Fake Benefit... Moral Of The Story- Listen To Your Dad!

Don't ever assume... It makes an ASS out of  U and ME.

These are my dad's wise words and I should really take more notice of what he says.

When I got invited by a friend to join a facebook page belonging to a girl selling Benefit makeup cheaply, I jumped at the chance. I just ASSUMED it would be genuine and above board.

It wasn't. And I am now the unproud owner of FAKE Benefit makeup.

I want to point out the dangers and ways to spot fakes. So here we go...

Dallas Boxed Bronzer.

As you can see, the outer packaging is wrinkled and creased. This is from who ever is churning out this fake stuff, hastily glueing the cover piture to the box. Benefit makeup is high quality and expertly made so you wouldn't expect to find such badly constructed packaging.

A quick Google of the Dallas bronzer showed me that I should expect a wooden handle to the brush included. This one had a cheap plastic handle. The bristles were also varying in lengths, messy and tangled. Again, not what one would expect from Benefit.

 Seeing as this was "brand new" the box is in terrible condition. there are scratches and marks inside. The pan is not sat straight in the box, it kind of sits on a slant.

All in all, I easily spotted this fake. It hit me as soon as I opened it, and upon closer Google detective work, I knew this had to be a fake product.

Next is the Get Even Pressed Powder.

Now this one was VERY hard to tell if it was fake or not! If you haven't had the product before, or have none to compare it to, you might not notice. I only suspected this one and investigated further because the Dallas was a fake so surely this one was too?!

The box for this seemed very well made. the compact itself did not seem cheap. The sponge was a little cheap feeling but having never had this product before, I wouldn't know any different. I asked a friend on Beauty Box Swaps what the sponge should be like and she told me hers was like this one.

The only way I could tell this was a fake was by having one of the lovely ladies on Beauty Box Swaps send me a photo of the back of her powder to compare to my own.

Here is the real Get Even...

And the fake...

You may not notice staright away...

The large 02 numbers are in different fonts. Also the real Get Even powder has a little light coloured serial number printed sideways reading 1R01. The fake does not have this number.

The main problem here is that these products are being produced with ingredients that in no way match the ingredients of the label they slap on the packaging. The information on the packaging matches the real Benefit products, The product itself however, does not.
Fake makeup has dangerous and hazardous chemicals added to it because it is cheaper than the proper ingredients needed.
The warehouses that produce this stuff are not going through the correct health and hygeine procedures, nor are the ingredients under the same strict safety testing that the proper brands go through.
They are dangerous and applying them to the delicate skin of your face could leave you with burns and severe allergic reactions.

After buying both of these products which should have cost me around the £50 mark for just £15 I feel stupid, embarrassed and naive. Luckily I was able to express my dismay to the absolutely gorgeous ladies of BBS (Beauty Box Swaps) who told me it had happened to plenty of them and that it could happen to anyone. They were lovely, understanding, helped me detect the fakes by offering photo's of their own Benefit products and offered advice on what I should do.
Luckily, I sent the seller a nice email explaining how I had realised they were fake products and I can get my money back. Some of the other BBS ladies, and many more out there, will not/ did not get their money back.

Another old saying my dad bashes out is "If it's too good to be true...It probably is." Dad's- They are a fountain of knowledge under all the 80's cassettes and Jeremy Clarkson books. I should really listen more...

Have you ever been fooled by a fake?