Who doesn’t love a bargain, or at least a cheeky little discount code when shopping? But nobody wants a to find out their new Anastasia Beverly Hills is FAKE! I always search for a discount code, or wait until my favourite online stores like Look Fantastic or Cult Beauty have a deal on before splurging, so it’s understandable that many of us would be seduced by a total bargain, especially when it comes to high end, expensive brands – but when something seems to good to be true, it probably is. My general advice when it comes to make-up would be to steer clear from E-Bay, as it’s rife for scammers, but if you do decide to shop there I’ve outlined a few things to look out for when buying Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick…
I’m a huge fan of Anastasia Beverly Hills, and have been purchasing through Cult Beauty and Beauty Bay hapilly since the brand has been available in the UK but frustratingly, the Liquid Lipsticks are not available on either site. On the official ABH site the lipsticks retail for $20 which is about £15. The only approved seller in the UK I have found is Rose’s Beauty Store. Don’t be put off by the basic shop front, there are some awesome American brands on there including Jeffree Star and Tarte. Rose stocks an impressive amount of the shades for £26 each; a painful £11 more than their US RRP, ouch! You’ll also find offerings on Amazon with prices ranging from £22, to over £30, and though more reputable than E-Bay it’s not a guarantee of genuine brand. I actually bought my first ABH lipstick from Amazon, the sold-out shade Pure Hollywood, for an eye-watering £32. Well over double its ‘worth’ it arrived next day with Prime which gave me some assurance, and I adore it. When I went to buy a second shade, an empty box turned up! I did get a refund but someone in the warehouse had clearly been pinching goods!
I digress! Going back to the point that if it seems to good to be true, it probably is, I came across some ABH lipsticks on E-Bay which were ridiculously cheap at under a tenner. The reviews seemed good – over 90% positive – so I thought what the hell, I’ll give it a go. The lipstick arrived quickly but I could tell instantly that it wasn’t genuine. This was because I’d chosen Pure Hollywood, so could easily compare it to the genuine article. In the images above you can see the packaging is pretty similar, apart from the shade swatch (the lighter pink being the fake) totally different! And the label came like that, peeling off – the first red flag.
The second giveaway – bar the shade being totally inaccurate – was the sticker to the base. All of my genuine products have the little pot icon at the bottom (see the example I’m holding which is on the right). Another issue was the inadequate wand. The ABH wand had a dense, soft pad, and is a little larger than standard gloss wands which makes is super easy to apply. The fake had a dinky tip, with sparse scratchy sponge end. Yuk.
The quality of the formula was very different too, which is pretty concerning if the ingredients are then unknown too, who knows what you’d be putting on your lips! The smell of the fake had an almost plastic aroma, and as you can see from the above pictures, the staying power was useless where it smudged easily in comparison to the genuine product.
To apply it was sticky, tacky and bled pretty badly, and also cracked around the lip line and ended up on my teeth – it was really drying! The image on the left shows this, with the picture on the right is the genuine ABH article, a much duskier rose pink. The moral of the story? If something seems to good to be true, it probably is! Until ABH lipsticks are more available in the UK, I’d advise sticking to Rose’s Beauty Store, Amazon, or reputable sellers on Depop.