15 May The secrets and risks behind buying used makeup online, reports Delina Petiros.
It’s no secret that girls start wearing and purchasing make up at a very young age with pocket money they’ve been given by their parents, and that’s often one of the reasons why the majority of them prefers looking for cheaper products. A new way to do so is purchasing used make up online. There are many websites like Glambot dedicated to reselling make up but without any proper regulations, in fact anyone can easily sell products without having to proof any previous record of illness, such as skin conditions. So is it safe for our daughters and little sisters, who’re growing on the Internet, to have access to these sort of websites?
The possibility for consumers to shop online started in the last years of the 90’s with, now famous, websites like Amazon and eBay launching in 1995. Online stores offer a very similar shopping experience to physical stores, in fact the user can browse through a vast selection of products and add to the basket as many items as desired. Online shopping has increased its popularity over the last few years because it is believed to be very practical, time saver and, in some cases, cheaper. Users under 35 are the most popular ones to purchase goods online that go from tech devices to fashion pieces, and because of their experience with the Web, they are also the most popular slice of population to be active on these websites. When online shopping became popular, a new form of e-commerce was rising along, the sell of used goods. Many websites give the possibility to users not to waste products they have bought or received as gifts by selling them on their browsers. By doing so sellers can get some money back and buyers can get products they wouldn’t have been able to purchase full price. Second hand items can include clothing, cars, tech devices and much more but one of the most debated category is probably the beauty one. This category includes mainly make up products and fragrances which directly go in touch with people’s skins, therefore can be potentially dangerous for customers health. Within the last few years websites specifically designed for the selling of used beauty products were born and whilst some were showing a clear policy on what they could accept to be sold others kept it very generic and vague. Glambot is one of the many websites that accept resellers goods that have at least 50% of the product, are within the expiry date and don’t go directly in touch with the skin like perfumes, body sprays but still accept foundations, blushes, eyeshadows and lipsticks. Whoever registers to these websites as seller will then have to send the products over them to the warehouse, where they will be inspected and if approved they will be sanitised and finally an advert for their sale will be made public but if the products are not approved they will be sent back to their owner, the whole process if free of any charge.
As the beauty blog Annmarie suggests, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t require makeup brands to asses the safety of their products, allowing them to include ingredients that could potentially be harmful for people’s health under the category of “fragrances”. Some of the most dangerous chemicals to be found in beauty products include phthalates, lead, quaternium, parabens and others that could interfere with hormones production, fertility, could delay puberty, lead to miscarriages, etc…
Therefore it is really important for resellers to sanitise any second hand product, because all the toxic chemicals could provoke fungus and infections to the next owner of these products.
A 24 year old designer with a massive passion about makeup we’re going to name Shana B., as she asked to remain anonymous, told me about her disastrous experience. Moving to London, after finishing her studies in Brighton, created such a big impact on Shana’s finance, she suddenly found herself living on a limited monthly budget with her payslips covering just about her rent and other necessities. Shopping for high-end makeup products was no longer a possibility for Shana, who soon started looking for cheaper shopping alternatives. It was around October of 2017 when Shana found out about the possibility of purchasing used products online through a friend, that suggested it to her as a safe and cheaper option. After an initial skepticism Shana decided to have a look online and the thought of being able to finally purchase makeup again, to extend her collection, made her decide to just go for it. “Looking for resellers was much easier than I thought, within minutes I found some many pages on Instagram advertising the selling of makeup product” says Shana, who curious about one particular account on the social media platform immediately messaged the girl owning it for more informations. After a few messages the girl redirected the conversation to a website specifically designed for the reselling of goods, the two exchanged messages via email and made an agreement on one specific product Shana was after, a branded foundation. Scared about the conditions of the product Shana was reassured about the sanitisation of the last as it would have been followed by the website’s company and not the reseller. So when the foundation, that Shana finally bought, arrived she was so excited she immediately tried it on but it wasn’t until the next day she realised what had happened. The following morning Shana’s face was really red and many spots appeared on her cheeks throwing her into panic. She immediately called her call her mom, who told her to go see her dermatologist right away scared it was an allergic reaction to the product, and so it was. Her dermatologist prescript her a cortisol treatment which healed Shana’s skin within a week and gave her a big lesson as the doctor reminded her she shouldn’t have trusted these websites in the first place, particularly because she had suffered from acne during her teenager hood causing her skin to become more sensitive to products.
Shana was lucky enough to suffer from a “minor” reaction, however it could have been worst in fact as suggested by beauty blog Allure infections are a really dangerous result of contaminations. Sejal Shah, M.D., board-certified dermatologist in New York City, confirms. “Used makeup can be contaminated with bacteria, fungus, or other microorganisms which can put you at risk for dangerous infections and potentially other adverse effects as a result of these infections,” she says. “This is especially true for makeup that has reusable applicators, comes into contact with the skin directly, or comes in a container that requires fingers or applicators dipped into it.”
On the other side of this business there are sellers, and I had to chance to speak with Mrs Megan H., one of them, who told me about her experiences on the website Glambot. “I had tons of makeup I barely used accumulated from birthdays, Christmas, anniversary and other occasions, so when a friend suggested to sell them online I just took the chance” says Megan on how she started selling beauty products over a year ago. She continues on saying how she was only refused a few products by the company once for health reasons, they were a set of lipsticks. Like thousands of other resellers Megan says how this website gives her the opportunity to get some money back and also give the products to people who will make use of them so it’s a win-win combo. However she admits she has never bought used makeup before and probably wouldn’t do it unless from a relative or a friend, going against her own “business”.
The Daily Mail showed the answers of scientists, dermatologists and microbiologists at London Metropolitan University who were questioned by Refinery29. After testing five different products, including a foundation, a lip gloss and a blusher sent in by women and beauty bloggers from around the country, they found out that old cosmetics contain unsafe levels of potentially lethal bacteria. Focusing on the reselling of used products on the website Glambot they said the only way to completely sterilize a product would be to ‘put it in an autoclave for 15 to 20 minutes at a temperature of 249 degrees Fahrenheit’. Cosmetic chemist Ron Robinson added: ‘Expiration dates are my biggest concern here. It’s [very difficult] for Glambot to know how old the products are that they receive. So even if they sanitize the product, the consistency or performance might be compromised.’ Beauty products, similarly to food, have a “period after opening” that tells consumers how long the product will stay good after it’s opening.
In total six different types of bacteria were found on the five types of everyday high-street cosmetics that were tested.
Purchasing lightly used makeup products may look like the perfect way to save some money, however we’ve seen how dangerous it can be so after all, saving on high-end cosmetics is not really worth the candle.
