Is This Brass Pigment fake?

[taina007]

I bought a lot of cosmetics from ebay a while ago as one of those chance wins and when i got it, most of the items seemed legit but just three of the six pigments were off, i compared them to ones that i already had and they were slightly different, so i took pics and asked on MUA but they suggested it was fake if not really really old. so i kept looking and found out that brass was a really old pigment that was discontinued and so i was wondering if you lovely experts can help me out in any way, i'll add pics to show you what the differences are....

1. the box is bumpy?

2. label on bottom is black and on bottle is different font/size and lid is shiny?

3. box labeling is different as well

any advice? tia!!

 

[kelly2509t]

I don't own any pigments, but that looks pretty fake to me

. The box would never be bumpy like that

 

[angi]

It looks really really old to me. I know the old eyeshadows had bumpy packaging and printing like that. But, it appears to have a modern batch number on the bottom, which I don't think the older pigments had (they tend to have a longer number on them). A clearer picture of the bottom of the jar and the batch number might help.

Shiny lids are a sign of fakes, but I have had one genuine really old pigment with a completely patent black lid - it is a completely different texture -both to the current pigments and also to the shiny lids of the fake pigments.

We need someone either with this pigment, or a really really old pigment with a box. Anyone?!

 

[taina007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by angi It looks really really old to me. I know the old eyeshadows had bumpy packaging and printing like that. But, it appears to have a modern batch number on the bottom, which I don't think the older pigments had (they tend to have a longer number on them). A clearer picture of the bottom of the jar and the batch number might help. Shiny lids are a sign of fakes, but I have had one genuine really old pigment with a completely patent black lid - it is a completely different texture -both to the current pigments and also to the shiny lids of the fake pigments. We need someone either with this pigment, or a really really old pigment with a box. Anyone?!

actually the batch number is different i'll try take a pic of it and post it when i get back from work

 

[1165Cheryl]

MACS very old pigments do look a lot different then there current ones. I have some from the same time period but not brass so I cant compare. I do know a few gals here that have a real brass so hopefully they can help. MAC did make some with shiny lids long time ago, not many but there are some. Also the sticker on the bottom being different and the box print is normal for their old style.

The best thing is find someone here with a old brass and they can help. When it comes to using the "fake guidlines" on a pigment that rare, well it doesnt pertain. I'll ask my buddy to check this out, I'm pretty sure she has brass. I have a brass sample, if you could show the pigment I could let you know about that.

 

[MACATTAK]

I have Brass and that color is not right (could be my monitor). Also, my Brass has a 5 digit number/letter batch code. It also has the silver sticker like your Golden Olive. The back of your jar and lid doesn't look right either. Based on all of that, I'm going to say it's fake.

 

[1165Cheryl]

What is the texture of the pigment, like a "metal" or "frost". I have it brass (metal) and the color isnt the same. I gave the link to my friend who has the box of this. I dont know for sure if they made this in frost form like they did with gold and silver...I know they did in one other but cant recall off hand.

 

[shatteredshards]

What stands out for me is the lid is shiny as heck, like the lids on fake jars.

If you remember who you bought it from, maybe if the auction was still recent enough you could link us to it? That might help, or give us an indication of how likely it is that this is fake.

 

[taina007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1165Cheryl What is the texture of the pigment, like a "metal" or "frost". I have it brass (metal) and the color isnt the same. I gave the link to my friend who has the box of this. I dont know for sure if they made this in frost form like they did with gold and silver...I know they did in one other but cant recall off hand.

sorry i'm not too sure how to tell the difference between the metal and frost pigment...hopefully you're friend will know

 

[taina007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shatteredshards What stands out for me is the lid is shiny as heck, like the lids on fake jars. If you remember who you bought it from, maybe if the auction was still recent enough you could link us to it? That might help, or give us an indication of how likely it is that this is fake.

i bought it a while ago so i don't have the link to that still but i also got a coco beach pigment in it which is legit everything seems exactly the same as the pigments i own so i just figured maybe this one was legit too just really old, but i guess it does seem off....

 

[shatteredshards]

Would you be able to post a clear picture of the bottom of the jars? I don't think the jars themselves have ever really changed, that would fall on the company that MAC gets them from.

 

[sleepyhead]

i think mac products with 5 digit batch code are at least 10 years old. if i'm not mistaken, brass was discontinued after 2000. so it's possible that they've switched to the newer 3 digit batch code at some point. i know mac did use black stickers for pigments at some point (on the one i have, the sticker is bigger than usual and it has a 5 digit batch code)

it's probably authentic cuz brass was discontinued so long ago, i don't think anyone besides the real mac addicts would even know that color. so there's really no point of mass producing counterfeits of this color in the old style packaging

here's my swatch of brass pigment if it helps

i don't know for sure, but i don't think brass was a "metal" (it's not make from actual metal like silver and gold). but it does have an extremely smooth texture that's similar to metal pigments

 

[taina007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepyhead i think mac products with 5 digit batch code are at least 10 years old. if i'm not mistaken, brass was discontinued after 2000. so it's possible that they've switched to the newer 3 digit batch code at some point. i know mac did use black stickers for pigments at some point (on the one i have, the sticker is bigger than usual and it has a 5 digit batch code) it's probably authentic cuz brass was discontinued so long ago, i don't think anyone besides the real mac addicts would even know that color. so there's really no point of mass producing counterfeits of this color in the old style packaging i don't know for sure, but i don't think brass was a "metal" (it's not make from actual metal like silver and gold). but it does have an extremely smooth texture that's similar to metal pigments

thank you so much for this, here's a pic of the bottom of my bottle, it does have a 5 digit code on the bottom and i couldn't take a good pic of it but not even i can make out what the code says anyways, here it is...

 

[taina007]

oh, and i tried to swatch it but on my nc42 hand it doesn't really stand out but it looks alot like the swatch posted,

 

[bebs]

the box.. well aside from the bumpieness does look real if I am remembering right (I got rid of my boxes long ago) but the bottom and bottle look funny to me, I'll go pull out a few of my old jars to compare from that time later on today or tomorrow

 

[shatteredshards]

The picture's not the clearest, but I think the bottom of the jar is legit, the shadows indicate the numbers are in the right places.

 

[1165Cheryl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepyhead i think mac products with 5 digit batch code are at least 10 years old. if i'm not mistaken, brass was discontinued after 2000. so it's possible that they've switched to the newer 3 digit batch code at some point. i know mac did use black stickers for pigments at some point (on the one i have, the sticker is bigger than usual and it has a 5 digit batch code) it's probably authentic cuz brass was discontinued so long ago, i don't think anyone besides the real mac addicts would even know that color. so there's really no point of mass producing counterfeits of this color in the old style packaging here's my swatch of brass pigment if it helps i don't know for sure, but i don't think brass was a "metal" (it's not make from actual metal like silver and gold). but it does have an extremely smooth texture that's similar to metal pigments

Thats true, mine is like 1/2 metal & 1/2 the texture of MACS richmetal pigment collection textures. It's the same as sleepyheads.

 

[1165Cheryl]

I forgot to mention, I have 2 old greens and both have different stickers on the bottom. One has the longer digits and the other the shorter. It depends on what year, batch, ect it was made. Same thing with Bright Coral I have 2 that I got from MAC and both stickers are different. There were some made with the black, I'll have to dig out my box of my rares. I use samples for my personal makeup and keep my very rare jars in a seperate box then my regular stock and personal usage. That way I have a original jar of every color made (except for 4-5 colors) to compare to if I ever run across one so I can then tell if it's authentic or not.