There are several reasons behind today's post. Firstly, I want to clarify that
I am not sponsored or paid by any website to do this.
I noticed that 3 Concept Eyes (3CE) is getting very popular these days, especially the 3CE Lipsticks, and I see a lot shops selling products from said brand. However, I see that many of the sellers are actually selling fakes. This is extremely disgusting behaviour in my opinion because how can someone sell a product with unknown origins to people? Do you know the real ingredients of the imitation? Cosmetics are products people put on their faces! What will you do if there are ingredients inside that can cause irritation to skin and cause the skin condition of others to take a turn for the worst? I cannot stand such unethical sellers! I've seen many fakes on websites such as
Qoo10 and
Carousell. I think that the owners of these websites should have the responsibility to check on people who want to register as sellers first before letting them go wild on their platform and selling all these horrible products to the poor unsuspecting market. Granted, buyers have the responsibility to do some research before buy but these days, the fakes look so real that even the sharp eyed buyers can be cheated. Take a look at this:
Or this:
Can you tell which is the real one?
What's worse is that these stores like to
use stock photos or
selective photos which show what the product they are selling have in common with the authentic ones and
hide the photos which show inconsistencies. Then they
make use of reviews by others to prove they are selling the real thing because
those poor girls don't even know they have been cheated and left those comments thinking they got the real deal, further causing others to believe them and purchase from said shop.
I shop on taobao.com a lot and I know many Singaporean sellers like to purchase from there and resell them to locals here. Even on Taobao, there are so many people selling the fake lipsticks and labelling them as real. I'm pretty sure that the people selling fakes got their goods from there. My post today is targeted at the
unethical people who sell the fakes knowing they are fake but brand them as the real deal and the
unsure sellers who are not even sure if they have the real thing but still sell them to others, marketing the product as authentic. Come on, I understand that you guys want to make some money but doing this is just plain despicable. Many Singaporeans shop online and you are just taking advantage here! That being said,
there are people on Qoo10 and Carousell selling the real thing as well as a few websites I do know of which sell the real deal which are
MIYOC,
Taiwan Magicshop Singapore and
Luxola.
Alright, less digressing and onto the post!
First Point:
If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. This is a no brainer yet many people fail to follow because let's face it, who doesn't want a good bargain/deal? However, I am talking about deals which are so obvious that the people who still fall for it deserve a good knock on their heads. The price of a real 3CE Lipstick cost around US$20 - you can see it on the
Official Stylenanda Website. Why would a third party seller (not official distributor) sell you are a price lower than that? They will not even make any profit! The only reason for that is because they got the products at a price
even lower than what they are selling you. Imagine if a shop is selling you at just SGD$12. That means they bought it at less than SGD$12. Where in the world do you think they found a real product at this steal? Answer - it is a fake. Come on, even a kind hearted spree organizer will charge you for shared shipping with other spree participants and maybe a small handling fee and even sellers who do sell real products at lower prices will be around $1-$3 lower only due to bulk purchase discount (
yes, official stylenanda web does offer discounts under their VIP programme and orders above USD$200 gets free international shipping) or trying to clear older stocks. You can read about the programme
here.
Second Point:
It must have a Safety Seal on the opening. However, many fakes these days also have this safety seal sticker which is why I have many more points below to help identify.
Third Point:
Outer Packaging, i.e. the box. Firstly, the picture on the box should be of good quality. Fakes tend to have high contrast in the colours and look grainy.
Fourth Point:
Bottom of the outer packaging. Most fakes have codes like HHxxx (x are numbers) or just numbers. The real one will have the name of the lipstick, lipstick code and barcode.
Fifth Point:
Still on packaging but this time it is on the product information. The fake one will have expiry date printed on it as well as missing words. The real one does not have expiry date printed and have the words underlined in the picture below
Sixth Point:
Should you purchase via their online website, the plastic packaging should say www.stylenanda.com, not cn.stylenanda.com as pictured below. Also, the words www.stylenanda.com should be of appropriate size and legible, not so tiny you have to squint to read.
Seventh Point:
The wordings on the case of the lipstick. The fake ones tend to look blurry/ smudgy and the words are bold. The real ones look clear and clean and the words are very crisp.
Eight Point:
Logo of the Lipstick. Similar to the words, the fake ones look smudgy/blurry while the real ones are very clean and crisp.
Ninth Point:
The tip of the lipstick. The fake ones usually have curved tips while real ones should have a straight, slanted tip.
Tenth Point:
The tapered side of the tip. The place where the tapered side of the fake ones face when the lipstick is fully extended are inconsistent, as you can see from here
And here
But the real ones
always faces the same side as the logo when you fully extend the lipstick out.
Eleventh Point:
The base where the lipstick rest. The base of the fake ones which hold the lipstick is longer than the real ones.
Twelveth Point:
The bottom of the product itself. Just like the packaging, the bottom of the case of an authentic product have
both the lipstick code and the name of the lipstick. The name of the lipstick will
always be in English with
Expiry Date printed on it as well.
Thirteenth Point:
Texture of the case. The fake ones usually
feel very plastic and much light reflects off it while the real ones feel more like
acrylic. Sorry but no clear pictures to illustrate this but from one of the pictures above, you can tell the difference between the amount of light reflection.
Fourteenth Point:
Product lineup. Not talking about lipstick here but other products from 3CE. A quick google search will tell you whether a product is in their lineup. I've seen ridiculous people selling things not even in the lineup like 2-in-1 loose powder with face powder or some Aqua Boost lipstick. Another giveaway is when the product doesn't even look close to the real thing. For example, the special edition Pink 3CE lipsticks only comes in rectangular case; I've seen rectangular cases with rounded edges and even an oval looking case. It's like they are not even trying to look like the real thing because people just believe it when they see the words "StyleNanda/3 Concept Eyes" on the packaging.
There, Fourteen points that I can think of for now. I will add on if I can think of more - feel free to tell me any points I've missed out! Hope this post helps you ladies and prevent more of you from getting cheated! This post was actually inspired by Tsuriki because we were talking about it the other day and she suggested I should make a post about it to help others out there! Remember, all the points I stated has NO EXCEPTIONS. Don't cheat yourself/ be in denial that you piece might be a "slightly different" piece. Do yourself a favour and stop using it if yours turned out to be fake.
xoxo
Himeko