need help verifying authenticity of some mac stuff

yoyomofo

Member
so i recently bought a bunch of mac stuff off of ebay (stupid i know, but i'm low on cash) before i knew about this site. i already knew that some fake mac existed so i was cautious and the seller looked legit. everything was stated as being 100% authentic guaranteed. well i got the stuff in the mail today and i'm not sure if it's authentic or not because i don't have any other mac to compare to. i have read a lot of the "authenticity guides" but it's just starting to hurt my head since they contradict each other and some say this is fake and others say the same thing is real. so, here's some pictures of the stuff i got, any input on authenticity would be much apprecitated. i bought the stuff from priz4u on ebay.ca. i searched for that name on here and only two threads came up, one said it's a legit seller, one said they're skeptical about the seller.

here's what i can say about everything to help you in dertermining whether it's real or fake:

pigment: shade is gold stroke. bottom of pot doesn't seem to be "thick". silver sticker on bottom that says 'gold stroke a67'. box has name sticker in top right corner, ingredients on left side of box, nothing on right side. back says "pigment colour powder" and dist info, also has a double arrow symbol and "a67" if barely visible in the bottom right corner on back. bottom of box has a barcode sticker. inside flap says back 2 mac.

lipglass: colour moonstone which is printed on tube along with size (2.4 g/ .08 us oz) and dist. info. has 'a75' stamped on bottom of tube. smells sweet and vanilla-y (close to the stila vanilla lip glaze scent). no box.

brush sets: both are se. both came in clear plastic slips (no code on slips) and they came as sets so both sets of brushes were also sealed in plastic bags that had adhesive to hold them shut when folded over. i can't tell if the handles are plastic or painted wood - both smell of chemicals, but not a strong scent. all hairs appear to be even at the ends. the bottoms of the brushes are rounded. no 'dips' in the handles.

black brushes: all black including the ferrules (i've read these are real and i've read they're fake so i don't know). silver lettering with mac and number and se, these have no country of origin indicated on them. the handle is shiny to match the ferrules, but there is no shimmer/glitter at all.

silver brushes: silver handles (with slight shimmer but i'm assuming it has to have that to make it metallic coloured) and silver metal ferrules. white lettering with mac, number and se all on there. "china" is carved into the back near the bottom in a bold arial font - no colour, just silver like the rest of the handle.

i feel like everything is authentic except for the black brushes? is it possible this person would be selling some fake and some authentic stuff?

1038381.JPG

1038380.JPG

1038379.JPG

1038378.JPG

1038377.JPG
 

gypsiebabie

Well-known member
the brushes look like the brush sets i have. your gold stroke pigment doesn't look like the one that i have. is there anyway you can swatch it for us? maybe it's just the picture quality but my gold stroke doesn't look quite that brown...=)
 

yoyomofo

Member
i couldn't get really great pictures of the swatch, but here it is in two different lighting settings on my camera. it's definitely close to the colour in the original picture in the jar (quite a true brown) but when on the skin it has a rosey shimmer and comes out sheerer so it's lighter. it's more copper than gold in my opinion, though. hth!
1038560.JPG


1038561.JPG


1038562.JPG
 

panda0410

Well-known member
the Gold Stroke is real, so are the SE brushes so dont stress over those. dont know about the rest...
 

redambition

Well-known member
The Moonstone - being 2.4g it means it should be of the minis from the Holiday sets.

It was released in the 2005 set so the batch code seems to be ok - manufactured in July 05, for release in October.

I'm unfamiliar of the labelling of the colours etc for the holiday sets, so someone else will have to help out to ensure that it's correct. Also - I am not sure if the tube should be smaller than the regular lipglass tube. Being a mini, I would expect so.
 

msashlay

Well-known member
I'm not sure if they are faking any SE brushes yet. Your ferrules are black because they're SE brushes. I think it might be hard to really scrutinize SE brushes because they are not handmade like regular brushes.
 

yoyomofo

Member
thanks for your help, everybody! you all helped me calm down. haha. i'm glad to hear everything should authentic
smiles.gif
 
Top