Cosmetics queen Kylie Jenner took to Snapchat on Wednesday to warn fans and consumers against buying fake lip kits.
The 19-year-old said she came across a fake website trying to imitate her cosmetics brand, and so far it’s been successful in tricking would-be customers. The fraud site includes the word “outlet” in its URL, which is not endorsed by nor part of Kylie’s brand. The site in question looks exactly like the real kyliecosmetics.com and is cause for legitimate concern.
During her SnapChat videos, Jenner said she’s received numerous customer complaints via email and tweets from people saying they were never shipped their orders. Her customer service team digs into these complaints and typically finds no history of these customers ever placing orders, which means they were duped by sites pretending to be hers, according to Kylie’s snap video.
While it’s unfortunate people are paying for fake products they never even receive, it can be a worse case scenario for those who do apply imitation lip kits. Some Kylie fans said they were actually injured upon using fake lipsticks! Twitter user @JasmineGlen reported that her mother was duped by this fake website and received a lip kit that contained gasoline.
Jenner re-tweeted another post from a girl who got a lip infection from a fake Koko K lip kit she purchased off eBay. As Kylie clearly stated in her snap, the only legitimate place to purchase her cosmetics is on her site . She also warned against typing her site into Google, as this may bring up the fraud site instead. Not only are these faux products dangerous, but they’re also selling for the same price as on Kylie’s site!
The Hollywood Reporter quoted Kylie’s videos and what her exact thoughts are on the subject:
“The ingredients that they’re using in these fake products are really, really dangerous, which is my biggest concern. It’s fake and dangerous, and it’s the same price, so I don’t even see the point.”
To really get people to see her point, Kylie shared this tweet from a girl who literally had her lips glued together by a fake lip kit. Yes, people are really selling fake lip kits made with glue! It’s no wonder King Ky is so set on getting the word out and warning her dedicated fans.
@KylieJenner fake Koko k I got… Literally has glue in it! So gross!! So not cute….. pic.twitter.com/Ha7J8WAvja
— emma morgan (@emmamorg3) October 26, 2016
The Hollywood Reporter also stated Kylie’s team is working on getting the fake site taken down, which is a huge relief. While injuries from fake products and imitation sites may be something new to Kylie Cosmetics, fraud lip kits are unfortunately something the teen has been dealing with since launching her beauty empire. In fact, beauty site Style Vanity has dedicated an ever-updated article on how to spot fake Kylie lip kits.
The article goes quite in-depth from packaging to formula on how to differentiate between the real deal and impostors. Basically, if the packing looks faded, cheap, or is missing key Kylie details, then you’re better off not buying it. Also, if you happen to find a site offering the kits for less than the retail price of $29, then it’s a safe bet they aren’t real. The surefire way to make sure you’re only spending money on authentic Kylie Cosmetics is to type the URL into your browser, as Jenner repeatedly states.
Another great way to recognize fake products is to be familiar with the real ones. There’s plenty of photos out there — seriously, just follow Kylie Cosmetics on Instagram , and there are also accounts dedicated to comparing the knock-offs to the legitimate products. You can also follow Kylie on Twitter to stay updated with what sites are currently selling fakes.
[Featured Image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]
