Five beauty products that you should never buy on Lazada
Ah, the holidays. Carols are playing on the radio, tinsel and ornaments hang everywhere, and traffic is overwhelming. The current state of our streets and malls might rob even the most festive person of the Christmas spirit. Thankfully, online shopping giants like Zalora and Lazada can mean that gift hunting doesn’t have to involve burning through a tank of gas and the last of your patience!
On top of that, you can probably scoop up items you won’t usually find in a mall, so your gifts will be as unique as they were convenient to snap up. But while a unique gift is usually a good idea, sometimes novelties can be downright strange, or even harmful! We found a few items in the health and beauty section that are probably best left off your cart.
USB Charging Freckle Wart Remover Machine
Claiming to remove freckles and dark spots, this portable device might seem like a fun and useful gift for a friend fond of DIY facials. The product description even looks convincingly science-y, purporting to use “unique electric ion technology” to remove spots “without hurting the normal skin.” But a quick scroll down the page reveals the ugly truth of this novelty item: the USB-powered tool describes using electric ions channeled through a “big needle” (actual quote from the product page!) to remove anything from discoloration to warts.
Translation: You will be poking yourself in the face with a sharp metal tool that zaps your face with electricity!
If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, it’s because it is. As mentioned in a previous PV article, warts are caused by viruses, and can’t simply be treated by manually extracting them with whatever tools you have at home. Instead, they require specialized dermatological treatment in the form of ointments or, in the worst case scenario, freezing/burning with liquid nitrogen or a laser. Any other treatment runs the risk of scarring your face (at best), or worsening the infection. As for freckles, the pigmentation is embedded in the skin and cannot be “poked out” with a tool - you’ll need professional laser treatment to effectively fade them away.
Whitening Face Massager
With the growing popularity of Korean chok-chok beauty, a glowing white complexion is more in vogue than ever, which is perhaps why this “whitening face massager” was invented. Looking a bit like a metal Clarisonic, this “Ionic Skin Care Device” supposedly reduces wrinkles, cleans the skin, and whitens the face using a combination of LED light and vibration.
Just reading the claims should make you raise your eyebrows. While LED light has been known to bust small pimples (more on that later!), there are no indications that it can change your skin tone. You’re better off purchasing an FDA-approved item such as the new Neutrogena Light Therapy mask, which works more like the ones featured in medispas. As it stands, the ability of such a small device to deliver the concentration of LED necessary to make a difference is debatable at best. You might be able to use it to massage your facial muscles though.
Nose Lift Shaper Clip
If you have a “flat” nose (like me), you were probably told as a child to pinch it in order to make it more “pointy.” Maybe (like me) you might have tried it, only to find that it does not really work. The structure of the nose - specifically the bridge of the nose, which this clip promises to lift - is a function of bones and cartilage so the only way to achieve a “nose lift” would be to add bone/cartilage to the bridge of the nose.
At this price, it may look like an affordable “Kris Kringle” or “White Elephant” gift (plus you can keep one for yourself), but unless you’re looking to grab one as a gag, you’re not paying for much beyond the discomfort of the recipient. If they’re dead set on a nose “lift” without going under the knife, get them a contour kit instead!
Gloxi Height Enhancer
If you’ve ever had insomnia, you’ve probably caught a Home TV Shopping commercial for this brand while mindlessly surfing channels. Promos for the “Gloxi Height Enhancer” are usually accompanied by a montage of supposed “success stories” from people who have grown inches, despite being way past puberty and the season of “growth spurts.” It all sounds too good to be true, and that’s because it is. Sadly, once your bones fuse (which happens anywhere between your late teens to early twenties), it’s pretty much impossible to grow any taller, though core strength exercises may help with the “appearance” of height, as muscles firm up to support the spine.
TL;DR, skip out on gifting this “health drink” and give a friend a few free gym days instead to help them tone up and look longer and leaner! (Only if they want to, of course.)
One Size Fits All Veneers
This last product has been making the rounds of Youtube and has even appeared in a few Facebook video ads. It looks like just the thing to help one wear a vampy lip with confidence but let me tell you now that aside from causing some major discomfort, the product is a complete dud. The price tag may look like big dental savings compared to having it professionally done but veneers are impossible to be truly “one size fits all”. Just like braces and retainers, any sort of dental hardware has to be made to measure to properly and comfortable fit to the shape of your jaw and size of your mouth.
With instructions that describe “melting” the veneer “to the mouth” using hot water, it’s unlikely these things will be anything more than a strange, gummy sticker on top of your actual teeth. It might look good in FOTDs but you probably won’t be able to eat or even talk. Plus, they look so completely even that it will probably give you a really weird-looking smile.
Still looking to shop online for the holidays? There are definitely a ton of great finds worth snapping up but if a claim looks too good to be true, like in the case of some of these potential “gifts,” maybe give it a pass.
What about you? Have you found any strange things while combing the Internet for beauty finds?
