I can't WAIT for the beauty counters to open again. Where will you run to first?

[Boscoforever]

I miss browsing the makeup stands so much. I really want a new blusher, highlighter, lipsticks...
It's too hard to try and guess online, and no fun! I will be at Bobbi Brown and Chanel the minute I can.
Anyone else missing their makeup?

I’m excited to try Trinny London products! I can buy all of my usual brands online, but don’t want to splurge on new brands without trying. I bought a Charlotte Tillbury blusher and eye shadow from an SpaceNK store in between last lockdowns and it was a disaster as I hadn’t tried either product on my actual skin as I needed to wear a mask in store etc, no close contact. Waste of money. Regrets!

Some companies have been very unreasonable about this.

Shiseido had two SyncroSkin foundations, with the same shade numbering. Now they have brought out a new one, in the same family, with a completely different system where all shades have names, so I cannot work out what shade I am. How silly is that, especially now when customers cannot try it on?

@WindmillWendy, I am also wanting try Trinny products in particular the BFFs serum. I bought some eye shadows from Trinny online and love them.

Have you seen Findation?
If you know what your colour is in say MAC, it will tell you which shade matches it in NARS, EL, NYC etc.
Covers loads of brands and is really helpful.

Temptalia is also good.

@JMAngel1 Findation is great, but I still wouldn't splash out £££ on any of the high-end foundation it recommended without testing it first. I'm absolutely desperate for new foundation and cc cream. The best I managed was a travel sized IT Cosmetics cc cream from Boots, which at £12 I decided was worth a gamble. Not doing that with a bottle of double wear at 3x the price. I really hope they do @MissLucyEyelesbarrow 's wooden spatula thing to let you test stuff.

I need a new foundation. But i want a tester. I need to see how it lasts all day and copes with my shiny forehead.
If counters aren't going to offer damples3i can't see how they're going to move forward.

I’ve had some success with Findation in the past, I’ll give it a try again, but it would have been so simple if Shiseido had stuck to their original numbering, it’s a marketing decision that makes no sense in the current retail climate.

Foundation is the absolute worst thing to get wrong as well! Shade, finish, suits your skin, stays on, etc, etc... you can't just keep buying bottles and bottles of the stuff and hoping you eventually end up with something you like.

I have been mixing different foundations to get things right, after having bought some that weren't perfect, so there is recourse, but yes, it is annoying.

I've sacked foundation off - it's amazing how much fresher my face looks and I'm 48 so far from fresh . I sacked it off just for the reasons you posted FreshFaceTime - will it oxidise/last/go shiny - honestly easier without.

I look like a train wreck without foundation but I’ve found the perfect one after years of trial and error and will never change unless it gets discontinued.

New launches won’t go well until you can try products, I imagine most cosmetic purchases are like for like replacement now.

I only really wear it for special occasions and obviously there haven't been many of those lately. I do like some form of coverage though - bb cream or cc cream or something. Would quite like a proper foundation as an option when I'm in the midst of newborn baby sleep deprivation, but it'll have to wait...

I think the counters need to get more savvy in terms of housing colours in a more cohesive way. So lipsticks that would suit medium warm tones, blushes that will suit dark neutral tones etc. Kind of like how Prescriptives used to work. It would make shopping so much easier now that testing is out. Would also help if they just put a swatch of a product next to it. No point in having a closed lipstick bullet with just a name to go by. And those acrylic colour swatches are terrible for anything but nail polish

I imagine that launching new products is going to be difficult. There is no way I would buy a completely new brand of foundation without being able to put some on my skin first.

They will have to sell sample pots, but then this raises the issue of more plastic to be disposed of (or hopefully, recycled)

Beauty manufacturers need to start proving testers for online ordering.

The best way to do this would be to split them.

E.g. A tester 'blister pack' of six shades of lipstick in light, bright, warm, cool or dark shades. So if you fancied a new nude lipstick, you could order the light tester blister pack.

Well, we all seem to be in agreement! Hopefully some beauty manufacturers are reading this thread...

Anyway, we seem to have digressed from the OP's original question - sorry OP! - and so, in answer to you, I am really looking forward to a day wandering around John Lewis, Liberty and Space NK beauty counters!!!

No particular brand, though, as I have my eye on a number of different things - I'll just be happy to have a good browse of everything!

I’m not bothered about lipstick, I’ve been wearing it for long enough to know most reds and bright pinks suit me and nudes make me look dead. Foundation and powders are another thing entirely and eyeshadows look radically different in the pan to the way they look on skin. It’s extraordinary that the beauty industry is just sitting on its hands.

@Donotfeedthebears

Don’t think I’ll ever go back to beauty counters, I buy everything online!

Same! I don't miss it at all! I hate being sold to or there not being the right thing or the right colour / shade in stock. I feel the same about clothes shopping. They never have my size!

Bah humbug

Online only shoppers - how do you manage to try new make up products? Do you get samples first or just take a chance?

I've only bought some skin care and from companies I have used before.

I was tempted to buy a lipstick, but again it was from a brand I use a lot, and I looked at online swatches, but it was out of stock by the time I got to it. I would stick to the same in future, brands I've used in the past and nothing too new for me.

I can usually guess for foundation as I am usually the palest, warm tone they have. I only wear brown and nude, matte eyeshadow, and tend to buy palettes so I can choose. I wear black or dark brown eyeliner, dark brown mascara, dark brown eyebrow pencil. I don't really wear lipstick, but I can usually guess what will suit me there too.

When I first tried Bare Minerals, they did have a really good value tester box / starter kit thing. Don't think they do it anymore, or it maybe doesn't include as many things..?

True, can't really go wrong with a dark brown eyeliner.

Also, I know that Bobbi Brown and Chanel will work for me, and Charlotte Tilbury won't, with regard to lipstick.