Could Your Bargain Be Costing You Your Life?

Imitation is suppose to be the highest form of flattery, I would not think that high end make up brands would agree. In the never ending saga of fake make being sold to the public, Leanne Wertheim was sentenced to 8 month suspended sentence, £2,000 costs and 160 hours of community service. She took £40,000 from the public over four eBay accounts, the "brands" she was selling included Bobbi Brown, M.A.C, Benefit, Lancome and Max Factor.

Unsuspecting customers, who were thinking they were getting huge discounts with some products selling at £3.99, were actually buying toxic make up. When customers complained about the quality of products, she claimed that they were genuine. When initial tests were carried out on the products, the results showed that they had 3 times the normal levels of lead in them. Lead contamination can lead to side effects as brain damage, a lowering of IQ in unborn babies and behaviour problems.

In one instance, a Max Factor mascara was showed to be having 68 mg/kg of lead, where the legal amount is 20 mg/kg.

So how you spot a fake?

Knowledge is power, look at the stores to see how the product feels and how its packaged. Chanel and MAC are the most common copies that are sold. Chanel is always dressed in glossy packaging, with very simple writing. Fakes have little touches, logos in the wrong places, lower grade cardboard and lower grade pigments.

With MAC eye shadows and pigments, real items have the bar code as a sticker on the box, as well as having the colour name and finish on a sticker on the top of the box. MAC also do not have mirrors and applicators in with their products, the logo will always be centre (apart from mascaras which is on the left hand side). Sizes on genuine items will be given in grams and ounces - fakes tend to be in millilitres.

The best way to avoid fakes?

Save your pennies and buy only from authorised retailers and manufactures.

For more information on spotting all fakes, try: http://www.spotcounterfeits.co.uk/
Another brilliant entry on Fakes by BritishBeautyBlogger

Masterclass - Eyelash Extensions/False Lashes

Common false lashes are made out of nylon or real hair, the recent conterversal use was mink hair in London salons. The hair brushed from the mink and collected by hand, and that is wht here is a £125.00 price tag for a pair of lashes in salons. They are suppose to give a more natural appearance, however don't discount the nylon variety. They have a better reputation of holding a curl that most false lash lovers crave, and for me, they're much more kinder to animals like the minks.

False lashes are applied to the eyelid along the lashline to plump out the existing lashes to give that wide eyed look that was fashionable in 1960/70's. They can also be corective by filling in gaps of missing hair as well as be a addiction to fantasy make up.

Lashes come in individual and strips, as well as perament and temporary. With perment lashes they are applied by a consulatnt after a patch test for the glue is performed one by one, starting at the inner corner and working ttheir way outwards. It can take anythign from 1 and half hours to 3 hours depending on the skill of the therapist, and after that you will need to return every 2 to 5 weeks to refil and maintain the growth.

Temporary lashes can be applied by yourself, come in strip (where the fibres are attached to a small strip where the glue is applied) or indival (where the fibres are put together in small groups). You will need some good light, tweezers and a very steady hand, always read the manufactures instructions and skin test the glue 24 hours before use.

Removal is simple with tempoaries - With clean hands lift the strip from the outer eye edge, gently pull the lash away from the eyelid. They can also have the adhensive removed and a gentle clean to be reused (unless they're past past their best, threw them out!).

There are some fabulous fashion lashes out there that add that dramatic edge to any look.

Sparkle

Feathers

Paper

The paper ones are just amazing when used, the recently been featured in The Hunger Games movie on Eeffie Trinket. I prefer it when the lashes do the talking, keeping the rest of the face simple with any focus on the eyes.