Hey friends. I wanted to do this post because I know that there are a lot of good MAC fakes out there, especially on Ebay and other sites. I only buy my MAC products directly from the website here or CCO's to avoid the fakes.
I recently received two fake MAC shadows from a give-away: Lucky Green and Knight Divine. Upon opening up my package, I immediately recognized that these were fakes.
Swatches: Knight Divine (top) and Lucky Green (bottom)
Here are the actual colors from MAC:
Link to Lucky Green on Temptalia's blog Link to Knight Divine on MakeupAlley.com
Just from looking at these pictures-you can tell that Lucky Green is obviously fake. It isn't even close in color to the authentic! The one I received is a metallic frosty moss color, whereas the authentic Lucky Green is more of a yellow-lime green.
Knight Divine is closer in color to the authentic, but leans more towards a dark navy blue. Also, a BIG indicator, Knight Divine is misspelled on the box. (Double click on the picture above to see) It is spelled Knight Divin. Ugh-really?
In the following pictures, I am comparing the fakes to my authentic MAC shadow in Satin Taupe. The authentic shadow is always the one on the right in these photos. Also, compare the darkness of the MAC logos in these photos and the font on the packaging.
See the sticker on the back? Authentic MAC shadows always have the finish listed on the sticker, right after the name of the shadow. Satin Taupe has a frost finish. Knight Divine(Divin?) only has the fake batch number in white font printed on it, and it doesn't even have the complete name on it, only Knight. The batch number on the authentic MAC is not printed in white, it is in glossy black right under the finish indicator. Also, the sticker is haphazardly placed on the package for the fake, whereas the authentic shadow is meticulously placed.
The MAC logo is also obviously darker and larger in the fake shadow. Below is the Lucky Green fake on the left and authentic Satin Taupe on the right.
Otherwise, to the untrained eye, the packaging is almost exactly the same. The name of the shadow though is in a different font than the authentic and the authentic is in all caps.
The black eye shadow case though is very similar in finish, not matte but not too glossy either. It also has the same small raised lettering on the bottom of the case as the authentic shadows.
I also noticed that the weight in the products is different because of the packaging. The authentic shadow is heavier in the hand (minus the cardboard packaging) than the fakes. I don't have a scale to measure this, but trust me-you can tell! Just hold the authentic one in your hand and then hold the fake one. There is a noticeable difference.
The MAC blush she sent me is also a fake, but I don't have any MAC blushes in my collection yet so I can't do any photo comparisons. I took photos of the all the fakes I received and had my friend, a licensed makeup artist for MAC, take a closer look at them to confirm that these were all indeed fakes.
I was, of course, quite irritated that this particular person had marketed these as real MAC products in her give-away. I contacted her via email about the products she gave me and she promptly apologized about them not being legit but never offered to replace them with authentic pieces or alternate pieces.
I decided to take this opportunity to do this post so that some of you are not duped by the many (and often good) fakes out there. I would suggest buying directly from the manufacturer if you really want to purchase authentic MAC products instead of other websites that offer too-good-to-be-true prices.
Of course, it is up to you if you want to purchase from other websites. I would just strongly caution against it because you never know what you will be getting!
Hope this was helpful!
Best,
