Counterfeit Cosmetics clampdown

I've been talking about counterfeit cosmetics on this blog for years.

I wrote a piece a few years back about it after I invested in some pieces to write about. I saw some grim and disgusting things.

I purchased some MAC lipstick, foundation and an eye shadow. I wanted to see what happened. The lipsticks were incredibly greasy with no color, the foundation was a rotten chalk like color which then  turned into  disgusting salmon pink color. Shudder. The eyeshadows smelt like burnt plastic. Not fun. However, I remember ringing around to get quotes for the piece and was told by the Guards that they had no idea what I was on about. At this stage (2010), the make up was appearing on market stalls, as part of 'MAC make up parties' which were held by sellers (in the style of Avon) and already attributed to some serious allergic reactions and painful skin conditions.

On a more global scale, it was being linked to child trafficking, the IRA (yeah don't ask me as I've no idea how that works), terrorism and general bad stuff. It was appearing all over eBay and Amazon. It has become so bad that there is now very little you can do with make up on Ebay other then pray its real.

But in 2010, I was told that this didn't exist and it wasn't a thing.

The same month that I got told, I stood in a large garage in Limerick surrounded by what must have been about 5,000 pieces of counterfeit MAC, Benefit, Chanel and Bobbi Brown. Once I came back to see what I could find out - the business had grown to a point where the girls had quit their day jobs and expanded - they now had hair straighteners, scarves and curlers. They had rows upon rows of boxes containing fakes.

It was insane.

So this year, there has been a clamp down on counterfeit cosmetics and an appeal by police to stop women from purchasing the items.

The issue is that the pieces are made in oversea factories where there are no regulations, rules or hygiene practises in place. They are made in sheds, garages and kitchens where there are mice and a whole host of other things.
Lab tests on fake perfumes have revealed that counterfeit perfumes have contained human urine and cyanide. Make up has come back with mouse wee, arsenic and lead. This (and I saw this back in 2010 when I interviewed people) has lead to skin rashes, conditions and also hair loss and pigmentation changes. I also saw marks and burns.

Police in the UK have said they have closed 5,000 websites related to the sale of counterfeit cosmetics alone in the past 18 months and that the UK counterfeit market is worth £90 million a year. Scary. They have also seized 3.5 million of the goods. It used to be that eBay was the place to buy these cosmetics but now, sellers have identified new ways - make up parties which you host in your own home (like the Ann Summers model), Facebook or instagram. It's more direct, customer friendly and non threatening.

I will repost all my old work and the blog posts relating to how to spot fakes as it would do us all good to be reminded on how to spot them. Especially if your buying online. Generally, I would say, if the price is too good to be real - it is possibly not real.