Tuesday 11 May 2010

Benefit Coralista or "Benefit Coralista"?

Hello petals :)

Ok, so last week, the lovely Sinead was selling a few bits and bobs off, and I decided to nab "Coralista". Sinead did state that she'd bought it from eBay and wasn't sure if it was genuine or not. I decided to buy it anyway because who knows, it might have been genuine therefore a bargain at £6.

This is what Benefit Coralista (RRP £23.50) should look like:

Image Credit: Benefit

This is what mine looks like 
(Please excuse the fact that I've ripped half the label off haha)
Looks pretty much the same right?

The genuine Coralista does not have a sticker, this image is printed on to the box. The edges of the image are rounded, whereas they're not so much on the fake. The sticker on the fake is wonky. I'm sure the genuine image isn't. Also, the pink colour on the image is less pronounced on the fake. Finally, beneath the sticker, the word 'RIO' is printed across the box.

The details on the box lid
They are the exact same as the genuine article

One side of the box

It reads: 
'a "rio" pleasure... face powder'
'"rio" poudre plaisir visage'

Now, this is where I come unstuck
I researched on Google and YouTube about Coralista fakes, and everyone said that the label on the underside of the box does not actually peel back. Well, mine does.

See?
And as with the genuine product, it has the language translations inside.
However, 'Rio' here has the capital 'R' that the actual box does not. And the right hand side of the second label appears to be cut off. Surely the genuine is not so shoddy?

Something else the victims of the fakes said was that the brush supplied was wood effect plastic.
This is actually made of wood.

Fakes apparently do not tend to come with the protective brush shield or tray
As you can see, this came with the tray but no protective shield

The powder
*no flash*

See the sparkle? Apparently fakes are matte. So now I have no idea whether this is genuine or not.
*flash*

Some people have said that fakes aren't very well packaged, but I've also read that the packaging of some of the genuine products aren't that great either...

But look at this. I'm sorry but what? As if Benefit make packaging this badly!

So to sum it up if you're not sure whether you have a fake or not, these are the things to look out for in fake Benefit Coralista products:

* No slanted 'f' in the word 'Benefit'
* Stickers instead of printed images
* A label that says "Peel Me" but doesn't actually peel
* A plastic brush
* No protective brush shield
* No protective tray
* A powder tray that falls out (luckily mine doesn't but I've seen some that do)
* Matte powder
* The powder may break you out (I saw a girl on YouTube who had this happen to her after unknowingly buying a fake Benefit Hoola. Benefit staff told her to not use the product as it was not safe to do so!)

It also appears that many of these fake Benefit products originate from Asia. So if you are going to bid/buy on eBay, I'd suggest using UK or American sellers if you're in the UK/Europe/US.  And check that the sellers have positive feedback and not a bunch of negative feedback. Also if you pay by PayPal you are protected. I found many people had been the victims of fake products, which they had to get verified as fakes by the staff at Benefit counters, in order to get a refund. So the motto here is be very wary. And if you're still not sure, save up and buy from Benefit/Boots/Sephora. Better safe than sorry!

I'm sure there are probably more things to look out for, but this is what I've found. If anybody knows of any other points to add, please let me know and I'll update this post so everyone can see. 

Also if anyone can help me determine whether mine is genuine or fake, please let me know :)

UPDATE: It would appear that older genuine Coralistas have stickers on them rather than a printed image. If this is the case with yours and you've bought it from eBay, don't be too worried about it :)
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

20 comments:

  1. Fantastic post hunny and Im so glad you posted about this. It will help a lot of people, because surely a lot of people must be tempted to buy Coralista from ebay when its on £10 or something. Ive actually been on and looked at the history from some sellers and it says like "10 sold" so people do buy Coralista and other benefit powders in the hope that they are real.

    Sadly I do think yours is fake, the shoddy sticker and upside down writing is clear to me that is it. Its just a good job you only bought it off Sinead and it was only £6. However the blush does kinda look nice, yeah its not the actual Coralista but I'd still use it if I liked it ha.

    Hopefully this post will help a lot of women when thinking about purchasing from ebay.

    xxxx

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  2. Brilliant post! I've got the real Coralista and had a quick looksie for you, the text on the side of the box doesn't have rio capitalised and it's upside down haha. BUT I would like to confirm that the Coralista image on mine is also a sticker, not printed onto the box. I know it's genuine, I bought it at a BeneFit counter in Debenhams last summer - but maybe they print the images directly onto the boxes now? I would peel the sticker up to see if it says Rio underneath but I don't wanna ruin it :( haha
    xo

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  3. BREAKING NEWS! Look at me, defacing what is probably the most single expensive item in my collection for you! Haha.
    I peeled a bit of the sticker back and it DOES say Rio underneath. And it's genuine. So really the only things that hint towards yours being fake are the slightly wonky box, misaligned writing on the peel off label, and there was no plastic protector thing over the brush. Maybe Sinead took the plastic off the brush? But as for the wonky box and text, every production line makes mistakes... sure most companies wouldn't let mistakes through but yknow.
    I honestly don't know! I Feel like a detective who is missing something really obvious to solve a case. Hahaha
    xo

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  4. I have to tell you that the earlier Coralistas DID have stickers on the lid. I have two of them one bought early and one bought recently, BOTH were bought from Debenhams Benefit counter. The early one has a sticker and the later one doesn't.....just thought this may help....if you need me to check anything else just shout, as I still have both versions.

