In my super haul that arrived late last week, one of the polishes I was most excited about was OPI Austin-taceous Turquoise. Its been on my wish list ever since I laid eyes on it and I can’t count how many times I’ve picked it up at my local nail store and put it back reasoning I already have far too many blues. So given that I was buying so much in one go and not many blues, I justified it, added it to my basket and quickly checked out before I could change my mind.
As you may have seen in my post about my super haul, I had a few issues with the order and sadly this polish was one. I’ve heard of OPI fakes and I’ve seen a few posts about them but honestly I’ve always been lucky with online ordering and it never crossed my mind I might get one. So why do I think it’s a fake – here are the photos, make your own conclusions:
You can see here that the engraved serial number on the handle has been removed.
The serial number on the bottle itself has been sanded off too. You can also see on the back that there are only three warning signs. The three signs isn’t conclusive proof of a fake – I have a number of real OPIs with only three signs, however it’s not a good sign if you already have your suspicions.
The final kicker is the bottom label – usually this is a two layered label – the top visible layer will feature the name of the polish, the polish code and a barcode. The label you see here should be the second, hidden layer that you reveal by peeling the top layer away. mine didn’t have the barcode layer, just this label and no evidence that a second layer has been ripped away.
So how do I feel about it all? Well ripped off a bit, while I didn’t pay full RRP for this, I don’t like knowing that someone else is profiting from this using the OPI name. But what about the polish I hear you say? Well I never looked at swatches of this, so after I put on a coat, found it to be a sheer mess and googled some swatches I discovered that the OPI formula on this one varies and the majority are in fact a sheer mess. So I soldiered on – FIVE coats later, I reached opacity at which point I stuck a coat of China Glaze White Cap over the top (I was dying to try that too) and here is what I came out with:
These are flash photos and surprisingly they actually captured the colour best. You can see the duochrome effect of Austin-taceous Turquoise (the purple in the bottle never translates onto the nail sadly) and you can also see the overlay of China Glaze White Cap which gives a beautiful gold sparkle.
Now here is the real surprise – this photo is a full 72 hours after I put this on and its wearing beautifully. Maybe it those five coats? Maybe its better quality than I expected? Or maybe its just been decanted into another bottle for some random reason, serials removed, relabeled and is a real OPI? Who knows! I don’t really believe its real but I leave it to you to make your own mind up on this one.
For reference, I bought this polish from Nail Etc along with 7 other OPI polishes which all appear to be the real deal and were all packed in OPI boxes that were stamped with Teenage Dream and Black Shatter stock info and seemed pretty genuine. Maybe they’re being ripped off too? Have any of you had your suspicions raised about fake polishes too? Share your stories.
I wish I could help, but everyone’s photos look different from each other than I can’t tell if it’s fake, either. I feel like A-TT isn’t a HTF polish so there’s no need to franken/tamper with it, though? Usually the lot codes are shaved off when unauthorized sites/companies sell old OPI product.
Your pictures make this polish look gorgeous though, and I wish I had picked it up originally!
I thought the same thing, Ive seen Austin-taceous Turquoise everywhere but I don’t really understand why that one turned up in the messed with bottle yet all the other OPIs I picked up were as normal so to speak!
The polish is really pretty on the plus side, it has everything I need in a polish – shimmer, turquoise and a bit of duochrome :)
I have that same polish and almost every OPI polish I have has the serial number sanded off of the side of the bottle. And I’ve seen them like that at the store too. OPI is a little bit sub par in my opinion. Not the best.
The polish isn’t a fake, where you have purchased were legitimately sold to them, a lot of e-tailers do this so the bottle can’t be traced. OPI sued a lot of e-tailers for selling their products. Don’t worry, because it basically means these products did have legit codes and just don’t want them tracing. Hope thats helped :) x
agree with Charlee. It’s not fake. e-tailers and some stores are not authorized OPI sellers and they usually take off the top label with the barcode and sand off #s so they won’t get sued and can’t get traced back to them.
Definitely not fakes! The bottom only has the sticker peeled off like everyone said, so it will not be traced back to them because each label is usually different and contains the number that OPI has shipped to that specific e-tailer, as well as the cap where they have taken off the serial number. It is absolutely real & how they had to get rid of the serial number pretty much proves it. If you’re still afraid, you should open it, scrap the nail polish off the top of the brush (the plastic stick) & it should be thick and have OPI engraved to it near the top.