FAKE VS REAL ANASTASIA GLOW KIT – GLEAM

The following is a tutorial on how to spot the differences between a genuine and counterfeit ABH Glow Kit. This tutorial will be based on the “Gleam” version of the palette.

Let me apologise in advance for my terrible photography skills. Photography never has been and never will be my forté. I promise I will describe all of the details as accurately and as clearly as I can so that you’ll be able to tell the difference between the two palettes.

Let me start by pointing something out, the code on the back of the palette will vary from palette to palette depending on when and where you purchased it. So far, I have come across two different codes, one being J5JA and the other being J5HA. This is not a way to spot fakes. While the fake palette in my tutorial has the code “J5HA” that doesn’t mean that all palettes with that code are fake. I have confirmed this by requesting photos from other people who have purchased from reliable sources.

1. The front of the palette.

You’ll notice with the front of the 2 palettes (fake one on the right) that the colour is slightly different. The genuine Glow Kit is a very pretty pearl grey whereas the fake is a dirty yellow grey. Having said that, this might be hard to recognise if you don’t have both palettes.

Side by side

 

2. The “Anastasia” logo on the front of the palette.

You can see here that the genuine logo is embossed (top). It also looks very neat and tidy. The embossing is perfectly lined up underneath the print.

On the fake palette (bottom), the embossing isn’t as deep and isn’t matched up with the printing properly.

3. The silver “Glow Kit” printing at the top of the palette.

The genuine one is very solid and shiny (top). It’s also printed very clearly.
On the fake it’s a bit patchy and dull (bottom). This applies to the front and the back of the palettes. On the back of the fake one, the silver writing is hard to read because it’s so dull.

 

Real palette at the top, fake at the bottom.

4. The Highlighter pans. 

Looking from the real to the fake, it’s hard to spot the difference at first glance. I’ve tried my best to capture the differences in my photos but it was nearly impossible. I will do my best to describe them to you.

OK, The highlighter named Hard Candy is where I was able to see a clear difference. After swatching my genuine palette for the first time (left), I noticed that while looking at the pan, Hard Candy was iridescent in the right lighting. If I held my palette on an angle, I could see it reflect a slightly more pink colour than what it looked like on the non-reflecting parts of the pan. I haven’t noticed this in the other colours, but the fake Hard Candy pan doesn’t do this.

 

Pans. Side by side. Real is on the left.

Real palette at the top has a slight “iridescent” look.

4. Underneath the pans.

After removing the pans from the magnetic palette, I noticed 2 differences straight away. The genuine palette was more difficult to pull the pans out as the magnetic power was much stronger and the bottom of the fake pans look like crap. The metal used on the fake is lighter in colour and already looks scratched and old (right) and the sticker is really crooked. You’ll also notice that the symbol of the small tub with its lid open isn’t as “bold” on the fake pan.
*update* On closer inspection, I can see that the fake pan has “Made in U.S.A.” printed on the sticker. These Glow Kits should have “Made in PRC” printed on them because they are made in China (People’s Republic of China). I don’t know how I missed this while looking through the photos. Thank you to the lovely lady who pointed it out to me.

Pans. Real one on the left.

5. The swatches

The real palette swatches are more creamy and pigmented, however, the fakes are fairly pigmented too (bottom)they’re just not as bold as the genuine ABH Glow Kit.

Top swatch is the real palette.

6. The back of the palette.

The 4 coloured circles which represent the highlighter pans are differently coloured on the fake. It’s a very small difference but very noticeable when the two palettes are side by side. You can see that the real ones on the left are more pink/pinkish nude coloured, whereas the fakes are more brown/yellowish pink, especially “Mimosa”.

Something else to address on the two palettes is that small letter “H” on the bottom right corner. On the real Glow Kit, the “H” slimmer and taller (top), on the fake it is shorter and more stout.

I just need to reiterate that the little black number/code on the back of the palette does not represent whether the palette is real or fake as it varies depending on when and where you bought the genuine palette.

Genuine on the left.

Small H at the bottom. Top is the genuine palette.

7. The smell

Both palettes don’t smell amazing but the fake palette has a distinct smell. It kind of reminds me of Dr. Pepper or moth balls just not as pungent.

 

I hope this has helped with seeing the differences between the real and fake ABH Glow Kit – Gleam. The differences are so subtle that it would be easy to be duped in to buying a fake so I tried my best to describe them thoroughly. This tutorial only applies to the “GLEAM” version of the Glow Kit. I have purchased a fake “That Glow” Glow Kit too so I will do a tutorial on that one later on.

 

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