A lot has been said, written, heard, read and revealed about the counterfeit industry. Everything is being copied today. While I sit here and type, and while you read this, fifty or maybe a hundred fake Makeups are being made --- in different brand and shades. From foundation to lipstick, everything has a copy. As true as one of Coco Chanel's ever famous quotes, "Being copied is the ransom of success.", no world famous brand is spared. Name it, they have it. It is so prevalent and rampant that one law cannot prevent this illegal activity. And as much as I don't wanna believe it, the makeup industry has also fallen victim to this "business".

I don't understand it, really, why people even bother to SELL counterfeit/fake makeup. I mean, surely, makeup can be quite expensive, but not all makeup are, so, seriously, why is there a need for them to create copies? Until I realized that these counterfeiters continue to produce fake makeup because people ACTUALLY buy, whether unknowingly or not. So it's business as usual. As long as the world gets more aesthetically conscious of themselves day by day, fake makeup will always be there.

I don't wanna be a hypocrite, counterfeit bags used to be okay with me, until I learned my lesson. I have a few counterfeit Gucci bags way back, which I bought on impulse, and boy, they are close to the original --- dust bags, paper bags, zip, smell, feel, leather, cards, serial numbers and all. I was not able to use them though, maybe just once or twice because I felt a kind of shame, for deep down inside me I know I'm carrying a fake. I know how it feels to proudly carry a designer bag --- one that made you work your ass ever so badly, that one bag which gave you sleepless nights --- working. Going back, I decided to just sell them, and they got sold in an hour or so. I thought, hey, this is good business, I might as well try it.

Okay, before I totally go astray, in this post, I am going to rant about fake makeup. At first, I found it really absurd to think that people really buy those, but as I get to know more about makeup and cosmetics and other stuff being sold online, I've seen and experienced some first hand.

First, Singapore-authentic. I admit, way back the Singapore-authentic hype, I was into online buying. I met this seller who sells perfumes. It was priced at 1300 pesos per bottle that time, and truly, her perfumes were way cheaper than the mall price. She claimed they were "real" perfumes, only made in Singapore. I was really stupid to fall for her marketing ploy. In one snap of a finger, I bought 3 bottles. But when I got home to try them personally, you know the rest was history. To tell you now, there is no such thing as Singapore authentic. If it's authentic, it's authentic. If it's made in the Philippines, it doesn't mean it's fake or of low quality either. Singapore is one of the countries with perhaps the most strict rules on anything, so I bet they won't permit or support any activities such as these. If you go to Singapore, they don't even know what the hell Singapore-authentic is. Whoever coined the term Singapore-authentic, I don't know, but he must be rich now. I also remember buying an EDT from the perfume section of a famous mall, which turned out to be fake too. Tsk.


Then, just a while ago, a seller who really pissed me off because she was selling fake makeup and claiming that they were the real ones, only overruns and made in Singapore. Since when were Benefit and MAC made in Singapore? And since when do makeup companies produce overruns (if they even have some) and sell them to the public? When I told her a few facts about Benefit and MAC, she just told me pointblank that if I don't intend to buy, I just mind my own business. The nerve! I don't care if she sells or uses fake cosmetics, just don't trick people that what you sell are authentic. That's dishonesty for goodness sake. Bazaars I've been to, sell fake cosmetics too. And they sell like hotcakes, mind you.

I once bought a fake SKIN79 Beblesh Balm for the sake of comparing it to the real one. The seller knew it was a fake and she was honest about it. I will be posting a Blog with the comparison of Fake and Real SKIN79 Blemish Balm.

And now, my question is, what's the point in buying fake makeup anyway? Is it considered nowadays that if you own expensive makeup, then that's a mark of a status symbol? If you cannot afford it, then don't buy it at all. You can save up or something, just don't settle for less. I really can't find logic in it, nothing at all. Makeup is expensive for a number of reasons, but nowadays, we are no longer limited to just the expensive ones. There are good quality brands out there that are very inexpensive yet are comparable and sometimes better than the expensive ones. To name a few, there's NYX of course, Milani, MeMeMe, Sleek, and E.L.F. And for the local brands, we have Fanny Serrano, Fashion21, James Cooper, even Nichido. I recently discovered that even Ever Belena has amazing matte lipsticks for only a hundred pesos or less, I'm not too sure though.

Bottom line is, we have a lot of choices and every makeup lover/junkie doesn't just choose the branded ones. Believe me, we try every thing that seems promising and we stick to products not because of the brand or price, but because they deliver the job well. Sometimes, we ditch the expensive ones too because they cause us breakouts or they just don't work as promised.

Personally, most of the time, I prefer cheaper makeup than high-end ones. For a 1450 pesos worth of one NARS blush for example, I've already got myself about four or five NYX blushes, in powder and in cream form. I always look out for good dupes as much as possible. I always want to broaden my knowledge and experience on what works best for me and what looks best on me.

So, again, why would you buy fake makeup when it really has no sense at all? These counterfeits did not adhere to any product standards or any quality check. You don't even know the ingredients of what you're putting on your face. Lord knows if there's lead or mercury in it, or food coloring from fish liver which you might be allergic to. Or maybe as the lola's would call it, there's just "atsuete" in it. The water that was used to mix with your fake liquid foundation, you'll never know from which "imbornal" it actually came from. I've read somewhere too that some fake perfumes are mixed with pee and all sorts of disgusting bodily fluids. Eww! Gross!! So it might be in your fake fluid concealer or cheek tint too. The dangers are endless. So if you're into buying or about to buy fake makeup just because of the mere brand, I suggest you stop at all costs because you might be harming your skin or your health as well.You know in yourself that it's fake, so why are you trying to fool yourself?

My parting words? It doesn't prove anything and it doesn't bring you to a status of wealth and success if you pull out a MAC Studio Fix from your kikay kit in the washroom. That girl beside you who is using a Fanny Serrano 2-way Cake is not lower in status or in no way different from you. At the end of the day, you both wash your face and sleep with a clean, bare face after all, right?