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  5. I think I have a fake too, but im not actually sure... the pan come out of the box, but everything about it is fine, it didnt even come with a brush though lol! its shimmery and not matte, but everything about the box is benefit. I dunno... I use it anyway! :)

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  6. Ooo great post hun! I have the benefit thrrrob one and im not ure about if mine is fake either as mine was from ebay lol! Its shimmery, came with a brush protector and tray thing, the writing on the side of my box is upside down however my label underneath says peel me however you can peel it away. Im confused :L x

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  7. Jo - Thanks :) I think the blush is nice and I do use it, not had any problems with it so far xx

    Leanne - Oo this is interesting! Maybe it's an older product then. Aww thanks for defacing your Coralista lol! I've heard some Benefit boxed blushers/bronzers are a bit shoddy so maybe it's just that. They could be seconds I guess. Thanks so much for your help xx

    BabyD - Thanks very much for the info :) xx

    Nikki - Oo if it didn't come with a brush apparently that's a fake. Unless it was a genuine mistake by Benefit. Who knows? Ha yeah I'm using mine too! xx

    Keeley - Your Thrrrob sounds genuine to me :) xx

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  8. Wow, seems like there's a lot of confusion over this!
    I'm a few days late for this but nonetheless, congratualtions on sitting your final exam and finishing your degree :-)
    Did your dentures tablets do the trick for your nails btw? I also read the post that mentioned them hehe.
    And finally, I've just started my own blogspot blog- clothescosmeticsandchat. Maybe you can take a look at it when you have time and become my first reader lol

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  9. There sure is! By the sounds of it, I have an older genuine version of Coralista :) Aww thank you very much! I haven't used the denture tablets yet, but I will this afternoon, so if they work I'll pop a post up about it. Oo I'll check it out. Welcome to the blogosphere :) xx

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  10. Oooo just came back for another read, now this is interesting!!! I actually do think you have a genuine one now, after reading the other comments AND I just checked mine upstairs and my writing on the side is upside down too! and mine is defo genuine, only bought it last week from Debehams ha!

    xxx

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  11. Great post miss! & Just to confirm the brush did have the plastic around it when i received it :)
    Everythings looking like its real, so i hope that it is!
    I think Leanne maybe right when she says that it may be a factory second because of the wonky packaging?
    :) xxxx

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  12. Jo - Me too lol, can't believe I wrecked the sticker now haha! xx

    Sinead - Ah I see. It looks like it is genuine now after everyone's comments :) Picked up a bargain in that case didn't I lol? Yeah I was thinking that about the packaging too xx

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  13. I'm pretty sure that it is real!
    I just digged mine out to compare, and it is exactly the same!
    Mine was bought from a proper Benefit counter.
    So if yours is a fake, it is a pretty good one.

    x

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  14. Hey Jess, yeah I think we've all decided mine is real now I've ruined the box lid haha. Gutted. xx

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  15. I bought mine from ebay and freaked out over the sticker thing so thanks for letting us know that the older ones do have a sticker, also both of my benefit boxes have slanted "f"s. as far as yours, does it have a scent? the one I recently purchased from ebay has the protector, it has the brush in the sheath and it has a delicious smell to it, much like my dandelion. if it doesn't have a scent, pretty good chance it's fake.

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  16. You're welcome :) There is a slight scent to mine yes xx

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  17. I have a friend who worked for Benefit during the time they first launched Coralista. The original name of the product was supposed to be "rio", but because there was already a product on the market with that name, they had to rename the products at the last minute by placing stickers on the packaging.

    I can't say that your product is real, but there were legitimate products distributed by Benefit that had stickers covering up the "rio" name.

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  18. Oh thats very interesting! Thank you for sharing that :) xxx

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  19. Check the address in tiny text on the back.

    I bought a fake recently off eBay for £4 (shoulda known) and it says "Bendtit" instead of Benefit. The address is also wrong, and it says "madinitaly" with no spaces.... clear fake.

    Some sellers post them as graded products or seconds and claim its due to typos on boxes etc but I have been to a benefit counter with mine (a Georgia and a Coralista) and been assured and had a demo with the real products that they are both fake.

    Watch out in particular for eBay seller heart-shaped-love. They sell them dirt cheap as seconds but their products are horribly irritant and definitely fake (these are the ones I took to the counter).

    Best thing to ever do if you suspect a fake is to visit the counter. They are always so helpful, because at the end of the day, they know if there are poor quality fakes, they are giving benefit a bad name.

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    Replies
    1. That's so helpful, thank you very much!! I've checked the one I own and it definitely says Benefit on the back and that it was made in the USA.

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