9/20/12

Fake OPI Mad As A Hatter :(

Hi!

Before I get into my Bar Testing again I thought I'd do a little post about fake OPI.

The other day I started looking into potentially getting Mad As A Hatter, since then I've realised that they are waaaay too expensive (someone's selling MAAH & Absolutely Alice for $61!). 

So the first one I got (the one in the pictures), I probably should have foreseen that it would be a fake but I'd never heard of anyone selling fake OPI before! I emailed the seller when I got it, suspecting it to be a fake, and he replied "you should note that I never said 100% authenticity guaranteed" (I imagine him speaking in a really douche-y voice), he said that I could send it back for a refund but honestly I don't want someone else to have to buy a pre-used bottle and one of my friends loves the colour and doesn't mind if it's not fake.

The second one I got thinking that it would be real! Again, I must be the most naive person ever! The listing said that she ran a salon and used these in her store and also that these were factory seconds. It was exactly the same as the first bottle but I didn't have the energy to send it back to her and she stuck to her factory seconds story so I just left it.

At least I can use this to make a little tutorial on how to tell if your OPI is real or fake. I've learned quite a bit through my google-ing and I know for a fact that some of the tutorials say that certain things make an OPI fake that aren't true, so hopefully I can cover everything!

Also I used a Kleenex box as the background because the puppies are cute, at least there's something good in the photos haha!



Compared to OPI Pirouette My Whistle

Off centre label

Lid touches bottle on the fake

Off centre label


Real OPI on the left, different brushes

Real OPI on the left, fake has a thinner lid

Colour shot


Colour shot

All in all this is a pretty good fake, the colour is really similar to the real MAAH although I can't compare to a real one. It even had the OPI engraved onto the brush! The main thing that was different was the smell, it didn't really smell like any of my other OPIs. One of the main things that people comment on for fake MAAHs is that instead of having magenta and teal glitter they have red and green glitter, this one I would say that there is definitely teal glitter, but there's red glitter too.

Main things to look out for in Fake OPIs:

  1. Height difference in comparison to real OPIs.
  2. Different lid's to OPIs, this can include a lighter lid, thinner lid, no 'cog' like markings on the inside of the lid. If there is no gap between the bottle and the lid, it's most likely a fake.
  3. Some cheap fakes don't have OPI engraved on the white part of the brush.
  4. Missing a label on the bottom of the bottle (some have just the top label with the 'peel here' part and some have just the label underneath).
  5. There are heaps of websites that say that if your OPI doesn't have 4 warning signs on the back then it's a fake, this is WRONG! I have bought OPIs from David Jones, Hairhouse Warehouse, other beauty stores, and TransDesign. None of these have 4 warning signs, actually I think there might be one in my entire collection that has 4 warning signs. The extra one warning sign is to say that there's more information on the bottom of the bottle. So it doesn't mean that your collection is fake if none of them have it.
That's all I've got at the moment. Have you guys ever encountered fake OPIs? What did they look like? I've heard some people say that theirs are laughably fake, like wrong colours etc.

See you next time!
x

25 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post! If I had purchased a fake O.P.I I probably wouldn't even have been able to tell the difference! I'm so glad you shared your story because I wouldn't even know what to look for. Thanks again! Consider this post bookmarked!

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    1. Wow thanks! I think it's probably hard to come across a fake OPI unless you're looking for a hard to find polish.

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  2. That's interesting about the lid not touching the bottle on the fakes- I didn't know that!

    Do you know why a serial number would be sanded off on an OPI? I thought my You Don't Know Jacques might be fake because it has this, but everything else about it looks normal, according to your post. I think I got it on eBay or Amazon, can't remember.

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    1. I know that if you buy from an unauthorised OPI reseller they'll sand off the serial numbers so that OPI isn't able to trace it back to them. So it's probably still real!

      There's massive hype about fake OPIs, I think the only times that a fake will be really close to a real OPI is when they're HTF polishes. I'll have to see if I can get a really obvious colour fake and post it! Haha

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    2. That makes sense, don't know why I didn't think of it, haha. I think an obvious OPI color fake post would be really entertaining.

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  3. Oh man, what a super bummer! There have been a lot of fake OPI Mad as a Hatter and Absolutely Alices going around lately. I hope you can find a real one to add to your collection one day =)

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    1. Haha I imagine that one day I'll give into spending $60 on them, I've seen a couple of MAAH frankens though, so I think I'll give that a go and see how it looks!

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  4. Ugh that's so rotten that they would sell you a fake. I try really hard not to buy HTF polishes online because there are so many shady people.

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    1. Yeah I think I'll probably stop buying them too. I'll look forward to buying future HTFs now that I'm into nail polish haha

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  5. Wow, I've never encountered a fake OPI before! But now I'll know what to look for- thank you for a very informative post. :D

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    1. Thanks so much! I think I'll probably edit it later if I find out more stuff though lol

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    2. I just ordered several OPI's from the 2007 Russian collection (it's been a long time super-lemming of mine) via ebay... and oh my gosh, I'm just hoping that they're all genuine! I'll be inspecting them as soon as they arrive and checking this post! Thanks again!

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    3. I'm sure yours are fine!! I'm so excited for you to get your polishes from the Russian collection! Omg Vodka & Caviar is something that I saw at a beauty salon and now I feel I need it so bad haha

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  6. I didn't even know you could get OPI fakes. Thanks for the post!

    Now a follower :)

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  7. I had no idea there were even fake OPIs out there! Thanks for the heads-up!

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    1. Neither did I! I think only HTF OPIs are good fakes though. It's crazy that in the nail polish industry there are fakes!

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  8. Ugh! That is a serious bummer! They even engraved OPI on the stem but couldn't be bothered to align the label? LOL! Great post and very informative!

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    1. I know! How crazy is that! I can't believe they would go to such an effort and then be completely obvious with the label and the weight of the cap, I mean it's completely different to a real OPI! So silly haha

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  9. That sucks! I really regret not getting these polishes and the Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland Book of Shadows when they were available. :( I'm sorry you got cheated like that. It takes an ugly person to take advantage of others like that.

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    1. I hate passing on something and then completely regretting it! I think I can use this as my excuse to buy whole collections 'just in case they're discontinued and I really want it later' haha!

      I hate that they were fake too :( but at least I got to make this tutorial! I've got no idea how I'd find a fake OPI otherwise lol

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  10. Urgh how upsetting! though this post has come in helpful so i'm grateful for that :)

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    1. Haha that's why I decided to keep them! At least they're able to help others!

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  11. Interesting! I only have 6 OPIs at this stage but I am definitely checking them out!

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  12. Thanks for the info! Another thing I've noticed about some of the fakes floating around is that with the letters on the bottom, the spacing is all wrong.

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