Monday, August 16, 2010

Rock The Catwalk wants to help you spot fake MAC cosmetics! Part II of II

As promised, here are pictures of the counterfeit MAC Pro Pans! Let me apologize in advance. I am the worst picture taker but I'll try to point out the details in the text below each image. Note: You can click on each image to magnify.

Can you tell which one is counterfeit?
It's the one on the right! Why? Look at the text on the bottom. I've always seen MAC use thin not thick text. Notice how the letters in "NET WT" are practically touching, where on the left there is space in between each letter.

If you have a Pro Pan that you think is counterfeit and you still have the packaging, take your nail and lightly scratch the surface of packaging. If the scratches are visible, chances are it's not real.

I used my finger nail to scratch both packaging in the same manner. As you can see, the one on the right is clearly fake.
Sorry for the blurry picture but there is not much of a difference that I could tell here. The counterfeits are getting better and better. 
Here are the inserts. The authentic MAC is on the left. Notice how the folds are different.
The counterfeit MAC (right) is cheap and kept cracking and crumbling. What a mess!
The counterfeit MAC (right) has a slight lip in the metal pan towards the top. It's really hard to see if you're not looking for it.
FAKE! Poorly made with flecks of crap mixed in. Buy some of this if you want random bits of metal in your eye.

I peeled both magnets off the bottom of the pans. A sure sign of a counterfeit used to be a ring on the bottom of the pan. Not anymore! Counterfeits are so hard to spot now!
The difference between the authentic (left) and counterfeit (right) appears to be the type of metal. MAC uses some sort of brushed metal while the counterfeit looks like a cheap aluminum. The counterfeit is more reflective.

To the fun part!

I weighed the authentic MAC Pro Pan and it's 3.9 grams. Weights may differ from batch or scale calibration so I would factor in a .3 gram + or - difference at the most.
FAKE! Not only are they stealing your money but gypping you on the amount of product as well!

Be extremely careful who you buy from and be extra careful when purchasing the colors listed here especially if you notice all of these from the same seller! It's one thing to buy counterfeit bags (if you're into that), but who knows what kind of chemicals are used in counterfeit cosmetics. If you are applying these cosmetics to your skin (the biggest organ in the human body), who knows what damage you are doing to yourself. And with no real company to back up this product, if anything happens, you are %^&* out of luck. Please don't support counterfeit cosmetics!

For another post on how to spot fake MAC cosmetics, check out a great guide at http://accidentalbeauty.com/makeup/how-to-spot-fake-mac-cosmetics/. If you know of any other guides, I'd love to read them. Please post them in the comments section below!

I hope this was helpful!

10 comments:

  1. This was so helpful! Great post... I'm looking forward to your next one! :)

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  2. Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful!

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  3. Great post, I can't believe the counterfeits are getting even better. I was given counterfeit mac products as a present a few years back and I could tell the difference instantly, especially as I hate anything fake. I only trust the products directly from mac and not from any other sellers.

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  4. THANK YOU SO MUCH! The more of this info that gets out the better for all of us! Especially the MAC addicts that have moved overseas and now have to pay almost 3X the price at the MAC stores, and thus resort to Ebay a little too often. I have a question for you (and anyone else reading) about the color of the type on the sticker labels:
    How much has it changed over the last few years, if at all? It looks to me like most of what I assume to be the fakes that I have bought on Ebay (from different sellers) all seem to have a creamy yellowish cast to the text on the sticker labels, whereas all the MAC that I have bought from MAC stores seem to be more of a grey. Anyone care to weigh in?
    Thanks!

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  5. I haven't seen a difference in the "grayness" of the labels that I could tell lately. All stickers I've seen of authentic MAC items are gray/silver, clear for Pro pigments, and various colors for special limited edition packaging. I haven't seen (or noticed) any labels with a yellowish cast to them. If you are in a different country than the US/Canada, the manufacturing labels could possibly be different. Best bet is to compare with known authentic items at the MAC store!

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  6. That is really shocking...looks exactly the same.I am sure there are fake counterparts for most good brands and we should be more careful while buying also buy from authentic stores.

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  7. I love the way you went into detail so deeply, very helpful! Thank you :)

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  8. wow I´m very impressed!! thank you sooooooo much!!! I´m afraid I have a mac pro pan blusher that is fake.....

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  9. I almost got jipped into buying a bunch of fakes! Thanks to you, I didn't throw away my money!

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