Beauty consultant made me feel like crap 💩

[Prettydisgustingactually]

So I’ve been feeling a bit crap about myself lately, almost 57, skin looking a bit rubbish etc so decided I’d cheer myself up and invest in a new foundation.

Took myself off to the JL beauty department to face the 100 + various options. I’d decided to choose a couple I liked, get samples to try at home in my own lighting and then go back and buy. I don’t have tons of money and don’t want to get the wrong one. I went over to the guerlain counter and asked for help colour matching. She asked if I was wearing foundation and asked me to remove it which I did. She tried the colours on my chin and asked me to choose. She then put it straight on my face, no cream under it, just straight on. I mentioned it going on better with something under and she said “Yeah I suppose I could have but it doesn’t matter” She put it on half of my face (not especially gently) and showed me the mirror. When I asked her if she was doing the other side she said no as that’s classed as a makeup session and she’d have to charge me. She then handed me the sponge snd said “Try and spread it over if you like” and walked off. She put a pin head amount into a plastic container, wrote on it and handed it to me.

If I’d asked her to show less interest she couldn’t have done. I walked away with a half made up face and no eyebrows as she’d wiped them off, and went straight home as I looked like crap and felt really silly. No upselling of other products, no attempt to talk to me at all. I really feel as though if I’d have been a 30 something beauty, she’d have made more effort.

AIBU in thinking this was really poor customer service?

I've definitely only had half face done each time i've done this (a grand total of 2 times, I thought it was standard to stop you basically going in for a makeover for free) but they should have helped better with how they treated you and how to take it off again.

Same. Some have had poor customer service skills. And I honestly think some of them don’t know how to do makeup. Choosing completely wrong colours that don’t match. Each time I think I have learned my lesson. Then I go back and have the same underwhelming experience!

Yes. It is. Sometimes they let you finish off the other side so you can see how the product applies. You're testing out the foundation for a colour match. It helps you see what your face looks like with and without and so you can do this comparison in other lighting they will leave it like that unless asked or they may offer to remove it all.

Lots of people get very busy at work. It's no excuse to be rude.
OP, go to Boots, in my experience the staff in the beauty section are really helpful.

That’s really rubbish @Prettydisgustingactually . No excuse for poor customer service if that’s the role you have chosen.

I’ve always had great service at the Dior counter.

How horrible, OP. I'm a similar age. I'd have gone home too.

To second (and third!) other PPs, I also rate Boots and No.7 consultants. They have a machine they put on your skin and it tells you your colour match. No make up removal required! They will also advise if you're looking for anything in particular.

The consultant in my DM's local Boots is on first name terms with her and she (DM!) is almost 80 😁

@UncharteredWaters "on the busiest night out weekend of the year"

is it? I'm genuinely surprised by that. Next weekend or the one after I'd have thought.

sorry for sidebar OP. I don't do actual shops but you know you can try stuff from QVC and send it back. Not ideal as you pay P&P so not the same as a shop try on - but I did it and found eyeliner and lippy without having to do shops. Only had to return one thing which is cheaper than the train fare to the nearest place I could try stuff in store.

That's highly unprofessional of her. And I'm pretty sure given the amount of product these consultants wear she would not find that acceptable as a customer.

I had a similar experience at Bobbi Brown in JL a few years ago. I went home in tears. So got home and wrote a feedback email to their head office.

I was promptly invited to a counter at a competitor department store for a complimentary skin and make up session where I was greeted with a glass of fizz and left with a beautifully packaged bag of samples and a mini eye shadow crayon. I had a bloody lovely time and have been back several times since.

Her behaviour is brand damaging and need to be fed back

I’m older and have started having my eyebrows done at a beautician. I’d avoided it as I hate those ridiculous hd ones that look drawn on with a marker. But what I have is natural but does make me feel more done. Foundation I use an elf dupe of Charlotte Tilbury. But your experience does sound poor.

She probably thought op was pushing for a make over as soon as she asked for the primer or foundation having originally said she wanted help matching the colour.

I was in JL today and it was heaving. I suspect that's the problem - if you'd decided to go along on a weekday in February, she'd probably have given you half an hour.

FWIW I use Lancome and the person I see always makes me feel welcome and did spend half an hour showing me different products the first time I went to her counter.

That is a rubbish experience but I don’t think it would have made a difference what age you were. The people on the counters vary hugely and it’s just luck of the drawer who is working on that day. But I don’t blame you for being disappointed. I would recommend going to Sephora for a better experience if you happen to live near one and they are really good at giving samples.

She could still be polite and helpful.
Most of us manage that at work.

Why would you expect to receive a make-up session/make-over for free? That's a payable service. You asked for help colour matching and that's what she did.

They should always find time for customers, and they should always be courteous. That's the job.

I had something similar in benefit

She was so unhelpful and rude,I walked out near tears (and believe me,I have the skin of a rhino)

She made me feel like I was bothering her,snarled something about a product having silk in it and then sighed when I said I was after their (at the time) new mascara (she looked me up and down,in a really sneary way as if she'd decided I couldn't afford it)

I was a single parent at the time and had saved up so hard,just so I could treat myself to some bits to make myself feel a bit better and not just 'mum'

I ended up at smashbox and cinque-their service was second to none

I walked away feeling like I was walking on air-every product I bought really worked

Never been near a benefit again-they can stick their products up their arses

They have to weigh up doing a quick foundation match with a customer not even wanting to buy anything with quick serving people who know exactly what they want. Priorities.

Funnily enough, I had a bad experience at Benefit in JL. I was mid discussion with the sales woman, literally mid sentence, when a man came in and asked her a question. She disappeared to get a product and help him out. So rude. Not a word to me., not a basic "excuse me".

The assistant in Next Bluewater today was so unbelievably rude that we were in stitches laughing afterwards. Don’t take it personally OP. It’s unprofessional but not a reflection on you. Book a session at a make up counter and take your custom there instead.

Fine, but be polite.
Basics.

I think you had a lucky escape, I've never seen any makeup consultant in JL with anything other than awful makeup themselves.

She asked if I was wearing foundation and asked me to remove it which I did. She tried the colours on my chin and asked me to choose. She then put it straight on my face, no cream under it, just straight on. I mentioned it going on better with something under and she said “Yeah I suppose I could have but it doesn’t matter” She put it on half of my face (not especially gently) and showed me the mirror. When I asked her if she was doing the other side she said no as that’s classed as a makeup session and she’d have to charge me. She then handed me the sponge snd said “Try and spread it over if you like” and walked off. She put a pin head amount into a plastic container, wrote on it and handed it to me. none of this is rude.

Nor is not upselling. Most people don't want the upselling.

She didn't even do that, she told the OP to choose. For me that would be the whole point, to get someone else to find the right match for me.

She probably thought op was pushing for a make over as soon as she asked for the primer or foundation having originally said she wanted help matching the colour.

///

Guerlain products are not cheap. Part of what makes us pay these extortionate prices is the difference we perceive in service. And had she done a proper job OP may have come back next month to not just buy the foundation but maybe use Christmas treat money to buy other products. This service and experience will often translate into future sales.

So so many posters have given examples of amazing service provided by similarly busy counter staff.

And let's assume OP was indeed a chancer and the consultant could tell ... she could still be an excellent brand ambassador and explain what she was able to do for her today, manage her expectations but also only commit the minimal amount of time so she could use it elsewhere

So same outcome but a very different approach.

She was just being quite shit at her job in this instance.

I always have to chose between shades. I can go matching or I can try and cancel out some pink. Personal choice. They can make both shades work.