Beware of fake make up on ebay especially Benefit

Today I am going to advise you on how to avoid fake make up on ebay. Ebay and Amazon are saturated with fake make up and it's so harmful to our skin. It is also bad on the brands as if we use the fake product and think that's it's rubbish we won't try the real one.

There is fake make up from all the popular brands about especially Mac but today I am going to concentrate on Benefit. I have bought so many fake items on eBay and it's such a let down. They are not even all cheap. Anyway here is my advise for ebay shopping.

* check what other items the seller has for sale - if they are all new make up products I would be wary especially if they have a lot of the same brand. I will only buy a Benefit make up product from a seller if it is the only item of that brand for sale, just go with your instinct on this.
* Make sure they don't have a quantity of that one item if it's a buy it now - this is the same as above really but if it's a buy it now it can tell you how many of that item they have or have sold. Stay away.

* Read the description - especially with the box o Powder blushers the fake say no brush. A real new one is always sold with a brush. These don't have a brush because they are fake. The fake brushes are bad quality and will give away the fakeness straight away so they don't include them.
Also if they mention any damage to the packaging beware. Another good one is they say factory seconds or store closing down. There is no such thing as Benefit factory seconds so that's BS right there. The store closing down could be legit but it would ring alarm bells for me.

* Obvious but check the feedback - if they are selling fakes they may have some bad feedback but usually they don't as people don't know that they are getting fakes.

* If the price is too good to be true then it usually isn't real - if the item is half the RRP then nope sorry it's not real.

So you've now received the item and your unsure if it's real, you need to give it the once over to spot if it is genuine or not.

Check the packaging quality - it's often the small detail that can give it away is the pan straight in the kit, is there any spelling mistakes (especially in the booklet), is there any gaps on the packaging that look wring where the card is folded? Does it feel cheap? Does it have a magnetic closure?

Check the codes on the item as the batch code on the item should match the batch code on the box.

Does it smell of chemicals? Benefit products always smell nice or neutral if it smells chemically then it's fake.

Another of Benefit items have a peel away sticker to reveal the ingredients, on benefit products it peels away very neatly on a fake it either won't peel at all or it will rip off.

The Benefit Smokin Eyes kit has a big indicator to tell if it's fake! the initial give away is the way that the stripes inside run as on the real one the stripe pattern is vertical in a fake one it is horizontal. Check the brush quality as fake brushes look very scruffy and are terrible quality.

Here is a list of what fake Benefit products are doing the rounds:

Smokin Eyes kit
Box o powders - all colours
Mini travel size blushers
All travel size items porefessional etc
Boi-ing
Make up brushes - all
Brow zings
Big beautiful eyes
Confessions of a Concealerholic
Realness of concealness
Hello Flawless powder - refills don't exist
High beam
Lemon Aid
Perfect 10 set (set on 10 minis)
Lipgloss - full size and travel size
Porefessional
Bad Gal mascara
They're Real mascara

I'm not saying don't buy these products on ebay or amazon I'm just saying please be very careful as a very high percentage are fake. If you think it's fake do some research online of how to spot the difference between real and fake. Report the eBay seller and claim your refund.
Be wise ladies x