The truth of affordable cosmetics
The Department of Investigation Police on Corruption, Economic Crimes, and Smuggling (C03 - Ministry of Public Security) continues to investigate violations related to MK Skincare Import-Export Production and Trading Service Company Limited and the Mailisa beauty salon system.
According to initial investigation results, cosmetic products in the Mailisa ecosystem - including Doctor Magic products - were determined to originate from Guangzhou (China), belonging to the group of cheap goods and not meeting the standards and ingredients to be granted a free circulation certificate (CFS) in China.
The investigation agency accused Ms. Phan Thi Mai and Mr. Hoang Kim Khanh - the owner of the Mailisa beauty salon system - of colluding with Chinese partners to make "forged" contracts, converting the origin from Guangzhou to Hong Kong (China). This is to legalize the CFS application before the goods are imported to Vietnam by MK Skincare Company - operated by Mr. Khanh - for distribution. Initial estimates show that with only 3 key products out of about 100 products of the system, the amount of illegal profits could reach thousands of billions of VND.
The main products of Mailisa beauty salon include the N3 set - a set of moisturizer to help improve melasma, velvet, and prey hill for sale at 2.3 million VND; the Doctor Magic Melasma leather combo (N3+M23) for sale at 2.74 million VND; the B1 set - a set of moisturizer to help brighten the skin for sale at 1.7 million VND.
At the investigation agency, Hoang Kim Khanh stated that he ordered cosmetics from Guangzhou (China) but changed the origin to "Hong Kong - China" due to concerns that the market would not favor Chinese goods and products without CFS. Because he arbitrarily changed his origin, Khanh had to transfer money through Ms. Do Bich Thuy to pay the partner. Khanh admitted to using a fake contract to bring cosmetics with Hong Kong (China) labels to Vietnam.
Mailisa beauty salon owner "confident" in products for sale
Before the Ministry of Public Security took action, many opinions had appeared on social networks questioning the origin of Mailisa products, especially the Doctor Magic line. Many comments said that this could be floating Chinese goods or ice cream.
However, Ms. Phan Thi Mai affirmed that all products of the system have been officially imported from Hong Kong (China) for more than 10 years, and have been tested and licensed for circulation by the Ministry of Health.
During the livestreams, Ms. Mai repeatedly affirmed the system's business philosophy as "affordable brand - price", "real quality, real trust" putting quality first for nearly three decades of operation.
Ms. Phan Thi Mai constantly emphasizes that her brand does not need celebrities to promote, in order to reduce communication costs to focus on product quality.
On Mailisa's media channels, Ms. Mai has repeatedly published images and videos that are said to be the process of importing cosmetics by container, and said that the system has up to 16 million customers.
Right before the time of being arrested and prosecuted by the authorities when many reports appeared on social networks that the Doctor Magic product line was "mixed" or "fake", Ms. Mai immediately played a video to explain. In the clip, Ms. Mai affirmed that all Mailisa cosmetics are officially imported, have a cosmetic declaration form issued by the Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health) and are tested according to the regulations of the Ministry of Health.
She also described the quality control process: each imported shipment is proactively tested independently domestically by enterprises, instead of "completely subsidizing to foreign partners".
According to Ms. Mai, the product is tested according to Circular 06/2011/TT-BYT with a series of indicators, in which the content of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, asen... is closely monitored to ensure that it does not exceed the permitted threshold.
The samples are sent to reputable testing units such as Quatest 3 or Viet Tin Testing and Analysis Company, and are often compared at 2-3 places to ensure transparency, said Ms. Mai.
