with the data indicated on the box in the store.
Buying a new face cream? Let us not once again remind you of the harmfulness of sulfates and parabens, as well as the long shelf life. If a cosmetic product consists of at least 40% natural ingredients, it can be taken.
What about eco-cosmetics that are popular today?? Let us be clear: there are no products consisting exclusively of natural products. Any cream or milk contains chemical components, such as surfactants (surfactants). As for fake eco-creams, they give themselves away with an expiration date. Since organic substances lose their usefulness after just 3 months, the service life of such cosmetics should not exceed six months.
