Cut Price Toiletries

[smurfchops]

All these cut price shops that are in most towns now (don't know if I can name them) ... are the cosmetics, creams, etc safe and are they the original brand? I just bought some well known hand cream for 99p and it makes my hands drier than they were before I applied it. I also read in the paper of someone who bought Nair to remove hair and it burned her skin, the shop was fined. Any comments?

[dzug]

Some will be fakes, probably not many.

Those that are genuinely of the original brand may be a different formula for export - you can tell if for example the label gives a South African address for the company rather than a UK one.

Or they can be old stock that if a food would be past its sell by date.

Can't answer on safety

[andy-hughes]

It is possible to sell toiletries at lower prices than the major supermarkets, because the mark-up - the difference between the wholesale buying price to the supermarket, and the price at which they sell it, is very high. This is how supermarkets are able to slash prices on other products. It is therefore possible to sell toiletries for considerably less than the normal price, and still make enough profit to run a small outlet.

[fideldyfee]

Hi judiewudie,

I used to work in Semi-Chem, and all the stuff we sold was genuine and cheap as chips. I still worry when i go in now that it is fake or something (Evian eye make up remover wipes - semi-chem �1.79, Boots �4.79, whats that all about???) but its all just the same.

[Makeupworld]

Hi

Makeupworld.co.uk sell discounted makeup and skincare products. would not sell items that were fakes. Just becuase the item is cheap does not necissarily make it a counterfeit.

However its always wise to use common sense for example if you purchase off ebay then dont use someone who has little or no feedback and is selling a large lot of products seemingly cheap!