Why so much makeup?

[mincepieprivateeye]

I went to Boots yesterday as I needed a mascara and moisturiser. I got to wondering why some of the beauty counter staff wear so much makeup. I'm not talking nicely done either, the person on the Clinique counter had a tide mark of dark foundation and almost drag queen eyebrows and lashes, it would put me off asking for advice. A couple of assistants on another counter were nearly as bad while the others were all made up but looked nice. I fully understand they have to wear the make up they sell but do they need to wear it all?

totally agree and it makes me want to stare in horrified fascination!

There was a makeup class thing on Good Morning today. One of the girls had sort of spring colours put on her. It was so light and beautiful, she ended up looking absolutely stunning. If I saw someone with make up like that on a counter, I'd be straight up there asking what she was wearing.

Instead, I'm faced with the pantomime dame look and I can;t be bothered.

You mean like this mincepie?

I look at pictures like this and can't decided if the person with the brows is having a laugh or not!

Those kind of eyebrows are like a moth to a lightbulb- you're just drawn to them. You can't help it.

One of my friends used to work on a counter and she said there was a checklist of 17 products that you had to wear, every single day. Which is fine, but surely they should be able to find a good match for their own skin from their ranges if that is what they are supposed to do for customers.

I went into a local store the other day and one of them had a stunning, super pale, in fact ghostly-white complexion, eyes and lips beautifully done, then I noticed that her neck was about 5 shades darker, just why?

I used to work on one of the 'counters', hated it. They made me wear so much make up and no matter how much I put on, it wasn't enough. Once they literally grabbed me and just starting troweling on more. My eyelashes felt heavy. They also used to spray us in all the different perfumes. I feel nauseous now if I smell the ones they sold. They were incredibly strict about all of us having their particular 'look', right down to all wearing the same partings and having the same heels and even posture. If you ever got a spot or something they were actually cross, as if you were failing in your job. I think they missed the fact that having shared make up items used on us was the cause of any skin issues.

I wonder if they get paid for the amount of time it takes to apply it? [spectacularly misses point]

DM and I were discussing the eyebrow thing the other day. We reckon it will be the defining look of the 20teens- in years to come everyone will be posting their selfies from 2014/15 (peak eyebrow) on social media and howling with laughter. Eyebrows are to today as big hair was to the mid-80s .

I have to say I love them (not for myself) but it cheers me up no end to see them, the more ridiculously unnatural the better.

I'm sure forcing everyone to wear heels and stand all day must be pretty dodgy on health and safety grounds.

My friend used to work at a clinique counter and had to wear seven different forms of make up at all times.

I was at school with a girl who had a medical problem resulting in her having no brows. She had to draw them on and it looked just like the "HD" ones (no idea why). I do think of her from time to time and hope she was delighted when they came into fashion.

YANBU. I had a lady on the bare minerals make me up and she did a fab job but she looked an absolute fright. I mean it's called "bare" minerals not shove it on with a trowel minerals

^WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es Fri 05-Feb-16 16:21:18
I'm sure forcing everyone to wear heels and stand all day must be pretty dodgy on health and safety grounds.^

It really was terrible, I have never seen so many young seemingly healthy girls have so many issues like fainting or sickness, and other pains. I remember giving up my seat on the train and the lady was concerned I would be standing for an hour. I explained I stood for eight hours every day and wasn't allowed to lean on anything or wear normal shoes. She felt ok about having the seat then.

I now can't really stand for five minutes but it is unrelated to my brief experience on the counter.

I once went to a cafe and a mother and two teenage dds walked in pushing a pushchair all three of them had eyebrows like the ones in this picture. I just looked so strange have to admit when they got the baby out I was half expecting it to be sporting the same look too!

Even Nina and the Neurons has piled on the make-up - such a pity as she is a pretty girl.

Well I have drawn on eyebrows due to alopecia, but I try and keep them as natural looking as possible (it's often the only make-up I wear). I am SO grateful for the made-up eyebrows trend though, makes me feel far less self-conscious than I used to be.

I'd probably be described as having drag queen eyebrows and eyelashes too. I have giant eyes so I pile loads of make up on them but it's how I like to look.

7 different products isn't much....

I'm currently rocking (not including the "none" makeup)

Primer
Foundation
Blusher
Bronzer
Eyeshadow x 3
Eyebrow powder
Eyebrow Gel
Mascara
Lipstick

And I look totally natural.

If we include my under makeup stuff:

Benzoperoxide
Advanced night repair serum
Eye cream
Moisturiser

So thats...13 items...and to be honest, I should have used highlighter and eyeliner which would take it to 15.....

/missespoint

Excuse the fact it's melting off my face and my glasses marks... It's about 100degreed in the office.

But I don't think there's too much makeup...

I worked for Clinique and then Chanel for 15 years in all. They have checklists of products you're supposed to wear (or did when I worked there). I did try and match them to my skin tone etc but then they'd launch a new range or something with completely different colours and you'd be expected to wear them! I'm sure I spent the entire time looking like an Oompa Loompa drag queen.

And I look totally natural according to...

You look great Kelsooooo, but I wouldn't say totally natural.

Trying to think how many I wear per day
Primer
Foundation
Concealer
Blusher
Highlighter
At least three eyeshadows
Gel eyeliner
Pencil eyeliner
Mascara
Brow pencil
Brow gel
Lipstick

Er yeah. Quite a lot
At a recent photo shoot my makeup looked SO heavy in real life but amazing on photos - I think it's knowing when to wear and how heavy to apply. What I wore for that wouldn't work in every day life

A friend of mine worked for Chanel (on a make up counter) and left due to the working conditions. She said they were not even allowed to make small talk amongst themselves if no one in the store, absolutely no sitting down despite sky high heels, all the staff hairstyles and even tights had to be identical. She was a huge fan of the products so it must have been very bad.

Kelsooo I think the trend for "heavy" make up is altering peoples' perceptions as to me, you look very heavily made up, especially around the eyes and eyebrows. I don't wear make up myself though so may be biased! You have a lovely shaped mouth, it would be very interesting to see what you look like totally make up free.

My DSD worked on a makeup counter in boots as a Saturday job in 6th form, and she got told off 2 or 3 times for not wearing enough makeup and then the area manager took her aside one day and basically added a load by force and told her that was what she had to wear every day. Ironically before this she used to get lots of women asking her for advice, saying to her 'I want to look like you, not like them' -pointing at the orange-faced brigade. She left that job soon after when she started getting bad spot breakouts on her face due to the makeup.

I worked next to the cosmetic section once in a department store and a lot of the cosmetic companies had it in their contracts that staff has to wear a certain amount of cosmetics.