UKIPO's Face the Fakes Campaign: Mercury, Lead and Methanol Found in Counterfeit Beauty Products
Photo: Tatiana Tat / Pexels
The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) launched a new public campaign, Face the Fakes, on 30 October 2026. It focuses on counterfeit cosmetics, skincare and perfume. The campaign is built on lab tests of seized fakes, and the results show why trademark enforcement in beauty is a safety issue as well as a commercial one.
What the tests found
Trading Standards tested 50 seized counterfeit cosmetic products. Four in ten contained potentially harmful substances. The findings include:
- a skin-lightening cream with 1.32% mercury (13,200 parts per million),
- high lead levels in lipsticks, eyeshadows and contour kits, including 40 mg/kg in one contour product,
- nicotine in a counterfeit perfume,
- a counterfeit fragrance made up of around 80% methanol, and
- a skin-lightening cream with 8.1% hydroquinone, which is prohibited in such products in the UK.
Young buyers are driving demand
The UKIPO's Counterfeit Goods Tracker (September 2026) found that 20% of 18 to 24-year-olds who bought beauty products in 2025 knowingly bought fakes. That is more than three times the 6% recorded in 2023. Nearly three in four people who bought counterfeit cosmetics and toiletries bought them online, often through marketplaces and social media.
Cosmetics, skincare and perfumes are now among the ten counterfeit goods most often investigated by Trading Standards. Recent enforcement includes a police raid in July on a Manchester warehouse that seized 1,666 counterfeit hair products and a Bolton raid that recovered about GBP 2 million of fake goods.
The brand-owner angle
Helen Barnham, Head of Enforcement Engagement at the UKIPO, said counterfeiters "exploit the names and reputations of brands that consumers know and trust" while skipping the safety standards that legitimate businesses must meet. Speaking to World Trademark Review, the UKIPO stressed that brand owners can strengthen intelligence-led enforcement by sharing information with the authorities.
The campaign is run in partnership with the British Beauty Council, SafeGlam and the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association. New guidance for salons, beauty professionals and smaller businesses is being distributed through trade bodies.
Five tips from the campaign
- Check who is actually selling the product, not just the platform.
- Treat an unusually low price, or pressure to buy quickly, as a warning sign.
- Do not rely on polished images or five-star reviews alone.
- Check packaging for an ingredients list, batch number and company address.
- If you suspect a fake, do not use it. Keep the evidence and report it to Trading Standards.
Why it matters
For beauty brands, registered trademarks are what make enforcement possible. Border seizures, marketplace takedowns and Trading Standards action all depend on clear, up-to-date registrations and on brand owners who are ready to identify fakes. The UK data mirrors trends in Southeast Asia, where counterfeit cosmetics are also sold heavily on social commerce platforms.
Sources
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