I'm in Shock!!!!! Fake LE / MSF... and more

[liciouslilly]

It's really difficult for me to determine from these photos whether they are truly fake or not. I could easily be fooled because they appear real to me.

 

[abbyquack]

I agree that it is very odd that the palettes' shadows are totally wrong, I really don't get why they did that. But I also find it difficult to believe that they would go to such great lengths to fake one of each LE product...if they had tons of stock or something I might be more inclined to believe. Also in the past MAC has made mistakes, or released different products in different countries (like in Asia, the HK collection was quite different, IIRC). Many of these "seconds" are indeed sold off, particularly at Estee Lauder Warehouse sales, and I know allcosmeticswholesale.com sells 2nds as well. As for color or product variations, I imagine they are due to the lighting/camera/monitor...Just my 2 cents!

 

[Care]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LC all of these items look real to me as well, and i'm a former employee, so i'm very familiar with older style packaging, etc. like makeup emporum said, it would be way too much work to replicate every type of product mac makes the graphic garden palette *MIGHT* be a fake, but it's very possible that it got manufactured wrongly, and was sent to the cco right away because of it.

yes! actually I know of two girls who picked up that EXACT graphic garden palette (the one with blue in it) from her CCO out in California. It was most likely a manufacturer error. Although, she did say it had a japanese sticker on it

but I've also bought a Fafi Belightful powder from my CCO that had a japanese MAC sticker on it

 

[Twinkle_Twinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallenang3l211 i agree with makeup emporium and lc. a lot of botched items go straight to ccos. i've been to the cco bi-weekly and i've seen just about all these items there including the holiday sets. i agree the graphic garden es listing in the description is wrong and that does look strange..but the rest of the stuff, blurry or not, doesn't look bad. none of the skinfinish trios are identical. i have smooth merge and warm blend and neither one looks like any of the others i've seen posted on specktra. would you think a skinfinish is fake just because one has different veining than the other? i personally don't buy mac from ebay, but i do sell. i post photos of my receipts for authenticity purposes. anyone buying mac or any other products from ebay should be aware of fakes. i think its wrong for people to sell fakes, but the blame can't be placed on the seller..the buyers hold responsibility, too. sellers keep selling fakes because people keep buying them.

Fake cosmetics aren't like fake handbags whereby buyers seek them out in order to get something that looks authentic for a cheap price. People who buy fake MAC are duped into buying fake MAC. They think what they are buying is real. Sellers keep making it because they can make a profit off of those who don't know better but I don't see how the consuming public shares any of the blame for that, especially when fakes are getting better and better. A buyer should (for his/her own sake) take precautionary steps before purchasing something, but a seller should not be selling counterfeit products period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abbyquack I agree that it is very odd that the palettes' shadows are totally wrong, I really don't get why they did that. But I also find it difficult to believe that they would go to such great lengths to fake one of each LE product...if they had tons of stock or something I might be more inclined to believe. Also in the past MAC has made mistakes, or released different products in different countries (like in Asia, the HK collection was quite different, IIRC). Many of these "seconds" are indeed sold off, particularly at Estee Lauder Warehouse sales, and I know allcosmeticswholesale.com sells 2nds as well. As for color or product variations, I imagine they are due to the lighting/camera/monitor...Just my 2 cents!

Exactly @ the bolded. At what point do the lengths of perpetrating (and cost) the fraud outweigh potential profit?

 

[InspiredBlue]

Considering the random skincare products from other Lauder brands thrown in the mix, it looks very much like a CCO/Warehouse sale lot.

 

[Jessie May]

Regarding the Graphic Garden Palette - I know that occasionally in China (could be other countries too) the limited edition shades from the US release are replaced with colours from the permanent line. I think that must be what has happened here- that palette must have been for an Asian/Pacific release.

 

[SakurasamaLover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by InspiredBlue Considering the random skincare products from other Lauder brands thrown in the mix, it looks very much like a CCO/Warehouse sale lot.

Well the shades of shadows don't fit at all.
And I remember looking at Asians blog posts about Graphic Garden palettes and they were the exact same as here so these are most certainly fake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessie May Regarding the Graphic Garden Palette - I know that occasionally in China (could be other countries too) the limited edition shades from the US release are replaced with colors from the permanent line. I think that must be what has happened here- that palette must have been for an Asian/Pacific release.

I don't know about that so I can't say but I really think they now fake them pretty fast and good look at those: roxxy3379 items - Get great deals on Health Beauty, Clothing, Shoes Accessories items on eBay.com!

Fake holiday palettes... they are now popping everywhere, and I seriously believe the kits were fakes too so beware girls.

