Eyeshadow PACKAGING comparison - Authentic vs. Counterfeit (Pic heavy!) April 2008

[Xqueeze_me]

UPDATE AS OF MARCH 2009, THERE ARE BETTER FAKES OUT THERE NOW AS THE COUNTERFEITERS MAKE THEM WITH SMOOTH EYESHADOW PANS NOW AS DISCOVERED BY panda0410 (Thanks

).

Updated as at April 2008!

Thanks to Julie for the fake eyeshadow! XD

[C]ounterfeit on the left and [A]uthentic on the right (unless otherwise stated).

Picture mostly says it all!


Tray

Tray off the pot

Front

Back

[C] The 4 "dots" on the fake tray 'pressed/sink' into the tray
[C] Rough back

[A] The 4 "dots" on the authentic tray are smooth (and SOMETIMES slightly raised but mostly smooth)
[A] Smooth back
[A] Dip in the middle

Head to head

Back 1

(Not too sure about raised numbers on the back but 3 of the fakes that I have are 15) Different textures have different numbers?

[A] They seem to have a sheen of sprinkled powdered gold on them
[A] The numbers are slightly further apart compared to the fakes on the left

Back 2

Pot

[A] Once again, a sheen of sprinkled powdered gold

[C] Blunt/Rough edges on the side

[A] Clean cut
[A] Bolder CH

[A] Authentic MAC eyeshadow pots would usually have a raised number as shown in the picture above


Lip

Authentic

Counterfeit

View from top

Authentic

Fake

Side clips

Authentic

Fake

Back of pot

Bottom of pot

[A] AND again, the sheen of sprinkled powdered gold


Pans

[A] Slightly thicker/sturdier metal pan


Boxes

Top

Front

Right side (From front)

Left Side (From front)

Back

Bottom

 

[gigglegirl]

thanks for the wickedly detailed descriptions, but MY GOD they have gotten freaking good. :S

 

[julie150463]

Great work xqueeze-me!!

Glad that trash was put to some use

 

[Hilly]

wow.....you are good!

 

[UyenNhii]

Thanks, ALOT!! =)

 

[MACATTAK]

Awesome job once again!

 

[wolfsong]

Thanks for spending the time doing this!
Lets see the sellers try to worm out of it now

 

[Obreathemykiss]

Wow that is scary stuff. You really spent a lot of time on this and it's appreciated. I guess the only way to guarantee you're getting authentic shadow is to get in through MAC. I can't believe they are that good.

 

[righteothen]

Thank you for this post. It's really hard to tell the difference now, wow they have gotten better.

Well, even if you can't trust eBay, at least you can trust the people on this site ^_^.

 

[neezer]

wow...now what's funny is that i had a color that broke when i was trying to depot and it just crumbed to pieces...and funny enough she will just giving me all these tips to fix it but i said nevermind but that point was identical to that! im ashamed

 

[VDUB*BELLA]

Wow I am speechless
well i guess like someone has already mentioned only buy from MAC to ensure you're getting the real deal

 

[leonsun]

So useful!! thank you

I went straight checking all of my pans...fortunately no fake...

 

[jrm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VDUB*BELLA Wow I am speechless well i guess like someone has already mentioned only buy from MAC to ensure you're getting the real deal

I wonder how many ebay-happy M.A.C. lovers are too scared to check their eyeshadows after reading this one; Or worse - wincing in pain after checking them ... yikes.

 

[Xqueeze_me]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrm I wonder how many ebay-happy M.A.C. lovers are too scared to check their eyeshadows after reading this one; Or worse - wincing in pain after checking them ... yikes.

I hope you're not one of them!! It sucks to know and find out that ebay-happy MAC lovers have bought fake MAC but I guess its good to know and learn that crap like these (counterfeit branded products) do exist.

 

[concertina]

This is such amazing information. Thank you for taking the time to do this!

I'm scared to buy off ebay now!

 

[redambition]

There's no need to be scared off ebay - there are good deals to be found if you check out what's on offer and do you homework before buying.

