Benefit Fakery - How to Spot a Fake

A few days ago I asked if you could spot the fake from the two products above and most of you got it right, however over a quarter of the people that left a comment either didn't know or thought the fake was the product on the right hand side. 

So even though there was the genuine product to compare it against alot of people still struggled to see the differences in the two product. Which just shows how hard it can be to tell a fake from a genuine item. 

I am hopefully going to show you the flaws of the fake Benefit Justine Case kit but if you want to know how to spot a fake Benefit product in general then just scroll to the bottom of the post where there are simplified bullet points that cover all Benefit products. 

Front Cover 
 Obviously this is where most of the attention to detail has been spent as the cover is nearly spot on. The slight difference is the fake product has more shading to the bag on the right hand side and the font to the "just in case" is more squashed and also darker.  If you didn't have the genuine item to compare it against these things would be virtually impossible to notice. 

(All the red dotted products are the fake ones) 

The Products 
 As you can see the the genuine products are bigger and also have flat lids. The product inside the bottles is also much stronger in colour in the real item. Also something that is harder to spot is one the Benefit logo (you may need to click on the image to see). The real benefit logo has no dot over the 'i' as the 'f' hangs over it, however if you look closely all the fake bottles have a dotted 'i'.

Other small mistakes are the font to the 'eye'con and that the 'benetint' font shouldn't be pink. They do sneakily match the real product with the writing on the side word for word and also there is numbering on the bottom which is the same as the real product. Which I am sure would convince someone it wasn't a fake when it infact is.

Formula 
  Again when you compare the two items side by side you can spot the difference a mile off, however take the real one out of the equation and you are left with fake products that actually smells the same as the real thing. Even though the Benetint is different in colour it does smell very similar as does the California Kissin' they just aren't as strong. Consistency wise they are almost spot on. 
As for Some Kind-A Gorgeous which normally has a cream to powder finish, it is quite abit more thicker and sticky as for colour they are quite similar. 


On a side note other than swatching the fake products on the back of my hand I will not be using any of them mainly for the fact that the company that manufacturers these isn't bound by any laws or standards and therefore the ingredients in the products are unknown. So as I know that the item is a fake I will definitely not be using it. 

Packaging  
Now this is where it is more obvious, there are just too many flaws. Which is one thing to always look out for, as the packaging will be more cheaply made than the real item and most of the time rushed. The mirror is slightly off at the bottom and there is glue residue at the top of the packaging as you can see above - however the imperfection isn't as noticeable as the image I took makes out. Also the casing for Some Kind-A Gorgeous is poorly fitted but if you were to compare this, there isn't much between them. 

This is also quite an obvious one if you have ever had Benefit kits before the ribbon to lift the miniature products out is always cut at an angle and is red. This applies to all Benefit products with silk ribbons. Simple.

Another mistake below is the missing code that should be on the back of the product, everything else is word perfect even the correct company address. But it is missing the product code.

Anyway enough about this specific product as I am sure most of you aren't planning on just buying Benefit Justine Case in the future.

So there are a few things to look out for before purchasing Benefit products from Ebay or discounted websites. (As I am not going to warn you away from eBay or discounted site as they do have there place on the internet and I shall personally continue to use them).

  

• If you are wanting to purchase a Benefit item from eBay have a look to see if the seller is selling alot of Benefit products. As most sellers that sell fake items sell multiples weekly.
• Avoid stock images like the plague...if it isn't the actual image of the product be wary as most people do own a digital camera these days. 
• Make sure they have a returns policy!
• I would say to look at feedback, however alot of the sellers have 100% positive feedback as no one has noticed they have been sold fake goods. It is still worth looking at though. 
• If they is an actual image of the product or when the item arrives make sure to have a look at the Benefit products on Asos.com as you can really zoom into the products to compare the real product against your own. 
• If you are still unsure about the authenticity of the item take it too a Benefit counter to compare it to the actual product - But be aware you may receive dirt looks from the Benefit MUA's by doing this! 
• Usually if the item is being shipped from another country other than where you live it is likely to be a mass produced fake item. However there are quite a lot of UK sellers that list fake items.
• If you receive the item and find that is it in fact not genuine make sure to email the seller or company ASAP outlining that it is fake and that you want a full refund.

Finally, common sense is key. The main thing to look for is the quality. The quality of higher end products is always good and this is where alot of fake goods slip up as the materials that make up the fake products are the cheapest of the cheap and also tend to be poorly made.

I hope you have found this slightly informative and if you have purchased anything at a discounted rate whether is be Benefit or not, make sure to have a detailed look over it as you wouldn't want to be using fake untested products on your face!

Fee xo.