Hello beautiful! Hope you are doing well. If you remember reading my Lorac Unzipped palette review (see it here), you will know that I went through a little bit of a dilemma with purchasing the Lorac Unzipped palette.
For those of you who are looking for a post to show you authentic vs fake, then welcome! I hope this is informative for you. I only wished I had seen this type of post before I purchased the first time.
To start off, the Lorac Unzipped palette is a beautiful rose gold palette that retails for $40. It comes with a deluxe size of the Lorac Behind the Scenes primer. Since I like to save money, I figured I could look up coupons to lower the cost of the palette. However, I found none. So I resorted to look on eBay for a possible bid or lower priced option. Many of the bids and Buy It Nows were above $40, but I found two buy it nows that were $35 + free shipping. To me, that was a deal! One of the two was a beauty supplier, whereas the other one was an individual "normal" seller. (I consider myself a normal seller). Anyways, I went with the latter as I figured that one would be a safer option.
Before I bought the item, I did a search on Google for fake Lorac Unzipped palettes just to see if it was possible. I've seen plenty of blog posts and YouTube videos for fake Urban Decay Naked and Naked 2 palettes, but none for the Lorac Unzipped. I put that thought to rest in my mind, thinking there were no fakes. I then placed the order and waited for my long awaited beauty to come to my house.
However, once I finally had it in my hand and opened it, I felt that something was different; it didn't feel right; it wasn't as heavy as the tester one at Ulta. It also smelled like the cheap makeup you would receive as a child. On top of that, the pans were crooked and the eyeshadows didn't look as "plush"/full as the original palette. This is when my suspicions arose and I went to Ulta the next day to purchase a real one.
I did a side-by-side comparison of the authentic vs fake palette and here is what I discovered. (Beware, picture heavy!)
Comparisons
(For our general purposes, the real palette is either on the top or the left, and the fake is on the bottom or the right of the picture)
First thing I noticed about the two, is that the real packaging has an outline of the "stars/lights" where as the fake one is more blunt.
Next, you can see in this photo that the real one is more vibrant and is shiny, where as the fake is matte and looks faded.
The actual palette looks very similar except for the slider of the zipper; the real one is gold, whereas the fake one is white with a gold outline.
Here is a better look at it.
Next up is the edge of the palette. On the real one, a piece of plastic covers the mirror and the edge of the palette is smooth. On the fake one, there isn't a piece of plastic and the top edge is messy looking.
It seems as if no one takes pictures of the back of a palette, but this is a very important factor in determining if it is authentic or not.
On the top left, you see that the real one has jagged looking print, like if a typewriter had printed it. Where as the fake one, it looks like a computer did it.
At the top right, you see that the font of the real palette is bold and close together, whereas the font on the fake one is not bolded and the letters are further apart.
When closed, the real one shuts completely, but the fake one is raised up a bit since it was made unevenly.
Now onto the inside!
Some of the nicks you see on the right palette are from when I was removing the plastic covering, so it got messed up.
On the left, you can see that the real eyeshadow pans are full and look "cushiony", almost like a pillow. However, on the right, you can see that the pans are missing product so to speak, and some were crooked.
The primer is another interesting topic of interest. Not only is the font different on both, but the fake one is a smidgen longer than the real one.
Swatches
Some of the shades looked very similar, but others were not. Take a look for yourself.
The lightest shade was less noticeable on me for the real eyeshadow, but was more pigmented in the fake one. The darkest shade on the right was more brown in the real palette, and was redder in the fake palette.
On the other half of the palette, both the real and fake shadows looked pretty similar to me.
As for the consistency, the fake palette was creamier then the original, which shocked me. Pigmentation was great for both, but there were the few key things that alerted me.
Run Down: Noticeable Difference
- The fake palette felt lighter than the real palette
- The fake "zipper" slider is white, whereas the real one is gold
- The fake one smelled like cheap makeup, whereas the real one had no scent
- The packaging of the fake one didn't close properly as it was uneven
- The font on the backs of the palettes are different. The fake is separated and not bolded, whereas the real one is bolded and more together
- The pans of the fake one are crooked and don't look as cushiony as the real one
After I saw the difference for myself, I kept searching on the internet for "cheap Lorac Unzipped palettes" and found a website that is a "wholesale" for makeup products that sells the palette for $15. On the FAQs for that question, it says if it is authentic, real, replica, fake, and the answer was "Has the name brand, but is a replica". If you find the original to be pricey, this is a nice alternative if you don't mind having the authentic palette. However, all those imperfections put me aside, and the fact that I paid close to the original price for a fake, annoyed the crap out of me!
So I returned the palette to the seller, notified him that it was fake, and he was very sincere and told me he was sorry and that he didn't know, he just sold it as what he thought it was.
Whether he knew it was fake or not, I don't blame him. I blame myself for not thoroughly informing myself about these details. There is nothing wrong with ordering on eBay, just be sure you know it is real.
