So a few months ago I unfortunately fell victim to a scam on Facebook which led me to purchase a load of makeup that was actually counterfeit. Now that my blog is up and running, I thought it would be a good opportunity to use this platform to warn people of the dangers of buying through illegitimate websites and social media. There will be two posts in this series; this post on Jeffree Star’s Skin Frost in ‘Dark Horse’ and a second post on the Moonchild Glow Kit by Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Dark Horse by Jeffree Star Cosmetics ♥

I was quite cynical to begin with and as the situation unfolded, I realised my gut feeling was correct. I only stumbled across this page by chance as I was scrolling through my facebook feed. Someone had shared a competition entry post from a makeup page, user ‘Dollme Up’. The photo included makeup bits from various high end brands, very appealing as some of these brands so difficult for those of us here in the UK. After visiting the page I found she was posting several times per day, images containing deliveries arriving from her ‘supplier’, bundles and giveaway competition posts. Brands for sale included MAC, Tarte, Huda Beauty, Jeffree Star, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Kylie Cosmetics, Too Faced and Violet Voss. All products were hugely discounted, with no visible reasoning anywhere as to why. It’s quite concerning really that this person is now on 30,000+ page likes and there’s nothing I can do to force Facebook to close her page down! I attempted to report the page but got the usual, ‘if you find this content inappropriate or offensive then block the user’ from Facebook’s help centre.

@Dollme Up Facebook Page

Anyway, before I placed any orders I contacted the page owner to question where she obtained the products from and how was she able to sell the products at 50-60% less than the RRP. Her response was ‘my supplier gets them tax free’. Anyway, I chose to ignore the bad feeling I had and place an order. A page with 20,000 likes on Facebook must be legit right? Turns out not so much. 

I have to give this lady credit though. The whole charade is being run very cleverly. Not showing the true numbers of each product available for sale in one photo and only photographing individual products with ‘original packaging’. To the less knowledgeable, the page and it’s products for sale look legit. Postage was fast and my parcel arrived 2 days later after dispatch. By this point, I’d placed orders for three ABH Glow Kits, one Kylie Cosmetics Lip Set and two lip kits, two Jeffree Star Cosmetics Skin Frosts and a KKW lip set. Thankfully, I insisted on using PayPal! 

The first parcel contained Kylie’s Koko lip collection, two lip kits in ‘Posie’ and ‘Dolce’, Moonchild Glow Kit by ABH and ‘Dark Horse’ Skin Frost by Jeffree Star. As I only had a legit Skin Frost in ‘Dark Horse’ from Beauty Bay I was able to cross examine this and realise everything I’d received was fake. I’ve also compared the two Moonchild glow kits over on my other ‘Real vs Fake’ post. After receiving all these items I bit the bullet and ordered Sweets, Nicole, Moonchild and Aurora direct from Anastasia Beverly Hills website. 

Left: REAL     Right: FAKE

So this was how they compared when I got home and put them side by side. As you can see from the picture above they look nothing alike.As soon as I pulled the box out of the envelope and opened it the packaging jolted my initial suspicions before I’d even opened the compacts. 

The boxes are noticeably difference with the fake one smaller than the real one and the colour difference noticeably different, the fake box much more of a neon pink. The actual size and colour of the of the compact is also different. 

Left: Real JS Skin Frost in ‘Dark Horse’, Right: fake skin frost, supposedly also ‘Dark Horse’ ♥

The skin frost on the left is the real Jeffree Star Cosmetics ‘Dark Horse’ Skin Frost purchased from Beauty Bay. The one of the right is supposed to be the same product. How, I don’t know. I remember sitting there looking at both of these products wondering how on earth anyone could try and pass this off as real. The actual texture and formulae of the fake skin frost looks awful in comparison and is visibly different. Dark Horse in it’s truest form is a bronzed tone gold, a darker toned highlight. The fake skin frost is a smooth soft highlight.

Left: REAL     Right: FAKE

Even the labels on the back of the compacts look obviously different. The serial numbers alone have been embossed incorrectly, the fake one’s font size is much smaller and the label is a different colour and off centre.

Left: REAL     Right: FAKE

The last noticeable difference is the back of the packaging. The colour of the barcode label is all wrong and literally just looks like someone has printed the colour gold on a label (clearer below). There is no metallic sheen to the label whatsoever. The font and barcode structure itself is discoloured and fuzzy. The fake product is also missing the UK health and safety warning label.

Left: REAL     Right: FAKE

So all in all, there are quite a few noticeable differences to be spotted once you place the real and replica products side by side. I’m not sure if the seller was deliberately dodging my questions because she knows they are fake imports and doesn’t care, or if she genuinely did not know. I doubt it as her page is still active and she seems to have a steady stream of orders. It saddens me to see so many people buying goods from her and believing they are legitimate beauty products from high end brands. Once I realised what the deal was with this seller, I contacted a few of the more ‘vulnerable’ people who had been commenting on her posts or entering the competition to let them know the stuff she is selling is counterfeit. A lot of the page subscribers are girls still in school looking to spend their pocket money on luxury beauty; single mums or people on benefits, all jumping at the spectacular price these goods are on offer for.

That’s before we even touch on the issue that because this item is a copy, and looks and performs so differently to the original, it’s safe to say the same ingredients haven’t been used during manufacturing despite the packaging stating otherwise. No one actually knows what this fake skin frost has been made from or how it could affect your skin. 

Let this be a lesson for us all. Stick to websites and official stockists (usually listed on brands own websites) and if the price of any product looks too good to be true, chances are it’s a fake. I know several influencers have done videos on this comparing the quality of replica makeup being sold on Ebay and comparing it to the real ones. Even if it performs okay for the price, do you really want to take the risk when you don’t know exactly what ingredients have been used during the manufacturing process? I don’t know, personally I’m not keen. There are so many dupes available now from the drug store, you can pick up good quality make up at an affordable price. What are your thoughts on this? Let me know down below.

Thanks for reading guys.