How to distinguish authentic and fake Hare Lipstick. Hare lipstick is a unique lipstick. This lipstick has a bright green color that will turn into delicate pink color when it is applied to the lips, giving a slightly reddish color but still looks natural on the lips. In Indonesia, this lipstick is well-known as Arab lipstick since it is frequently brought as souvenirs by the hajj or umrah pilgrims who return from Mecca. In Saudi Arabia, this lipstick is available at many stores around Masjid Al-Haram (Great Mosque of Mecca). But the most important thing one has to know is although this lipstick is well-known as Arab or Moroccan lipstick, this one is completely not made in Saudi Arabia but in Taiwan. Nevertheless, it has long been imported by the Government of Saudi Arabia. Pertaining to the existence of this lipstick in Indonesia, my mother told me that this one has been existing at the local markets since she was a juvenile (70’s era).
While many westerners (the Europeans or Americans) call this lipstick as Moroccan Hare Magic Color Changing Lipstick because they knew this one when they traveled to Morocco. As we commonly know that not many Europeans or Americans who travel to Mecca considering that most of them are not Muslims. Besides in Morocco, for those who’ve been in other Arab cultured countries in Northern Africa, namely Tunisia, would have been familiar with the existence of this lipstick which spotted at many traditional markets on the country. The price of this lipstick in Tunis is very cheap for most Indonesian people when it has been converted into rupiah’s currency.
Hare lipstick has many ardent fans in many countries all over the world since many European and American beauty bloggers who also review this lipstick. Besides of a very cheap price, this lipstick is also composed from natural ingredients, able to moisturize lips, and has a long lasting delicate pink shade, also not tacky in color.
Unfortunately, there are many fake Hare lipsticks, made in China, which massively distributed to all over the world. The fake lipstick appearance is identical with the authentic one so that it is hard to differentiate one from another. The fake Hare lipstick may be dangerous because we don’t know what the real ingredients contained therein. The huge amount of circulation of the fake one has also damaged the reputation of this lipstick in Indonesia. There are many who are suspicious regarding the real ingredients contained in Hare lipstick.
For authentic Hare lipstick, the composition of the ingredients consist of: Hydrogenated Castor Oil (44%), Paraffin (20%), Ethylhexyl Palmitate (15%), Copernicia Cerifera Wax (12%), Ceresin (5%), Cera Alba (2%), Pigment (1%) C.I. No. 19140 (Yellow 5) 42090 (Blue I), Parfume (0.85%), dan Propylparaben (0.15%). Let’s look at the picture below!
Based on the composition of the ingredients, I don’t like and deeply regret that it contains paraben (propylparaben) since I am basically a consumer who tends to avoid any products containing paraben on their composition. But I still can compromise with the paraben because based on my personal consideration, the percentage of paraben on this product is very low (0.15%) and also considering that this cheapest lipstick I’ve ever had works very very well on my lips.
In addition to the paraben, there is one more thing I don’t like about this lipstick, namely, the lipstick tube which seems so tacky and out of date, impressing it as a cheap product (in reality, the price is indeed very cheap 🙂 ). So, it sometimes makes the user (read: me) is not confident to show it off at public area for retouching purpose. I usually use this Hare lipstick as a daily lip moisturiser at home or as a base lip balm before applying my favorite lipstick, namely INIKA (Certified Organic Vegan Lipstick (shades: sheer peach)). INIKA (Certified Organic Vegan Lipstick) is a halal certified organic vegan lipstick made in Australia. I will write a review about “INIKA (Certified Organic Vegan Lipstick)” in the future time.
Now, let’s discuss about how to distinguish the authentic and fake Hare lipstick.
The Color of the Lipstick Tube
The tube of the authentic Hare lipstick comes in good quality of the green color plastic with the color intensity is darker than the tube of the fake one. Let’s look at the picture below!
The picture shows that the tube of the authentic Hare lipstick comes in good quality of the green color plastic. On the contrary, the tube of the fake one comes in the brighter green. Furthermore, the size of the tube of the authentic lipstick is shorter than the tube of the fake one.
The Sticker on the Bottom of the Tube
The authentic Hare lipstick has a golden rounded sticker sealed on the bottom of the tube. The written things on the sticker are the Hare brand, number 33, the expiry date, and the manufacturing country, namely Made in Taiwan R.O.C. The diameter of the sticker is almost as size as the tube diameter.
While the fake one maybe doesn’t have a sticker on the bottom of the tube (as shown in the picture above). Or it maybe has a golden rounded sticker on the bottom of the tube, but the diameter size of the sticker is smaller than the sticker of the authentic one. In addition, although the fake lipstick maybe has the identical sticker with the authentic one, but the manufacturing country written on the sticker is not Taiwan. The manufacturing country on the fake lipstick is commonly written as Made in China or sometimes as Made in P.R.C.
The Color of the Inner Tube
Both of the authentic and the fake lipstick, the inner tubes are made from plastic material. The different is that the inner tube color of the authentic Hare lipstick comes in green color that has the same color with the lipstick color. While the fake one comes in white color.
The Color and Texture of the Lipstick
The authentic Hare lipstick has a bright green color. It is opposite than the fake one. Let’s look at the picture below!
As can be seen from the picture, the authentic Hare lipstick color is brighter green than the fake one (which has a slightly darker green color).
In addition, the texture of the authentic Hare lipstick is solid and not easy to crack either when you inadvertently drop it or when it has been long in use. On the contrary, the fake lipstick is very easy to crack and not as solid as the authentic one.
The Smell
The authentic Hare lipstick has a natural smell that I cannot describe it. However, the smell reminds me of the common lipstick smell bought by my mother when I was a child (80’s). Also, according to my mother, such lipstick smell is identical with the existing lipstick smell when she was a juvenile.
While the fake Hare lipstick smells like a melted plastic, although it sometimes smells like a chewing gum. But the most dominant is a melted plastic smell.
The Effects on the Lips
The authentic Hare lipstick has a good moisturising effect for dry and chapped lips and also softens the lips texture. In my opinion, using this lipstick – feels like as using a lip balm (lip gloss), but it feels lighter on my lips. In addition, this lipstick doesn’t have the blackening effect on my lips and has a long lasting color. The pink color is durable even after eat and drink and also kiss-proof.
But for the fake Hare lipstick, I don’t know what the effects because I don’t dare to try it on my lips. Nevertheless, according to some people who use Hare lipstick that has the similar characteristic with the fake version, it has some effects, namely, make the lips feel drier than before, also it gradually blackens the lips. In fact, some people who use the fake one said that their lips feel burned or itchy in the seconds after applying it.
I hope this article is worthwhile for you.
Views: 8197
