Have you ever purposefully picked up off-brand/fake/faux/knockoff makeup that you knew was nowhere near legit, but you got it anyway"
Different versions of this story have been making the rounds over the past few months. I saw one recently in Allure. It was a story about people who hunt down people who sell counterfeit makeup in the United States, and how companies like Estée Lauder have teams of private investigators who work on sting operations to shut down the fake makeup black market.
Counterfeit makeup is big business. In Los Angeles, there’s a well-known place called Santee Alley, where people will go and visit the small shops to buy knockoff Too Faced, Urban Decay, MAC — you name it — palettes from almost every popular line you can imagine. I’ve never purposefully purchased counterfeit beauty products, but I did accidentally get some fake makeup years ago. It was BECCA, back before they were a mega brand, and back when they were only carried in hard-to-find corners of the world, like the small counter at Neiman Marcus in SF or the Pure Beauty store (do those even still exist").
They used to do limited edition seasonal makeup collection launches, and they had a dual-ended eye liner called Cabrera, from the 2012 Balearic Love collection, which was so, so good!
Continue reading "Do You Do Knockoffs/Counterfeit Makeup"" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

...