I was so so close to telling the sales assitant on the EL counter that her makeup looked shit today

[ggirl]

went to get a sample of DW light
she proceeded to match me for correct shade

didn't take her cotton pad soaked in makeup remover to my jawline but to the center of my cheek...wtf

I stopped her and she then carried on right below cheek bone

Now I don't have that much makeup on ..but still ..she'd just wiped off whatever i had on

then she said they'd run out of samples..

I sooo wanted to point out her mahooosive orange tide mark.!!

I had the same once in Debs. It looked terrible.

But the SA was sweet and sincere, to have said anything red would have been like kicking a puppy.

Clinique in Boots at Bluewater are great at makeovers even though their girls are very heavily, albeit flawlessly, made up.

If it were about the lights, then surely they would look great in store as they are under the lights at the time.

I saw a very pretty young thing the other day. Or at least you could tell she WOULD have been a pretty young thing if she wasn't plastered in make up. I know a lot of men who wear less make up than some sales assistants. Surely the idea is to look the best you can?

I worked in debenhams once and there was a mistake where a colleague was allocated the same locker as one of the ladies off the benefit counter. When they found the colleagues stuff in their locker they just threw It all in the bin (including pictures of her children) instead of taking the 2 seconds it would have taken to take it to the store security and resolve the problem.

They were nice ladies

This is why make up counters scare me. Hehe.
The ladies are quite tough and are definitely "hard selling". i.e. being a bit pushy.

This is why I am pretty thankful when Boots and Superdrugs came out with these aisles stocked with the products that can allow you to test it yourself to see the colours without the pressure of someone standing by you to pressure you to buy. Even now, I realised that the foundation colours that I have are not all that correct. Especially after I did another test via that Lisa Eldridge tutorial. I can see how easily a person can make the mistake on the foundation.

I do not trust that many sales people now. They hardly actually sell you something that you want than they want to sell you something that they think you want. I also do not trust their judgments any more either.

It is worth asking the counter staff whether they are actually make up artists or not. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier plus others employ freelance makeup artists. Many others (esp in Boots) just hire sales assistants.

Hmm to be fair all the counters have a very comprehensive training programme covering skin care, make up and fragrance. I've worked in the beauty industry all my life really and worked for several companies including clinique and chanel as I said upthread including being a teen skin area manager and it's all much of a muchness. I've also had independent make up training and it is pretty much on a part with the many courses I went on during work.

I think it's changed now but MAC and Bobbi Brown used to be part of the Lauder companies, the same as clinique, and quite often freelancers would work as "bureau" and be shipped out to work at various brands as the need arose - having the different uniforms ready in their wardrobes. So one day someone would be clinique and the next they would be Bobbi Brown. It was all interchangeable.

I think the main thing is like any make up artist you get good and bad ones. It is quite artistic so you do need a good eye for colour and technique. But ultimately it is a business and you are looking to sell and make commission.

There is a lot of pressure from the top down to reach targets on every single counter. And even more so to have a high IPT (items per transaction, which they set you a target of 2 items per customer) as this is their mark of a good consultant. They are quite pushy about it. So that filters down into the consultants.

There is a lot of competition between consultants. Everyone wants to be the most successful, sell the most, have the highest ipt etc. It's a sales environment first and make up second.

Estee Lauder tango women are the absolute worst for this.

I was tango'd by one a couple of years ago and was utterly horrified when (after forking out £60 on orange liquid because she told me to) went to the loo and looked in the mirror.

I sold it all on ebay and went back to the same store, to the Clarins lady who was lovely, and chuckled and said "oh no, don't worry, Clarins don't turn people orange"

"We have orange lip gloss as well as orange lipstick".

Orange?

Orange?

Since when has orange lipstick been a thing?

orange lippy is well on trend now ..if you're into trends

orange lippy is well on trend now ..if you're into trends

Yep Brazil mania has come to town!

(In a magazine once they mentioned which were the most popular products the world over and what lippie shades. Apparently Brazil favoured orange. Well, they can wear that colour. I certainly cannot).