That Time I Bought A Fake Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette || Beauty

There was a time when, a few years ago back at university when as a self confessed eBay addict, I took to buying some of my favourite makeup brands on the auction site. Some of it was a-okay or at least looked it to my untrained eye however there was more than a few cases where I’d been that idiot who’d spent more money on fakes than the real thing would have cost. Since then, I’ve avoided buying high end makeup on the site (& cheap clothing but I’m sure N from Love Laugh Lipstick expectation vs reality series is my favourite way to read about that!) instead sticking to what I know. However, while I was having a look for makeup brushes on the site in my recommendations popped up a Naked 3 palette with no reserve currently at 99p. Now, considering I already own said palette I probably shouldn’t even have clicked the link however curiouisty got the better of me and I’m now, as the post title suggest the not so proud owner of a fake Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. I thought I’d make the best of my idiotic moment and write about the differences between the two and things to look out for.

As you can see there are some pretty huge differences. The first and most noticeable one is the colour, the fake is considerably lighter in colour than the original and feels lighter. Upon closer inspection, the weighting on the fonts is slightly off and on the fake is already starting to peel after being handled once for this post. Opening up and the difference is even clearer not only does the fake seem to stick and require force to close the brush is badly fitted so simply falls out. On the real palette the colour of the plastic holding the pans flows well from the metal casing unlike the one from eBay where the colours don’t match and shade names just look cheaply printed. Talking of the pans they’re also uneven and badly fitted on the fake. Although I did swatch the two palettes for comparison do not be fooled into thinking it would be wise to put this on your face. Because there is literally no information available pertaining to where this was made and what’s actually in the powders putting these near your eyes would be a huge risk and not one I would encourage anyone to take. If you really can’t live without those pinky nudes, then here are some pretty close dupes that are completely safe and a fraction of the price;

So you don’t get stung, here’s my guide to avoiding fakes on eBay;

Before you buy, ask yourself;

• Is the description making excuses already? If it’s already telling you why it’s lower in price, normally that they’re *cough* factory seconds so “might have some minor scratches, wrongly aligned pans or “slight colour variation” that’s a major red flag. The whole idea is to make you think when it arrives “oh no it’s okay, it’s only like that because it’s a factory second, they said so in the description!”.
• Does seller has a large number listed? I mean why would some random bloke just have twenty palettes laying around to sell, especially as all 50 of them are “factory seconds”..
• Have they taken their own photos? Or have they just stole them from Google images? If you’re in doubt, reverse image search the photos to check.
• How old is their account? And how long have they actually been selling on it? eBay cracks down pretty hard when fakes are reported to them, so if they’re relatively new to the website this could be another give away.
• What is their feedback like? Is there any negative or neutral that says “product isn’t as described” with any similar product, it’s worth looking for another seller.
• Is it too good to be true? If someone is selling a brand new £35 palette for £5 plus postage, it pretty much 100% not the real deal. There’s a real difference between a bargain and something that is really too good to be true.

I think I’ve bought a fake, what now?

• First things first, email / message the seller.  Stay calm while you do it, while you might want to shout “you beeping con artist give me back my money!” it won’t get you far. Send a message along the lines of “Hi, I’ve received the item and I believe it’s not genuine. Can I send this back to you for a refund? Thanks”.
• If the seller doesn’t reply threaten with reporting to eBay or bad feedback. Don’t report them straight away. It sounds silly but you are far more likely to get them to process and instant refund to your Paypal account as eBay’s refund scheme for fake or mis-sold items can take weeks. Plus, if you’ve already given bad feedback, they’re more likely to ignore your email.
• Again, if you don’t hear back or receive a refund in a few days then start eBays report process. Or once you’ve received your refund.
• When it comes to feedback know when to leave it. If you have received your refund and reported the item, the general rule is to not then leave bad feedback. It means that the seller can make it out that you were just after the item and the money and they may not be terminated. If you haven’t got a refund then negative feedback away.

Have you ever been tricked by fake makeup before? 

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