[Image: Rhode Skin]
Joburgers were rushing to Mall of Africa for Hailey Bieber’s skincare line’s pop-up shop, Rhode Skin.
Nobody expected the brand to make an appearance in South Africa, and Hailey herself made no such announcement but still, folks flocked to the mall for their lip gloss and check dew.
At some point, though, all that excitement turned into disappointment and concern when content creators on TikTok shared that it might be a fake pop-up.
IOL reports that the fake brand pop-up became a viral sensation, with loads of content creators questioning the authenticity of the products. While some pointed out that some of the products had misspellings on them, others mentioned that the store had discontinued Rhode Skin products, which made the whole situation even more suspicious and concerning.
But man did it look legit while it lasted:
Watch on TikTok
It wasn’t long before the pop-up was declared fake, selling counterfeit products.
To add fuel to the fire, the next day, a content creator went back to return her products only to find that the store had completely packed up and left.
Watch on TikTok
Someone commented “That was such a clean scam,” while another aptly pointed out that “Rhode would have announced that there’s going to be a store in South Africa as Rihanna did with Fenty, she announced that the products will be available here in South Africa.”
Mall of Africa shared a statement on Saturday on their Instagram story that they have decided to close the pop-up store.
“Mall of Africa takes any concerns around product integrity seriously and continues to provide a trusted shopping experience of the highest standards. Exercising care, Mall of Africa has made a decision to close the Beutessa pop-up at SOOK Mall of Africa.
“Mall of Africa apologises for any inconvenience caused and remains committed to transparency and providing a positive shopping experience for all.”
Rhode Skin‘s social media remains mum about any pop-up happening in SA, with only advertising for LA, London and NY pop-ups. In fact, it looked like Hailey was promoting in Paris while all this hullabaloo went down:
View this post on Instagram
Shame. Looks like they hit the Rhode fast.
[Source: IOL]
