Story:

There I was, browsing onto Rakuten until I stumbled upon this shop! eko toku shop, I think this shop just opened 'coz they had opening sale banner on their site and there's not much products on their site buuut, when I saw this!

★ＭＡＣ・マックメイクブラシ１２本セット♪専用ケース付き★
for only 4,650円 I immediately ordered it! And waited.. until I've come to realized that this shit was fake! Oh okay okay.. so 50-50 in my mind I was like, this cannot be fake at all!!! ('Coz as far as I know, it's ILLEGAL to sell fake items here in Japan but yeah, other countries too but here, it's pretty strict like, once the police caught you sellin' fake, you're a goner!) and they have like an opening sale, so I thought this item was just included on the sale BUT! I've come to realized that it's REALLY IMPOSSIBLE for MAC to sell 12 sets of brush for only 4,650円 which is around $58 I guess.. because I've been to an actual MAC shop, and I remembered I was asking my mom to buy me a foundation brush. THAT foundation brush which is not even that long costs about 5,000円 already! For THAT ONE PRODUCT! Jeez.. my mom ended up buying me NOTHING! LOL.

So the brush set I ordered came in today, before opening it I searched videos on youtube on how to KNOW if your mac brush is FAKE! But before the videos, I saw this eBay guideline.. link: GUIDE

MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AUTHENTIC AND FAKE MAC BRUSHES

1. PACKAGING
Authentic MAC brushes come in a clear plastic sleeves with a bar code printed on the sleeve. Many fake brushes I have seen come in clear plastic sleeves without the bar code. In addition, many fake face brushes come with additional hard plastic protectors for the hairs. Real MAC face brushes do not have this additional plastic protector. They come in the simple clear plastic sleeves with bar code.

2. HANDLE
Real MAC brushes come with black wooden handles and the neck (the part that connects the handle to the hair) is silver. I've seen some bad fake brushes with black plastic necks.

3. LETTERING
Authentic MAC brushes are labeled "MAC ###". ### being the number of the brush. On real brushes, the lettering is printed on the handle and easily rubes off with your nail. On most FAKE brushes, the lettering is engraved into the handle and very hard to rub off. Try it.

4. BRUSH SETS
Keep in mind that MAC has never offered a set of full sized makeup brushes except until November 2006 called the Pret-a-Porter brush set and the 2008 Holiday Set for Nordstrom only. The Pret-aPorter set includes 8 full size brushes (187, 190, 129, 213, 224, 266, etc). The set comes with a black satin brush roll. So if you see a full size MAC brush set on Ebay but it doesn't have the 187 skunk brush, it's FAKE. For Christmas 2008 MAC released a full set for Nordstrom only. It came with 4 full size brushes (187, 168, 222 and 208). See photo below.
Therefore, 99% of the brand new full size MAC brush sets on are FAKE.

TRAVEL SIZE BRUSHES
MAC does make many travel size brush sets with brush numbers ending in SE. *UPDATED* - The last photo below is of a fake travel size MAC brush set I found on Ebay recently (Jan. 2008). Authentic travel brush sets usually come in sets of 5 brushes with a cute brush case, the brush handles are usually some unique color, not black. The fake set below, however comes with plain black handles and a generic looking brush roll.

5. THE SELLER
Never buy MAC products from a seller you don't trust. Sellers to watch out for are a) Newly registered sellers with no or little feedback, b) sellers in other countries such as in Asia, Australia and Canada, c) sellers selling a lot of other MAC brush sets (you have to wonder where they are getting the endless supply of brush sets). Don't let 100% feedback fool you. Look at the seller's completed listing and see if week after week they list full size MAC brush sets. That's a sign the brushes are fake!
Please do yourself a favor and click on the "View Sellers's Other Items" link on the right hand over below the sellers info. If the seller is selling other MAC or designer makeup products that week, ask yourself how this person gets their hands on cheap makeup products. 99.99% of the time everything that person is selling are FAKES.

FEEDBACK ISN'T ALWAYS RELIABLE
Plenty of people buy fake MAC brushes on Ebay without realizing it. They leave positive feedback for the seller and in turn convince more victims to buy. There are plenty of sellers with 99% or higher ratings who are selling fake MAC brushes. Bottom line - don't trust feedback. Do your research instead or buy from a store. Don't try to save money but end up paying for a fake brush set.

6. THE PRICE
$50 for a set of new and authentic MAC full size brushes? That's too good of a deal to be true!! The best way to avoid buying fake brushes on Ebay is to buy brushes one at a time, instead of in a set. I am noticing more and more fake 187 brushes on Ebay. They look very similar to the real thing except the seller seems to have an endless supply of them and happily sells them for 50% off of retail. This is a sure sign they are fake. Watch out for seller ids: "goldenseller23","dalilakahlo1","videopizazz2008", "consoledcat", "best_makeup". All their items are fake.

I opened my mac brush and yes! It all fell to the FAKE category.. the packaging, lettering, brush set thingy and the price.. yeah! It's totally FAKE! Nisemono dechuu!!! But you know what? I'm kinda cool with it. Because I bought 12 sets of brush for only 4,650円 when I could've spent 5,000円 for a single authentic one! That's a steal! Plus I only bought this 'coz of the stipling brush! I've always wanted one! Hihi.. Our local drugstore has one and it's sold for about 2,000円 for only one product! I thought it was a good idea to go for the whole set because it's almost half the price plus 11 more brushes! Neat!

Alright you guys, here are the pictures of the fake brushes I bought..

I thought the case is not cheap looking.. some says it is but I don't think so.....

I thought the brushes are really soft.. the powder brush (136) is really fluffy! The stipling (187) too! I love eeet!!! I read on an article that it sheds hair like a LOT! Hopefully that doesn't happen to me when I start using it..

I saw in one of the videos I looked up on youtube that the handle of the fake one's color is black while the real one's color is charcoal? (I forgot) But my fake brushes' color is metallic gray with tinnie tiny sparkling silvers! I thought it was cute! He he

The real one's Japan mark is not engraved while the fake one's engraved. Pshhh!

That's it you guys! Hope this post was helpful.. he he! So yeah, my question for you is,

What do you think about fake brushes?
If you ask me, I really don't care.. it's not like it's gonna ruin my face or anything! It's cheap, it looks almost exactly like the real one! So it's COOL!