Over 65% of cosmetics sold on online marketplaces are fake

Unwitting consumers are buying fake cosmetics on popular online marketplaces where a majority of beauty products are likely to be counterfeit, new research has found.

More than two thirds (67 per cent) of products bought from online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, TikTok Shop and Vinted were likely to be imitations of the advertised brands, according to consumer rights company Which?

By purchasing popular labels such as Charlotte Tilbury, La Roche-Posay, Maybelline, The Ordinary and Mac, researchers performed visual checks on the products’ packaging and contents.

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Their investigation found that of the 34 products sampled, 23 were likely to be fakes.

The six products bought from second-hand marketplace Vinted were likely counterfeits, the investigation found, while five sold on TikTok Shop were fakes.

Ebay was slightly less likely to sell fakes with eight out of 11 tested products probably counterfeits, while for Amazon it was four out of the 11 products tested.

The report pointed to the possible health risks associated with unknowingly using fake cosmetics, as they may not have undergone the same level of testing and may not have been subject to the same legal requirements for safety and traceability.

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Counterfeit beauty products can contain possible cancer-causing toxic chemicals such as arsenic, lead and mercury, and in some cases they have been found to contain animal faeces or urine as stabilisers.

Researchers claimed that fake products were particularly difficult to spot and that it only became apparent which were the dupes when compared side-by-side with the real ones.

One specific product tested was the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, which officially retails for £32 but a fake version was sold on Amazon for an inflated price of £37.90.

Only a “cloying floral scent” allowed researchers to distinguish the fake product from the real one, which in all other ways was identical.

Another product, the Mac Macximal silky matte lipstick in shade Ruby Woo, which officially sells for around £25, was found on Vinted for £15.

The Which? investigation noticed that although the lipstick arrived in a similar package, the brand’s logo was slightly smudged and did not appear to be the same as the original design.

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Some products, however, were more obviously different from the real brands, with many featuring misspellings or stylistic discrepancies on the labels, as well as obvious changes in the contents.

An example cited was the £12 Vinted version of the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Serum, which officially sells for £40. Researchers found the contents smelled “suspiciously” like shampoo.

On top of this, the text on the side of the tube was completely different from the version bought through an official retailer.

The report warned shoppers to stay vigilant when buying these items on third-party sites and called for the government to “urgently” reform consumer protections.

Rocio Concha, policy and advocacy director for Which?, said: “It’s alarming that Which? was able to find such high volumes of what appeared to be potentially dangerous counterfeit cosmetics on popular online marketplaces, where teenagers in particular are likely to be enticed by what seem to be big discounts on popular brands.

“Consumers should be as confident in the products they buy online as the items that they purchase on the high street, but in reality they risk buying untested, unregulated and potentially toxic cosmetics.”