Counterfeit skincare is not a small inconvenience in Bangladesh — it is a public-health problem. Independent shoppers and our own in-warehouse comparisons have surfaced fake batches of nearly every popular international brand sold through unverified Facebook pages, ChokhBazar boxes and "imported" pop-up stalls. Mercury-laced "whitening" creams continue to make news in Dhaka. The Ordinary's UK manufacturer has publicly warned buyers about counterfeits in South Asia. CeraVe's parent company, L'Oréal, runs an anti-counterfeit program because the brand is one of the most-faked drugstore lines in the world.
You do not need a lab to protect yourself. Most fakes give themselves away on the bottle, the box and the receipt — if you know where to look. This guide is the same 7-point visual checklist our verification team runs on every shipment before it ships to a customer.
> Editor's note. TheSkinProof's editorial team consults a licensed dermatologist on every claim made in this guide. Where we describe a product reaction (irritation, contact dermatitis, mercury-poisoning symptoms), we link only to widely documented effects — never invented clinical results. If something on your face looks wrong, stop the product and see a dermatologist.
The 4 most-counterfeited skincare brands in Bangladesh
These are the brands we see faked most often in the Bangladesh market — they sit in a sweet spot of high demand, recognisable packaging, and a price low enough that counterfeiters can still profit:
- CeraVe — the Moisturizing Cream tub and Hydrating Cleanser pump are duplicated constantly. The genuine product is made in the USA, Canada, France or Italy depending on SKU. Local fakes often print "Made in USA" on the back but ship from inside Bangladesh with no importer paperwork.
- The Ordinary — Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% and Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 are the two single most-faked serums in BD. Deciem (the manufacturer) ships in glass dropper bottles with a specific batch-code format etched on the bottom. Most fakes get the etching wrong.
- COSRX — the Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence and Acne Pimple Master Patches. Snail mucin counterfeits are rampant because the legitimate Korean stock is supply-constrained in BD.
- La Roche-Posay — Effaclar Duo+, Cicaplast Baume B5, and Anthelios sunscreens. La Roche-Posay is sold in pharmacies abroad with a unique batch code laser-etched on the crimp; fakes use printed stickers.
The 7-point visual checklist
Run every one of these checks before you trust a product. A single failed check is enough to walk away.
1. Outer packaging — print quality and box geometry
Authentic skincare boxes are printed on a high-grade carton with sharp edges, crisp embossing where the brand uses it (CeraVe and La Roche-Posay both emboss their logo), and consistent colour saturation across all faces.
Fake boxes give themselves away with:
- Slightly fuzzy text under a phone macro lens — counterfeiters print from low-DPI scans.
- Mismatched fonts on the front vs. the back panel.
- An inner flap that does not align cleanly with the box body when closed.
- Glue that has bled onto the print, leaving glossy patches.
2. Batch code — format, placement, and verifiability
Every legitimate skincare product carries a batch code (also called a lot code) that lets the manufacturer trace the production run. This is one of the strongest authentication signals you have. Run the batch code through [checkfresh.com](https://checkfresh.com), [checkcosmetic.net](https://checkcosmetic.net) or the brand's own verification page if one exists.
- CeraVe prints a batch code on the crimp at the base of the tube or the underside of the tub. Format is alphanumeric, 5–10 characters.
- The Ordinary etches a code on the bottom of the bottle (look for a faint laser-etched stamp). A printed sticker is a red flag.
- COSRX prints a manufacture date plus expiry date on the bottle. The format is YYYY.MM.DD.
- La Roche-Posay uses a laser-etched code on the metal crimp, never a printed label.
If a batch code lookup returns nothing for a major brand — assume the product is fake.
3. Ingredient label — INCI consistency and language
Authentic skincare labels list ingredients in the official INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) format. Counterfeiters often re-type the ingredient list from memory or from a screenshot, which introduces small mistakes:
- A misspelled INCI name (e.g. "Niacinimide" instead of "Niacinamide").
- Missing "(and)" or "(±)" separators that the legitimate label uses.
- Ingredients re-ordered (real INCI lists are weight-descending — counterfeiters sometimes put the "hero" ingredient first regardless).
- An import sticker that covers part of the real label — peel it carefully; if the print underneath is in a language the brand does not normally use for Bangladesh, be suspicious.
4. Weight or volume — pick it up
A surprisingly reliable test. Counterfeiters cut corners on fill volume because actives are expensive.
- A genuine CeraVe Moisturizing Cream 340g tub has a noticeable heft — about 380g with the tub.
- A fake will often feel 15–25% lighter in the hand.
- Use a kitchen scale if you own one. Net weight is printed on the label; total weight (label + bottle + cap) of a known-genuine reference is what you compare to.
5. Smell — neutral, not perfumed (for most fragrance-free SKUs)
Many of the most-counterfeited products are explicitly fragrance-free: CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, The Ordinary serums, La Roche-Posay Cicaplast. A genuine fragrance-free product smells faintly of its actives (a slight petrolatum note from CeraVe; a slight metallic note from Niacinamide; nothing at all from Hyaluronic Acid) and nothing else.
Fakes are usually perfumed — counterfeiters add fragrance to mask the smell of cheap base ingredients. If a "fragrance-free" product smells like rose, jasmine or generic lotion, walk away.
6. Texture — consistency, colour, separation
This is the test you run after you have already paid (so do the first five first). Squeeze a small amount onto the back of your hand.
- Genuine The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% is colourless or very faintly straw-tinted, runny, slightly viscous — never milky.
- Genuine CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is white, dense, slightly tacky on application, absorbs in 60–90 seconds without a greasy film.
- Genuine COSRX Snail Mucin is clear, slightly stringy, slips between fingers.
- Genuine La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo+ is white, lightweight, fully absorbs in 1 minute.
If the texture is grainy, separated, milky when it should be clear, or greasy when it should be matte — stop.
7. Price — the red flag you cannot ignore
Authentic skincare has a floor price set by global retail, shipping costs to Bangladesh, and import duty. If a price looks too good to be true, it is.
- CeraVe Moisturizing Cream 340g — legitimate Bangladesh retail floor is around BDT 1,650–2,200 depending on the importer. Anything under BDT 1,400 is almost certainly counterfeit.
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (30ml) — legitimate retail floor is around BDT 850–1,200. Anything under BDT 700 is suspicious.
- COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence (100ml) — legitimate retail is BDT 2,000–2,800. Under BDT 1,500 — walk away.
- La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo+ — legitimate retail is BDT 2,400–3,200. Under BDT 1,800 — counterfeit risk is very high.
How TheSkinProof solves the trust problem
We built TheSkinProof specifically because the seven checks above are too much work for an individual buyer to do for every order. Our verification process replaces those checks with a single guarantee:
1. Invoice verification. Every product we list comes with a physical importer invoice on file. If we cannot produce a chain-of-custody invoice for the SKU, we do not list it.
2. Batch-code authentication. We run the manufacturer batch-code lookup on every incoming shipment, not at random.
3. 2× money-back guarantee. If any product you receive from TheSkinProof is found to be counterfeit, we refund twice the price you paid. No customer in our history has ever needed to invoke this, because nothing fake has shipped — but the guarantee is the contractual floor we hold ourselves to.
Browse our [verified product catalogue](/products), or read our [authenticity guarantee in full](/authenticity). If you have a product you bought elsewhere and want a second opinion, send us a clear photo of the box, the bottle, and the batch code — we will tell you what we see.
Frequently asked questions
Use the checklist above as a portable checklist. The Q&A below answers the questions Bangladeshi shoppers ask us most often.