How to spot fake MAC products

This has been said time and time again but I thought I would revisit the topic. You can tell a brand has gained notoriety when people start to duplicate it. We saw it with Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, and Fendi. And now we are seeing it with MAC Cosmetics. So I thought for those of you that want to know if a product you're buying is fake keep reading.

I worked on a dance recital a few months back, and the "artist" had this huge brush set. I looked over at it and I said "Oh that's a nice brush set." Instantly, she replied "Yeah it's MAC." So I thought I would be nice and tell her that she got ripped off. (I said it more discreet than that.) Do you believe she debated me on this? As she pulled out her 120 palette with MAC printed on it. The girl she was working on says "I didn't know MAC made a palette like this." And the artist says "Yeah, she says it's fake but I got it straight from the manufacturer that supplies MAC." Huh? SMH.

• Most MAC products found on ebay are fake. We all want a bargain but I would suggest that you hit a CCO (Cosmetic Company Outlet) for this. You will most likely be buying a fake product off of an auction site.
• Any brush set that comes with a sponge tip applicator is fake. MAC doesn't offer these. With that being said......
• A 32 piece brush set for $50 is definitely fake. Some of MAC brushes cost close to that or more. Why would they make a whole brush set for that price? So if you see this:.

Don't bother. It's a fake. And honestly, it's not a good brush set either. My friend bought it off of ebay and it's awful.

• MAC eye shadows that have a flip top with a mirror and sponge tip applicator underneath.....FAKE. As I said before, none of MAC products come with this type of applicator.
• The Hello Kitty collection was another huge duplicated product line. Hello Kitty had the Too Dolly quad and the Lucky Tom quad. That is exactly what they are; a QUAD with 4 eye shadows. So if you see a palette with 6 rectangular eye shadows. It's fake.
• 120 palette from MAC for $69.99. Come on guys. 1 eye shadow costs $11 for pan only. Let's do the math. $11 times 120 equals....$1,320. Now why would a company then say but we'll give you this sweet deal. Now really. Think about it.   

Now I know some people say well why does it matter if it's fake or not. It matters because why buy the product just because it has MAC printed on it. People who know anything about makeup buy MAC for the quality of the product not the name. A fake product may not have that same quality as the real thing. You don't know what's in it. It's just not worth the risk. Do your homework about any product that you buy to use on yourself or, better yet, your clients.