 

[Twinkle_Twinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SakurasamaLover Well the shades of shadows don't fit at all. And I remember looking at Asians blog posts about Graphic Garden palettes and they were the exact same as here so these are most certainly fake. I don't know about that so I can't say but I really think they now fake them pretty fast and good look at those: roxxy3379 items - Get great deals on Health Beauty, Clothing, Shoes Accessories items on eBay.com! Fake holiday palettes... they are now popping everywhere, and I seriously believe the kits were fakes too so beware girls.

Yeah those palettes probably are fake, however if you look closely, you'll notice that the compact containing the shadows is disjointed from the packaging behind it. The seller propped up an actual Holiday Palette behind the shadows of the fake palette which would explain why we are looking at the front of the palette instead of what should be the inner lid. Does that make sense? So basically, the Holiday packaging itself hasn't been faked (nor would I expect that to because it is weighty and metal, read expensive) but the shadows have, which supports the reasoning that trying the counterfeit the packaging, especially for special packaging and LE items, would just not be cost effective.

Also, I don't work in cosmetics, but the reasons that others have listed here (manufacturing mistakes, etc) make total sense. Manufacturers of clothing and shoes make mistakes all the time and those faulty pieces that might have the tag sewn on to the wrong side of the pants, or the label might read in the wrong language get, sent to discount and outlet retailers.

 

[DL83]

I just received one of those questionable Graphic Garden Palettes in a MUA swap today. It looks as if she got it from a CCO from the tag left on the box. Although, I'm not really sure what the CCO price tag looks like since we don't have one here. I'll post pictures to show you guys what I'm talking about.

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...lyn/ccotag.jpg

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...yn/shadows.jpg

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...aralyn/top.jpg

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...lyn/bottom.jpg

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...lyn/topbox.jpg

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...yn/backbox.jpg

(I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting those, if I am, please kindly let me know)

As I was doing research, I came across a girl who blogged about picking up the same odd palette from her CCO. Hers had a little chinese sticker on the back of the box.

So now I'm really wondering if it is a fake or not? I sure hope it's not. If it is, thank god I asked her to send her end first.

 

[LMD84]

your palette isn't fake and also the cco sticker looks exactly the same as some of my stuff where i left the sticker on the box

 

[DL83]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMD84 your palette isn't fake and also the cco sticker looks exactly the same as some of my stuff where i left the sticker on the box

Thank you very much for confirming that! I didn't think it was, but it never hurts to get a second opinion

 

[svetkey2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SakurasamaLover Wow I really I'm in shock, look at that seller auctions carefully . lovely fullmoon items - Get great deals on Health Beauty items on eBay.com! Since when!!! OMG they now fake everything MAC. I mean I saw some Heatherette and HK but this looks like the mineralize kits, Graphic Garden, Fresh Cut, Vials..... now it's f*cking everything! I'M pissed off.

Wow, they are getting tooo good if those mineralize products are fake!!! wow

 

[svetkey2]

the blush in intenso and the mineralize shadow from this past holiday collection is there as well

 

[vegas1]

RE: Japanese stickers from products at CCO - They had some Blonde's Gold Pigments, that had these stickers on them. I passed just in case some counterfeits made it to the CCO store. Guess I should have bought them.

 

[Paint&Ink Chick]

How ironic that I Just found this thread! I purchased On a mission blush from her last week. I dont get alot of items from ebay but the couple I have did have the Macys return sticker or a nordstorms & came with store receipt so i've been lucky. But my prob with this seller is I paid for this item last friday/sat,didnt mark it paid till wed. And just found out it shipped MAYBE today. Im about ready to say,forget it & just refund my money!

 

[zewzeq]

Oh my.. I bought 3 Mineralize blushes from this seller last month. They don't look fake to me tough but i've just started collecting MAC. Maybe i can take pics for you so you can decide they are fake or not?

 

[Paint&Ink Chick]

Zewzeq, how was your shipping & customer service?

 

[zewzeq]

I had no problem with the customer service. She/he answered my questions within the same day and the items i won on Saturday were shipped on Monday. I received them very quickly too.

 

[Paint&Ink Chick]

Wow...I wonder whats the prob with my blush! I notice she has fast shipping feedback,but checked more & feedback isnt that great. Like I stated it has been over a week (won item on 14th). I sent messages to ask a quest before payment & had to send several times. I hope your enjoying your items, because dont think i'll get mine lol. I'll be contacting ebay if not her tomorrow.

 

[miagirl07]

I bought an MES from this seller and received the item quickly, like within 5 days. The item seemed genuine to me.