FAKE OPI Nail Lacquer Alert - Sad Times :-(

OK, back in December I purchased an OPI mini set when I attended the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham. I was so impressed with these little beauties that I decided to get me some more!! One late night eBay browsing session later and I was the proud buyer of 3 more pretty colours at a super bargainous price (£2.25 per bottle plus p&p) - alarm bells should have been ringing there and then, but I am sure that my tiredness was to blame for the classic purchasing errors that I made.

OPI Fakeries

The only upside to my products was the fast shipping - for that this seller gets 5 stars. But other than this all I felt was COMPLETE DISAPPOINTMENT :-( Frown. Frown. Frown.

Firstly, the smell of the product. Honestly, all I can say is that any real nail polish would not give you such a headache after the slightest sniff. Seriously, inhaling the fumes of these products just on opening the bottle gave me pains behind my eyes. Then, a test of one colour determined for me that these were nothing but counterfeit as the consistency was alot thinner than real OPI nail polish, and the colour seemed streaky with no full coverage. You would probably find better quality product in a child's nail polish set.

On closer inspection, and in comparison to my genuine OPI minis, none of the counterfeit bottles had a serial number or product shade evident, and the printing on the front of the bottle appeared poor in quality. Also, the shape of the bottles differed slightly (they seemed a more harsh and less rounded shape, and again, of poor quality). And the final indicator was the bottle lid/wand as they were both very flimsy and lightweight. The black bottle top was made of a much less quality plastic that differed in texture and felt alot less robust than the real thing.

Then, just to add insult to injury, I checked the product listing - properly this time though. The shades I purchased were described as 'Brown Bronze', 'Pink Pearlescent' and simply 'Pink' - no I Think Pink or Pink-a-Doodles for me, though the seller does cover this technicality with the declaration that

These are supplied to me without colour labels, so I don't know any of the colour names.

Hmm... A little dodgy don't cha think??!!

I immediately contacted the seller, who asked me to open a dispute through eBay in order to receive a refund. She claimed that she would have to take this matter up with her supplier, and had had no previous complaints, but I alerted her to the fact that she had received neutral feedback for the selling of these items to buyers who had also doubted their authenticity. A point to note is that this seller also has other beauty products listed for sale that many buyers have left neutral/negative feedback for because they received counterfeit products - although obviously I cannot personally comment on these as I have only ever purchased the OPI minis from her.

Remember: ALWAYS CHECK THEIR FEEDBACK

I got in touch with OPI via their website to inform them that there are counterfeit products being sold on eBay, and the reply I received via email was that OPI are already working in conjunction with eBay to prevent the current unlicensed selling of their products,  which would lead me to believe that OPI is not the supplier of the seller I purchased my OPIs from on eBay?!

I also alerted eBay that this seller is listing counterfeit items, but have had no response from them and they are continuing to allow her to sell a small range of OPI and Benefit products. So my advice to you girls would be AVOID AVOID AVOID. It is worth paying the full price at a reputable store so that you can be confident that what you are purchasing is the real thing. My main concern would be that, especially in this experience, you just never know if the ingredients used to produce counterfeit goods are safe or harmful. 

Remember... Buy cheap, buy twice!! 

And for the record, the eBay sellers id is princess-glitzy and this is the link to her shop http://stores.ebay.co.uk/princess-glitzy?_trksid=p4340.l2563