When you look at them that closely it is so easy to see, wow x
ReplyDeleteWww.beautyqueenuk.co.uk
Sure is! But from far away, it isnt too noticeable.
DeleteReally informative! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeletebeautymentions.blogspot.com
-Wendy
You are welcome Wendy xoxo
DeleteWow, I'll definitely be careful when ordering palettes online! This was really informative- thank you :)
ReplyDeleteshadowlinergirl.blogspot.com
Wow, I had no idea the palette was faked! Thanks for the informative post!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! Hope it answered some questions.
DeleteThank you for sharing. I've accidentally bought fakes on eBay before, and I was very grateful who took the time to show the differences between the real and the fake.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first time so I was very upset. Now I know for next time.
DeleteVery informative! I had no idea they made fake palettes of these!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know either! But apparently they do!
DeleteThis was a great post helping people avoid the mistake. Sometimes fake makeup products can actually cause harmful side effects - I read an article on how some people sell fake brand mascara and other products online that contain harmful ingredients which result in serious skin conditions. Better to get a drugstore dupe than a fake version of the palette because you never know who is behind the production of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot. I bought a Fake off a website which sold it to me for $70NZD. It was in the original packaging, but the palette itself was fake. I talked to the Supplier and he said how he was suspicious because they had gone through a new supplier. He told me to throw bit in the bin and that he would give me a full refund of the product. $70.00 is a lot to pay for a fake.
ReplyDeleteAshleigh Garland
At least he told you to throw it away and give you a refund! And yes, that is a lot to spend on a fake.
DeleteI got a fake Lorac Pro Palette from Ebay and paid just about the same as the real one is at retail. Luckily I was able to get a refund but the girl is adament that it's real and accused me of lying and saying she would report me if I didn't take back my negative feedback. I only bought it off of Ebay because it was out of stock everywhere so moral of the story is that I will never buy high-end products off of Ebay ever again. My advice to everyone else is to do the same.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Its awful that they do that
DeleteI wish I had seen this post sooner! I literally just bought one off ebay for $28, the seller had no bad feedback before I bought it but now two days later people have left feedback saying the palette is fake. I'm hoping I'll be able to cancel and get a refund for my order. I've received a fake UD basics palette but I had NO idea there would be fake lorac palettes out there. Looks like its back to saving up to buy the real thing from kohls or ulta now.
ReplyDeleteI never thought there would be one for Lorac either, but apparently there is something fake for every high end product on the market.
DeleteThanks for this post! I'm getting my fake one from aliexpress for nine bucks, I'm excited to see additional confirmation that the fakes are good quality. Well, the packaging is poor but the shadows, lol.
ReplyDeleteI have multiple replica palettes purchased from aliexpress and they are super cheap. If I like the dupe enough I can always buy the original one. I did purchase the 1st naked palette at ulta but my other 2 are from aliexpress and they are great quality, very comparable. They are a fraction of the price. Recently I got the too faced summer eyes, I have never owned too face but these shadows were not as nice, luckily I only spent $6 on it. I just purchased the lorac unzipped replica for around $7. Ive also purchsed the naked basics from ali and it was great as well. Some replicas are great on there. The downside is it takes 1-2 months to get the item.
ReplyDeleteEven though they're cheap and sometimes even nice you shouldn't wear them! You don't know what's in these shadows and you're putting them on something as precious as your eyes! Trust me your eyes are more important than saving a couple bucks. I know people who used fakes and got major problems from it so it's not just a myth or rumor. These are sold cheap bc they're using cheap ingredients not following protocol for our safety and probably making these in places that aren't sanitary. Just think about it.
DeleteThis is very infoinformative. Thank you so much for sharing. Btw I have a question that I was trying to buy one of these pallettes in one website and they seemed to have everything that a real pallette should have but the sereal numbers are all same. Is that possible for one or more products to have same sereal number? I couldnt find answer anywhere so If anyone can give me an answer, it would be so great! Thanks:)
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same thing as well! There's a urban decay palette I just bought and it has a serial number that multiple of these palettes have. A lot on eBay have the same number. I'm thinking its a fake but people say that the fakes have absolutely no code on it. I think I may just cancel my order and be safe.
DeleteJust wanted to say thank you so much for your comparison! I almost just bought a fake Unzipped palette off someone on Facebook. When I saw a photo of the actual shadows, I was like wow, that doesn't look right, and found your comparison on here. The fake one I almost bought actually looks a lot better than the fake one you have here, so I assume they have gotten a bit better over the years but the colours are quite different and the palette itself and the way the shadows aren't plush are a dead giveaway. Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteGlad I was able to help! I guess they have been stepping it up in the "fake makeup" world! Hope you get the real one =)
DeleteThank you so much for this detailed comparison! I just bought a swatched Lorac Unzipped and I was nervous cause it only cost me $20. Good thing it ticked all the real unzipped indicators.
ReplyDelete