Hope everyone's weekends are going well (I'm really sick so mine isn't going too well at all)
And this post is probably going to make you mad - so read it later on in the week if you don't want it to ruin your day now.
About a month ago an investigative show in New Zealand called Close Up did an article on OPI Nail Polish and people and salons selling fake bottles in store.
view video here.
People are placing cheap ($2) nail polish into OPI bottles and then selling it for OPI prices ($25)
They sent samples for testing and found salons were in fact using non OPI Nail Polish and saying it was.
A few weeks ago I walked past a nail salon in the mall that I worked in and I saw saw cool greens in the window in the salon that I had never seen before. CLICK goes my brain. They aren't real OPI polishes either. I didn't go in and see what labels they have on the bottom of them - but for someone who owns a lot of OPI greens - these colours were new to me and this chain of salons is quite new so there is almost no way they had old and discontinued colours as I know how hard they are to get.
The other day while doing my usual OPI search on trademe (New Zealands version of Ebay) I found a whole bunch of bottles for sale by someone - I could clearly tell these weren't real
OPI colours - they were in Designer Series bottles for a start and they appeared to be green glitter - but murky weird glitter colours - clearly not real Designer Series polishes and they claimed all the polishes were all called "Funny Bunny" (Which is a softshade white colour) and they had made up Designer series codes! They were also starting them at $1 reserve (In New Zealand real OPI Designer Series polishes sell for $35-$40.) This makes me really sad as there is no way I can warn people that these aren't real!
This really makes me mad! Infuriated in fact!!!!!
Why do people have to be dicks?
I love OPI and only buy it from department stores that I know are proper OPI retailers. And it is being ruined by gready dickheads!
Sorry but I needed to get that off my chest.
Lots of love
Lisa
I hear you! I've often wished there were a "comment on auction" feature on eBay so could point things out to other bidders--but I guess that might get out of hand because dickheads would abuse that too.
ReplyDeleteYeah same! People who don't know enough are getting ripped off and we cant help them!
ReplyDeleteI had the same thing on Trade Me with the Funny Bunnies- they didn't respond to my questions GRRRR!!! I'm in Welly just out of curiosity what was the salons so I can avoid them?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Morgan. The one I saw the fake ones in was at Professional in Queensgate in Lower Hutt. I have never been into one of their stores and never plan to. Farmers has proper OPIs and Kirks has the biggest most amazing display of OPI I have ever seen in Wellington - really worth a look just so see all the pretty colour - and they have testers :) they also have all the Designer Series Polishes there.
ReplyDeleteLol- I used the testers at Kirks and then ordered off line... Any recommendations for nails in Welly???
ReplyDeleteMorgan - Not really - I get a lot of mine online as well. Life pharmacies have color club, OPI and Sinful Colors so they are a good place to go.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you guys order online from? I've been looking everywhere for Designer Series and never thought of Kirks!
ReplyDeleteKirks has the best range of DS. Ive also bought some from Life pharmacy in Johnsonville mall. Others I got of ebay. DS from shops in New Zealand are about $45 though, so they are expensive, and thats when ordering online is better (but it always costs quite a bit to get anything sent to NZ)
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI like your facsination with nail polish. I too love nail polish. Do you by any chance know of how you can tell between real and fake OPI nail polishes? Currently in Canada they are sold anywhere from $9-$13cad I've never really seen it being sold for more then that. And usually I buy them from salons. I recently found a wholeseller online in China i believe and sells opi nail polish. I did receive them but now i'm starting to think they are fake, they are nice and really good copies so i'm not too worried about it. I just wanted to know for my sake! :) They are all different colors yet they all have the same peel me sticker on the bottom and just one when i'm used to see two stickers. They all also are the same sticker with the same name on them. A few of them don't have the sticker at all. I ordered ten of them and they came in a OPI box as well that fits 6 polishes each. I don't know if you can tell but let me know. Thanks..
Im pretty sure that they would be fake. OPI does not sell their polishes online. In theory OPI are only supposed to be stocked in salons and flash department stores. I would be very vary of ones with no stickers, or even only one sticker as being fake. Also check the brush inside, it should have a raised up OPI logo at the end inside above the brush. To the left of O.P.I on the bottle is a number on the bottle which should be visible (just). I think I might do a post one this a bit later with some picks. But I would unfortunately be wary of the ones you bought, especially from China (real OPI is made in USA)
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, thanks for your reply. Well I know that OPI doesn't sell online, but this wholeseller sells to salons etc. Normally I only buy them from salons so I know they are authentic but this one rare time I thought why not try this wholeseller place. But I am sure they are fake, but I have used a couple of them and they are not bad actually. But I don't plan on buying anymore from this person/company. These bottles that they did sell me look exactly like the original ones and even say made in USA so it's a pretty good fake. However the fakes ones don't have a number beside the OPI on the left that is noticable but neither do my original ones and I know those are real. I've also never seen the raised OPI logo inside above the brush in Canada. Weird.
ReplyDelete