I was in Tiendesitas a couple of days back and came across this store that sell makeup. So like a moth to a flame I found myself walking in that direction.

I could tell within the first few seconds that a lot of the items were counterfeits / replicas. (Naked 5 anyone? How about a Naked 6 palette?) There were some authentic makeup as well, like Physician's Formula, Maybelline and L'oreal and I know 100% they're authentic but I believe they've been tampered with because when I was trying to look for the expiration dates, curiously they're nowhere to be found.

It's pretty easy to guess why no?



Anyway, as there were a lot of counterfeit US makeup there were counterfeit Korean makeup as well. I wasn't surprised about that since I've seen a lot of sellers with counterfeit BB creams, lip tints, powders etc in their product lists. What I was surprised about was that there's a replica of an Etude cushion compact.

Color me impressed.




I've only seen images of the boxes online but I'd say to an untrained eye, they're completely identical. The only obvious factor in the box design (and the compact) is that the gold element of the design in the front is skewing a little to the left when it's supposed to be centered with the rest of the elements.


Now I'm gonna tell you straight-off, I'm not adventurous / reckless / stupid enough to actually try this on my face. Because

1. It's fake.
2. Even if the cushion was sealed, which it was, it wasn't a very secure seal. It was haphazardly slapped on just to be "as close to the original one as possible" I bet.
3. It smells nice like really fragrant shampoo or fabric softener.