Have you ever thought about smearing rat poo on your face? Probably not, that is, until now.
Because police have warned that the counterfeit cosmetics market, worth £90 million a year in the UK alone, is riddled with health risks. Make-up and perfume seized by the authorities was analysed and found to contain substances such as human urine, arsenic (that’s properly old-school poison), cyanide, mercury, lead (the stuff Elizabethans put on their face to make them pale) and rat droppings.
Who buys this actual rat shit? People eagerly searching for a bargain on auction sites, online market places, rogue websites and social media, reports The Times.
Launching a campaign called ‘Wake up – don’t fake up’, police claim that it’s a lot harder for people to gauge the authenticity of a piece of make-up online, and that electrical cosmetic goods are also being faked, with consequences being potentially fatal – ie they could set your hair and your house on fire as they’ve never gone through safety checks.
Police have managed to seize £3.5 million worth of counterfeits and suspended 5,500 websites selling the dodgy items in the past 18 months alone, but members of the public can also help out by having their wits about them.
Detective Superintendent Maria Woodall, who oversees the intellectual property crime unit at City of London Police, said: ‘Many people don’t know about the real dangers counterfeit beauty products pose to their health and so that is why this week we are urging the public to Wake up – don’t fake up!
‘Criminals are exploiting every opportunity to fool customers into buying counterfeits in order for them to make some quick cash – putting peoples's health, homes and lives at risk.
‘Beauty products are meant to enhance your features; however the fakes can in fact do quite the opposite. Our general rule is; if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.’
Oh, and FYI, the people selling you rat piss make-up will have no problem taking your payment details and cloning them and stealing loads of your money.
It’s all pretty scary, but how’s about a lols on the motto, switching it up to say ‘if it seems too good to be true, it’s probably poo’? Ah, that makes us feel less terrified.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.