Buying Your Cosmetics Online? Read This First
People have some bizarre beauty rituals, but would you intentionally massage arsenic or animal waste into your skin? Hopefully not, but many people do just that— and they don’t even realize it. Online beauty sales result in billions of dollars in revenue each year, but lax regulations mean that purchase might not be quite what you expect.
Many people shop online for deals on skincare products or makeup, but those cosmetics might contain unexpected— and toxic — ingredients. Knockoff products contaminated with dangerous substances can easily make it past the lax guidelines for beauty sales, leaving consumers exposed to potential risks and oblivious to what those are. Read on to learn more about the dangers of shopping online for cosmetics, including how to reduce the risk of buying counterfeit goods.
Ingredient Lists Aren’t Always Accurate
When we shop online, what you see isn’t necessarily what you get, especially when it comes to ingredients. We may add a familiar product to the cart not realizing it’s actually a knockoff derived from potentially dangerous ingredients. We may have an allergic reaction to the unknown ingredients or even end up in the hospital with serious complications like a California woman did after using makeup contaminated with methylmercury in 2017. And unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident. Over the last decade, more than 60 other Californians have reported incidents involving mercury poisoning from unlabeled or foreign-made skincare products.
Aside from these major issues, you may also discover a product doesn’t work the way you expected. Reputable beauty companies carefully test ingredients before adding them to cosmetics, so you may not get soft, smooth skin or a long-lasting red pout from knockoff products anyway, making any savings worthless.
Lax Regulations Let Inferior Products Slip Through
Many big-name cosmetics companies perform extensive safety and performance tests with their products before they hit the shelves, but they often do this willingly. There are no standardized processes for manufacturing or packing cosmetics, and companies aren’t always obligated to report their procedures. Personal care products are created by a self-regulated industry with federal guidelines that haven’t been updated for more than 80 years.
That’s why there’s no guarantee that the nutrient-infused skincare cream found online is actually made with vitamin C or hyaluronic acid, nor can you rest assured that your Urban Decay mascara is the real deal. As long as cosmetic sellers avoid making inaccurate or misleading claims, they can potentially get away with nearly anything— including selling counterfeit goods.
Buy Direct
There’s no sure-fire way to avoid knockoff goods when shopping on sites like eBay or Amazon, so consider buying cosmetics directly from the company that creates them. It may also help to visit reputable sites, such as Sephora and Ulta, for authentic skincare and beauty products. Reputable department stores, like Macy’s and JCPenney, also sell cosmetics online. Choosing known brands helps ensure they've been tested. Another option is to go directly to the brand’s website to ensure you’re getting the real thing or to find local sources for their products.
Read reviews carefully before buying makeup from a new seller or retailer, and watch out for red flags, such as outrageously cheap prices, vague product descriptions or descriptions that are copied from other manufacturers. Pay attention to where a product is made versus where the company you’re shopping from is located, and look for minor errors, such as typos on a product label or a missing ingredients list or odd phrasing in the lead-ins.
Don’t get duped by counterfeit cosmetic sellers. Protect your health— and your wallet by being careful and knowing the signs to watch for. The next time you shop for makeup and other beauty products online, deploy these tools and then go teach others to help others be safe, too.
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