There's a sucker born every minute...

One of the ladies I follow on IG, Makie, has a superb beauty channel, but sadly, only in Portuguese and sometimes in Japanese.

She posted such a photo today:

Jedna z moich instagramek, Makie, ma swietny kanal kosmetyczny, tyle ze po portugalsku.
Dzis zamiescila takie to oto zdjecie:

Tak, wyglada jak SK-II sprzedawany ze straganu w okolicach stacji Ueno w Tokio.
Yep, this is what it looks like. SK-II sold from a street stand somewhere around Ueno in Tokyo.

Dlaczego zamieszczam tutaj to zdjecie (za pozwoleniem Makie)?
Bo w ostatnich miesiacach kilka razy czytalam na roznych blogach i forach pytania kobiet przymierzajacych sie do kupna produktow SK-II na ebayu i pytajacych sie internetowych beauty medrcow, czy to aby nie podrobka za taka cene.
Hmmm... zazwyczaj, jesli cena jest zbyt cudowna aby byc prawdziwa, to kosmetyk tez raczej nie bedzie.

Why am I reposting this photo here (with Makie's kind permission)?
Because during the last few months I've been seeing more and more questions to the internet beauty gods on various blogs and forums. Questions asked by hapless women about to buy SK-II products on ebay and not sure whether they can expect the real deal for such a great price.
Well, you know, if the price is too good to be true, then the product won't be either.

Proste.
Ale szokujace jest jak wiele kobiet leci na nazwe marki i zupelnie traci jakikolwiek pozor zdrowego rozsadku i trzezwego myslenia.

Pewnie te same kobiety rowniez bylyby sklonne uwierzyc, ze towary na stoliku powyzej to oryginalne oryginaly. No bo przeciez to Japonia. Tutaj ludzie sa uczciwi. Tutaj nie oszukuje sie konsumenta.
Newsflash, wiekszosc osob obslugujacych takie stoliki to nie Japonczycy, choc pewnie wygladaja na Azjatow.

Stragany takie ustawiane sa w bardzo strategicznych miejscach obleganych przez naiwnych turystow, tak jak w przykladzie powyzej - Ueno.

Simple.
But it's shocking to see how many women can totally lose any semblance of common sense and abandon the ability to think rationally when faced with a bargain priced high-end cosmetic product.

And I suspect the same women would be willing to believe that the goods in the photo above are the one and only real, original SK-II cosmetics that somehow, magically, found their way to the streets of Tokyo. Because it's Japan, right? People here are honest, right? People here don't cheat, right? Everybody knows that, right?
Well, newsflash for you, my dear...
The sellers most likely are not even Japanese, though they certainly do look Asian.
And they are not stupid. Their stands are located in very strategically chosen locations full of naive tourists, like in Ueno, for exmaple (where the above photo was taken).

Wiec nie badz jeleniem.
Jesli cos jest za tanie, czy na ebayu, czy na ulicy w Japonii, Korei, lub gdziekolwiek, to nie tlumacz tego faktu wedlug swojego widzimisie, ale po prostu przyjmij do wiadmosci, ze to podrobka. I nie rznij potem glupa w necie, ze "to byla okazja" i ze "nie wiedzialam".
Teraz juz wiesz.
Jesli nadal nie jestes pewna czy to co chcesz kupic to podrobka, to przeczytaj powyzszy wpis raz jeszcze. Az do skutku.

Nie ma za co!

Don't be a sucker.
If something is too cheap, either on ebay, or on the streets of Tokyo or Seoul, or elsewhere, then don't look for fantastic explanations why, but accept the fact that it's a fake.
And don't act like an idiot later that "I thought it was a special deal" and "I didn't know".

Well, now you know.
If you are still not sure if that wonderful deal on ebay will buy you a genuine product, read this post again. And again. Until it finally clicks.

And you're welcome.