It's well-known that alcohol and shopping don't always mix, but sometimes when you've had a few glasses of Jim Bean you forget that age-old wisdom and find yourself browsing Mercari looking at discounted makeup. It was when I stumbled across a LimeCrime velvetine for half the cost of regular retail AND free shipping that I did damage. I fell in love with the shade called "Bleached", a warm nude and this item the seller claimed was real, just without the box.
I bought it within a minute of finding the listing, believing her story of the cost being low due to the missing box. Then, right afterwards I noticed a comment that somehow I hadn't noticed. It read "Is it legit?". That's when I realized I had stumbled into the world of copycat makeup. I had forgotten that not just certain brands could be copied, ALL popular brands of makeup can be copied. Velvetines are in high demand, and people are very good these days at passing things off as real.
When it arrived in the mail I immediately tore into my package and inspected the goods. I own 3 real velvetines from previous purchases - two from LimeCrime.com and one from DollsKill.com. At first glance it looked the same, but after a couple minutes there were some glaring differences. I decided to do some research and sadly I write this knowing now that I have purchased a fake velvetine, and hopefully my research and experiences will help prevent you from doing the same.
What Research Says
1.) If there is no flower on the top of the cap, it's not real
Reality
1.) Two of my 3 real velvetines don't have flowers on the caps. Either LimeCrime or Dollskill sent me fakes or not all the batches of real velvetines have them.
What Research Says
2.) All the tags on the very bottom have to be the same with bold print and hot pink color.
Reality
2.) My shade Utopia purchased directly from LimeCrime has a different kind of sticker on the bottom than the other two. It's not a big deal to me but apparently there's not 100% consistency with all real velvetines.
What Research Says
3.) Fakes have shinier caps than the real velvetines.
Reality
3.) It took a bit of staring, but yes, the "Bleached" shade which is fake has a slightly shinier cap than the other 3 real ones.
What research says
4.) Fakes have more space between the bottom and the product.
Reality
4.) "Bleached" very clearly had more space between the bottom and the product.
What research says
5.) I couldn't find anything on the smell difference, but to me real velvetines smell like sweet clay. All the lip products from limecrime have a sweeter smell.
Reality
5.) "Bleached" smelled like chemicals. Nothing sweet about it - dead giveaway.
Even though I knew that "Bleached" was a fake, I didn't mind at first because I thought I had gotten a wonderful dupe for half the cost, until I wore it. I couldn't take it and after half a day at work I ran to Sephora to borrow a makeup wipe and scrubbed it off of my lips. It was terrible. It was very opaque, provided great coverage, and the color was beautiful. It lasted through eating and drinking without so much as budging, but the deal-breaker you ask? It never dried down. It stayed very sticky, causing small patches of color to come up if I would press my lips together too tightly. I couldn't forget about the stickiness because with every word I was reminded with my lips sticking together and then slowly peeling as I went to say something else.
One half day of sticky lips was enough for me, and now it's going into the trash.
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