 

[jrm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xqueeze_me I hope you're not one of them!! It sucks to know and find out that ebay-happy MAC lovers have bought fake MAC but I guess its good to know and learn that crap like these (counterfeit branded products) do exist.

As much as I hate to admit my folly, I am unfortunately one of them.

After reading earlier postings on fake M.A.C. I had been reasonably confident on the quality of ones that I had purchased. I didn't think I could be tricked too easily. But, this thread was the clincher - and it really shows how they're faking the product so convincingly. After reading it all I had a more in-depth look at my entire eyeshadow collection.

The actual outside of the products that I believe may be fake are identical to legitimate M.A.C. - much better quality appears on the pics posted earlier on this thread - all of the correct markings, and stickers etc - but after prying off the top black plastic panel that holds the pan, a large number of those I've purchased from eBay have the same '15' marking and a complete lack of a middle dimple in the middle. What a sinking feeling I had when I realized how many of mine appeared to be fake ...

ALL of my legitimate store-bought ones have a number (no 15s either oddly enough), and ALL have the middle-dimple. Either I've been pretty badly gypped or some M.A.C. are really like this (I can only hope / wish...).

I guess right now I'm trying determine whether I just depot them all and put them into a palette to separate them from my legit stuff, or just use them until I run out and buy legit, or replace the ones I use the most now with legit and put the rest away - It's a bit of a dilemma.

Overall it comes down to eBay buyer beware, I guess. Caveat Emptor. I'm going to be sticking to the sellers that I know are selling legitimate M.A.C. products from now on.


Edit: Well, I've just depotted a few of the potential fakes and they all have the same indentation on the metal pan - from what I gather and I've seen of the genuine article these have a flat bottom - so this is a sure sign that they're fakes.

I'm only fairly new to M.A.C. products, so finding 13 of my eyeshadows are not legitimate hurts badly.

 

[ellienellie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigglegirl thanks for the wickedly detailed descriptions, but MY GOD they have gotten freaking good. :S

Haven't they just!!?? it's really difficult to note the difference in some of them.
You'd have to be VERY experienced.....


Wow

 

[jrm]

Well, I'm currently feeling more confused than ever.

I've started to make a huge ruckus on eBay with the various people I've bought from and everyone is saying they're legitimate - despite the differences.

I put together my own little rundown of the differences that I've found between them on http://www.darktide.net/~jrm/suspicious-counterfeit-mac/ but I'm still not 100% convinced that they're not legitimate.

I've had one seller (who's been really helpful) contact her supplier and provide a response on the whole thing. Apparently one of her sources is a 'reputable wholesaler of cosmetics' that is owned by Estee (who own M.A.C.). This particular supplier seems very confident that what they've sold on to my supplier is a legitimate product.

What this is coming down to is - can we be sure that these differences are not just changes within the M.A.C. line itself? More and more I'm coming to the conclusion that the only way I'm going to be sure is by going through each - one by one - and doing a swatch test and comparison to try and figure out whether they're legitimate or not.

Love to hear everyones feedback on this. I'm feeling more and more confused over the whole matter. It's really pushing me to a situation where I just want to give up on doing anything but purchase from M.A.C. counters at all (even at the exorbitant - at least compared to the US costs - Australian prices).

 

[Xqueeze_me]

julie150463 has already sent the counterfeit eyeshadows for MAC to have a look at and MAC replied saying that all eyeshadows are made with smooth bottom pans. Not the ones with indented rings.

If you're still unsure, depot the eyeshadows to see if the pans have indented rings on them.

Also, repeated like a chant in other threads, MAC does not do wholesale for onward resale. That is also stated in their website. Enough said.

I have eyeshadows that were purchased here, eBay and MAC store. They're all consistent and legitimate with the packaging and swatches.. except the two from eBay are with the "written-melted-on-back-of-tray" number (marked as sample according to a Specktrette here) instead of raised numbers.

Don't give up.. Specktra have sale threads where you can buy legit MAC, high end brands and other drug store brands.. You just have to post more than 20 times (no duplicates of course!!) to be able to see the Clearance Bin.