Well,
this bronze shimmer is definitely fake but it's an eye shadow.
As for the lipstick, I've spent about three hours on it so far poking around and researching and have still reached no firm conclusions but here are some observations. Maybe by the time I've detailed them all I will have made my mind up! Here they are;
Bronze Shimmer lipstick is listed on the M·A·C website as a frost rather than an amplified crème.
Bronze Shimmer was in the November 2002 M·A·C colour story "Snowgirl" but of course it may have existed before then. In November 2002 it would have been in the current packaging shape (although it
may have been silver rather than black plastic at some stage prior to that).
There are a
lot of people suddenly selling Bronze Shimmer lipsticks which are all the same style - not just on eBay. A lot of the eBayers don't seem to be selling much M·A·C and known good M·A·C sellers aren't selling old style Bronze Shimmer lipsticks.
Even makeup.com has one
here which is described as "old packaging"
Strawberrynet.com which is a reliable source for discontinued and surplus M·A·C lipsticks is
not carrying Bronze Shimmer.
I'm sure amplified crèmes did not come out until a long time after that style of packaging was discontinued.
I have a couple of old style lipsticks and there are three very subtle differences between mine (which were purchased directly from M·A·C stores) and the ones pictured on eBay auctions and makeup.com. Firstly the shape of the cap is slightly different having a more rounded edge to the top on the suspect lipstick. Secondly, the suspect plastic is less matte and thirdly, the logo printing around the silver band is slightly different.
Other unusual discrepancies are evident in the boxes.
OK! STOP!!!!!! STOP!!!!!!!
I've made a breakthrough. :woots:
It's a fake. I just needed the right photograph and I've found it.
Here are my continuing observations;
The lipstick shows poor colour consistency within itself - clear banding and settling of pigments. I've been through all of my M·A·C lipsticks and cannot find this in one of them. Pigments in genuine M·A·C lipsticks are evenly distributed throughout the product. The last image I have attached is a genuine M·A·C Bronze Shimmer and you can see the evenness of pigment distribution that's lacking from all the others I've attached. You can also see the box very clearly.
The shape of the lipstick point is also different to genuine M·A·C lipsticks which go to a very defined angle at the highest part - the flat part isn't as oval as it is on the fakes.
I was suspicious of the font on the box. The lettering that describes the product (AMPLIFIED etc....) is a very slightly bolder and wider font than on genuine M·A·C products but I didn't have a particularly good view of this in some of the pictures so it was hard to tell.
Packaging in 1999 (which was about the last year that had that shape of lipstick) was different and the boxes didn't state "NET WT/POIDS NET" etc. I've found a mascara box from that era (December 1999) and it simply says "6.5g [SIZE=+1]e[/SIZE] 0.23 US OZ"
The general style of the boxes was slightly different when this shape of lipstick was produced too yet the box shown with the fakes is a contemporary design even though the lipstick is old.
And there was my breakthrough. The [SIZE=+1]e[/SIZE] symbol seems to be one of the hardest for counterfeiters to reproduce accurately. Just look at
Counterfeit eye shadows from Kent, UK on eBay - spiciesteve and compare the [SIZE=+1]e[/SIZE] symbol on the attached pictures of eye shadows and you'll see two different attempts, neither of which is correct.
The [SIZE=+1]e[/SIZE] symbol on the first picture I have attached below is definitely wrong. That was the "eureka" moment. From then on, everything made sense. Definitely fake.
So there you have it. The most accurate product counterfeit lipstick I have seen with almost imperceptible faults but the packaging provided the final proof. I think I'll be talking to someone at M·A·C about this on Monday.
It's taken me about five hours to get to this stage but it was worth it
The last picture on the right is a genuine Bronze Shimmer lipstick for comparison.
