Beware the Fake Naked 2 Palette!

Heed this my cautionary tale, for I hath been bamboozled*!

That's about as much silliness as I can muster. Back to real English.

How many of you are regular deal hunters? I sure am. I frequent Sharing Spree for those deals pretty often. About a month ago there was a  doozy of a spree for the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette for... Wait. For. It. ... $25! Yes - twenty-five dollars. I was so stoked, because I had already told myself I wouldn't be purchasing any more palettes after the Lorac Pro and Unzipped robbed me of quite a bit of mula recently. But how could I pass up a $50 palette for half off?

You might be a more realistic, logical person thinking, Tara, that's too good to be true. It's probably fake! Well, where in the heck were you?! In my defense, I had no clue that fake UD palettes were a thing, or I would have been paying attention to it. (Or rather no clue that counterfeit makeup was a thing!)

What first clued me in was the shades were terrible! I mean it. I'm no expert, but I have used quite a bit of shadows, and I felt like I was using chalky children's fake makeup... I was thinking, What is the deal with this palette? All these beauty bloggers are insane..." Then I started to notice small details.

Like, the mirror seemed warped, and I could hardly see myself as I used it. The pans containing the shadows are bent. When I looked at pictures online of the brush, the real one's bristles were a different pigment, and the font went the opposite direction of the one I have. Lastly I wondered why the writing/font was already wearing off (see the "U" on the brush?).

On the back of the real one there is a sticker with a batch number. This did not have one.

I also noticed that the palette comes with a lip gloss through Sephora. This one didn't. 

BUM - freaking - MER!!

After sulking and thinking all kinds of negative "what is this world coming to" thoughts I started to google it. I stumbled across The Beauty Belle's story of experiencing a similar problem. She has great photos of comparisons between the two (packaging and swatches).  An even better post regarding this is by Vicky Hoang. She even found more issues than I ever saw. I was really quick to toss my packaging, but there are many discrepancies in that, too!

I reached out to Sharing Spree and the company that sold it - Bella Sweet Boutique. Sharing Spree jumped right on it, refunded my money and is providing a shipping label to send it back. Kudos!

I'm thankful they responded VERY quickly. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Bella Sweet. I see that there is an active deal for the same product on their Seattle page today with over 200 sold. So sad; I hope they both rectify it soon!

Ultimately, I know I got what I paid for. I think what bothers me the most is that we have no idea what ingredients are in the duped palettes. Since ingredients are important to me - and I try to avoid toxins as much as I can - it scares me to think what unregulated crap is probably in these fake 'uns! This article even quotes Interpol as saying counterfeit makeup helps fund terrorism and drug trafficking! Aaaah! It also relays that many tested counterfeits contain arsenic and mercury! So, if you are thinking, "I got it for cheap - might as well use it" please don't.

Now I'm doubting all my Amazon and Ebay purchases for Mac, Elizabeth Arden, etc products. Is it worth a bargain to risk putting arsenic and mercury in your bloodstream?

So, tell me: have you ever been similarly duped? Any of you lovelies own the real Naked 2 and can concur?

*Indicates the author is 99.2% certain it's fake. Obviously there is a chance in hell that it's real and Urban Decay just has some inconsistencies. I'm just saying for all y'all who want to be annoying literal. K?

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