7 Ways To Identify Fake Beauty Products

huffingtonpost.ca

As the Nigerian economy gets worse more and more fake cosmetics products are appearing on the shelves of shops and supermarkets. Sometimes this happens with or without the collusion of business owners. Product suppliers are often ignorant of the difference between original and fake products. They end up buying fake products at the wholesale market and dump it on retailers. Sometime original products and fake products are mixed together.

It is incredibly hard on consumers to shop for these items and pay thousands of naira without knowing if the money has been wasted or well spent. In some ways it is a silent national consumer crisis and nothing is being done by the authorities concerned. Consumers must now fend for themselve. Many have had bad experiences which affect their health or even physical impairments due to fake products.

 Here are a few helpful tips on how to identify fake products in the Nigerian market place. It is not a complete or fool proof system but only serves as a guide to support wise and intelligent shopping. Hopefully our market will someday be largely cleansed of this economy killing cancer called fake products.

1) Trust your instincts

If your gut instincts or your “spirit” tells you a product is fake please don’t ignore it. Its better you avoid making the purchase altogether. Natural instincts is hardly wrong and its not worth the risks to take a chance.

2) Look for poor packaging

A good sign of fake product is poor packaging. These products are probably made in someones house or even backyard and because of this the packaging is suspect. It does not have the neat professional look of machine packaging. The signs are very easy to spot such as cheap paper and loose plastic wrappers.

3) Look for wrong spelling or grammatical errors

This is one of my secret weapons against fake products. If the grammar on the package either the name, title or  ingredients list is erroneous, please do not make the purchase. Genuine products have error free spelling  and syntatically correct grammar.

4) Use verification pins whenever possible

So many products have verification numbers or pins to confirm authenticity. Please don’t take it for granted. Use them. Most times you will not be charged for the call.

5) Look out for strange smells, odours and other tell-tale signs

If a product smells funny or has an unpleasant look or feel about it please avoid it. Manufacturers spend a substantial amount of money on fragrances, the look and feel of a product. They do this because they know good fragrances attracts customers.  A bad odour is surely a red flag for any consumer.

6) Buy from trusted dealers or retailers

Please stick to your trusted retailer. Its not a good idea to hop from one place to another buying beauty products. A good dealer or retailer with integrity makes extra effort to ensure goods are authentic all the time. They know fake goods are bad for business. They protect their customers. Remember the devil you know…

7)When all else fails seek expert advice

The last resort is to seek advice from an expert who knows the product inside and out. This may simply be someone who has used it for years and so can differentiate fake from original. Fall back on their experience and knowledge to save yourself the pain and risk of buying a fake product.