Being Conned Into Buying Fake MAC | How to Spot A Fake

Hi Girls! As a huge fan of MAC, over the years I have become very familiar with all of their products and how each of them look. I absolutely love the classic sleek black packaging and cleverly named products so the general appearance of MAC products is something I only know too well. However, more often than not I am seeing 'MAC' sets being advertised online for alarmingly cheap prices. Now for anyone with an untrained eye, these bargain gift sets being splashed around various social networking sites look very appealing and more importantly, very convincing.

Whilst I was in Australia, my friend Camille came to see me on her way to a wedding in Bali. As we were spending a couple of days in Brisbane, we were at our hotel and Camille began showing me some of her new purchases. As a beauty addict, I was excited when she informed me she'd took the plunge and bought some of her first MAC products. However, when she began telling she bought the products from someone selling sets on Facebook, I instantly asked her if I could have a look.

When she told me she had only paid £40.00 for a MAC makeup bag (that MAC don't sell by the way) brimming with products and a brush roll full of 'MAC' brushes, I instantly knew she had been ripped off. I began rummaging through the makeup bag to discover that each and every product she had been sold was FAKE. Now to make things worse, she had been sold this 'amazing bargain' by one of her friends. Yes you heard that right, shocking I know.

As I was looking at these rip off MAC products, I was fuming. It really annoys me that these replicas are being made and to be honest, not to a good standard either. I felt absolutely awful having to tell Camille she has been ripped off but she wasn't to know any better as she isn't somebody that buys MAC on a regular basis. She genuinely thought this friend of hers had managed to get some cheap sets (she used to work on a makeup counter) and jumped at the chance to buy one. After having a chat with Camille, we both decided it would be a good idea for me to write a blog post about her experience so that it can hopefully prevent anyone else from being cheated out of money in the same way.

I am sure most of you who blog or read blogs will know what MAC looks like but if you are reading this and are new to makeup and the MAC brand, you could find it useful. In the photos above I have included the fake products alongside some of my own genuine items so I can point out some of the tell tale sings that these products are fake. I have photographed three things that camille was sold - a blush, an eyeshadow palette and a brush set. She did have more items in the set including a lipstick, lipgloss and eyeliner but she had left them behind in the UK.

I am going to talk you through each of the above items and the differences between a fake and genuine MAC product. 

Blush:

This blusher was the first thing that jumped out to me as a fake MAC item. Camille was telling me about this lovely blush she had been using so I asked what it was called. As you will probably know, MAC name each and every one of their blushers with a fun, unique name. When Camille said it didn't have a name, alarm bells started ringing. I picked up the blusher and although convincing from the front, when I turned it over and saw the name 'powder blush' and code 'M01' glaring at me, I knew it was a fake. I then opened the blush to take a closer look inside and saw that there was a flap that opened containing a small brush. The brush looked like the ones that come in Benefit powder boxes but MAC blushes never come with a brush. If you look closely too, genuine MAC blushes with have a slightly raised coding on the bottom of their products whereas the fake one doesn't. After noticing these difference, I then had another look at the top of the product. Although it is convincing from first glance, I realised the plastic lid was flat wheres make blushes, MSF's etc all have a domed plastic lid.

Brushes:

Now these brushes were probably the least convincing item out of all of them. I mean come on, a cheap plastic brush roll and harsh, stiff brush hairs? If you are going to make fakes, at least do it well. As well as the cheap and nasty look of these brushes, I also noticed that they weren't numbered. Every genuine MAC brush, whether it is limited edition or not will have a number. I realise you can barely see the number on the one I have photographed above as it is quite old now but the numbers '239' were originally printed next to the MAC logo. (You can see it faintly if you look closely). As well as this, MAC brushes are always designed with silver metal connecting the brush hairs to a black handle. The metal is always silver unless there is a limited edition collection. I once got a brush set from the  'A Tartan Tale' collection and the metal was gold instead. However, I have personally never seen a collection where the brushes are all black like the fake ones pictured above.

Eyeshadow Palette:

Okay, this was probably the most laughable of all of the pieces Camille received. The quality of this palette is ridiculous. It is made of cheap plastic, contains a cheap doe applicator brush and the eyeshadows themselves look very glittery and cheap. To be honest, it really reminds me of those makeup sets you get for kids to play around with. As well as the initial appearance of the palette, I also noticed that this was numbered with '03'. Much like the blush, MAC name all of their products, even limited edition palettes. The only time MAC release palettes, other than the ones you can build yourself is when a new collection is released. In the photos above I have shown my limited edition palette from the 'A Tartan Tale' collection. As you can see, the genuine palette has been named 'Reelers and Rockers' and each of the eyeshadows are individually named. The only name this palette has been given is 'Fascination Eyeshadows', which again is a completely made up name that MAC has never released.

As you can see, my friend was totally fooled into thinking she was buying genuine MAC products. Of course we all know not to buy makeup from unreliable sources but she bought these products from someone involved with makeup and someone she thought she could trust. All I am trying to say is that although a picture splashed online may make products look like the real deal, they probably aren't. The same applies for Ebay. I appreciate there are honest people who sell genuine items on Ebay but in my own personal experience, they are more than likely fake. I once bought an eyeliner and some brushes on Ebay when I first started getting into makeup and when they arrived I realised they were just very convincing fakes. Just remember, anyone can stick a MAC logo on something, take some convincing photos and claim its the real deal. I'd also like to point out that these fake products could contain all kinds of dangerous ingredients. It really isn't worth the risk.

I hope this post will help someone out there who is just getting into makeup and considering buying MAC from an unreliable source such as Ebay or a Social Networking site. If you think you are getting a bargain - you probably aren't. If you want to make sure that what you are getting is genuine, ALWAYS spend that little bit extra and buy from the MAC counter or website.

Have you ever had an experience involving fake makeup?

Lots of Love,