Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

(disclaimer- this is not meant to insult any sephora-lovers or associates of the store, family/friends of associates, etc. I know we all have our opinions....... but here's mine!)

Well, 'hate' is a strong word....... but I have to say, Sephora skeeves me out! Whenever I go in there I see teenage girls all gathered around various products dipping their hands in and putting things on their faces, I see samples of things with lint/hair stuck to the product, dried up goop on the sides of the containers.... or the worst- oil marks in powder makeup (from people's hands/faces)


.. I also have found it increasingly difficult to find a knowledgeable person available to help me. Very often I will ask for help just to find I end up knowing more than the person. Last weekend though, the service reached an all-time low. Our conversation:

Me: Hi, I'm wondering if this color eyeliner is too metallic, I can't wear anything like that to work.

Sephora lady: Umm let me show you a color I love. (she brings me over to an eyeliner that is 100% GLITTER)

Me: Noooo I can't wear anything like that, I meant I wanted something on my more conservative end- not too metallic or glittery!

Sephora lady: (finds a lady who works there standing nearby and asks her the following question-) This girl is looking for a metallic color can you recommend something?

Me: NO! I'm sorry- I think you misunderstood me- I was originally wondering if this color (holds up sample) is too metallic for work because I CANNOT wear metallic colors.

Sephora lady: (looks around confused.....) Ummm...

Me: It's ok, I'll look around, thanks for trying though!

Ultimately I went home and made my purchase through the website! So much more sanitary and I can get help from makeup reviews or the beauty board on here- which is 10000% more helpful than the service I typically receive at the store!


ETA: Also wanted to make note of the times I have gone their and asked if a product would control oil, etc.... and they end up reading the boxes because they have no idea.... I understand they can't always know EVERYTHING about EVERY product...... but I could read the box myself!

Message edited 12/15/2009 12:25:25 AM.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

i totally get what you're saying..

...i also see young girls "getting ready" for a date/night out, by using the stuff that is meant for testing purposes...

...i also see a lot of the staff hanging around, trying on make-up, etc...i can see if they are on break, but there can't be that many people on break at a time it seems!

however, some staff is really good, i must say..and they are very driven on shoplifters, which is good because it's supposed to keep the prices down.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I posted a long time ago about how grossed out I get watching girls and GROWN WOMEN using testers on their eyes, faces, lips. It's DISGUSTING. As a kid, I can see not really realizing (my friends and I shared all our makeup in middle school- ewww) but adults should know better. I'm sort of surprised that health code violations aren't involved.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I totally get what your saying about the grossness of the sample products.
It is nasty The only reason I use the samples is to test the consistancy of the product, and thats done with my fingertips.

I've seen women actually put lipstick samples right on their lips. And mascara?? uughh... Right on their eyes. Its beyond disgusting.

However, from my own experience, I believe that the employees I've dealt with are very knowledgable- especially when it comes to perfumes & stuff like that. I actually learned a bit about the products, like how perfume scents release "levels" of scents and the difference between eau di parfume & eau de toilette <--- spelling is way off, I know. I guess it depends on who your dealing with. You can find idiots anywhere in any store. You definitely encountered a Grade "A" dumb *** that ether couldn't comprehend what you were trying to ask or is deaf in one ear.... who knows?

I would have gotten ****** too. And I'm sure the big dogs that manage the Sephora name would be embarrassed that they have an employee representing their company like that.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I usually go into Sephora to test the color of a product on my hands -- it NEVER goes on my face! Probably 90% of the things I buy from Sephora I buy over the internet now. It also reduces impulse purchases that you can make while buying something in a store.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I totally agree with you. Everytime I go into this store, the women there are not helpful at all, maybe sometimes with the perfume they are, but regarding makeup products, they have no clue. I never ever would try the sample products in the store. I don't know who used them and they are usually gross and a mess.

I order all my products from Sephora online and I read the customers reviews on the products. They are much more helpful then their in house staff at the stores.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

The employees at sephora are called cast members and up until the fall, i think, companies would send in trainers (at least, I can say for certain that this was true for skin care companies) so that the cast members were fully informed about the products and able to talk about them to their customers.

The policy changed - sephora now has internal educators for the products they sell. So I think that until they build up that segment of their staff properly, you might find that the sales people aren't quite up to snuff.

That and there are probably some dummies on the sales floor!

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I never test anything in the store. I usually buy online too. I just wish they had a more extensive ingredient list online, because I'm allergic to lanolin.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

Sephora definitely isn't what it used to be, but I don't expect much from their SAs. (Think about the sheer number of products they would need to be knowledgeable about, unlike a SA for just one line like MAC.) If I'm looking for a certain type of product, I tend to go in after checking out reviews on MUA and such. Most of my purchases are out of impulse (both in store and online) and not out of necessity.

Like others, I would never test the products on my face. Heck, I hate their lighting so more often than not, even testing something on my hand is fruitless. The store comes in handy for me when I want to see the color, how much frost/shimmer something has, etc....things that just don't show through on a computer screen.

Message edited 12/15/2009 1:31:59 PM.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I stick to ordering from their website. Once in a while I go to the store, but not often.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I am not a fan of sephora

I find going to the individual counter of a specific makeup counter at a department stores is much better

I just bought a new concealer the one that Kim Kardashian uses Cle De Peau and found the sales associate at Saks was extremely knowledgable and gave me some samples of their foundation as well.

I am a Chanel girl, and always have 100% success at the counter, and usually always come away with samples of other products.

Nordstrom has intersell so all the SA there can help you at all the counters, A SA at Mario Bedescu at Nordstrom was super helpful
And she gave me SOOOO many samples of each brand of product that i bought.

I am really into cosmetics and Love the personalized attention especially when spending that kind of money on them.
I like the SA to know the line really well.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I LOVE Sephora but totally get what you're saying. There stores are not clean at all, 99% of the employees don't know what they are talking about, some of them are so darn rude and have NO customer service skills! Just the other day I was looking for a particular Nars lipgloss. The compartment was empty so I opened the drawer on the bottom to see if I could find it (mind you I was standing there waiting for this woman who told me she'd be right with me..i was waiting for about 10 minutes). Out of nowhere a worker screams at me for opening the drawer to which i replied "ok sorry..been waiting for someone to help me can u help me find a gloss??"...she said she was busy with another customer. Hmmm...was I supposed to wait 1/2 hour? Well nobody helped me, I picked up something else, paid and just left. From now on...I will be shopping online!

Message edited 12/15/2009 4:42:06 PM.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

They seemed to have stricter requirements for employment a number of years ago...back when their makeup was expected to look the same.

It seems once they went with the "anything goes" makeup, so did the knowledgeable, service oriented staff. I feel like they're similar to Ulta now.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I just find it extremely annoying when I'm more knowledgeable than the sales associates (which is 90% of the time and that's just from reading magazines and mu reviews). It doesn't mean you have to know everything about every product line in the store, but at don't look at me like I'm nuts when I ask for a recommendation for a good night cream.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I am not a fan of Sephora anymore,
I definetly agree with the sample products being all skanky and skeevy and the employees who are not as knowledgeable as they think they are.

If I have to buy something from sephora definetly online.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I never use testers anywhere, not just Sephora. I love makeup and know what I like, so I always order online. I am not 100% loyal to Sephora either. I'll get what I need/want from beauty.com, the department stores or from the makeup brand directly.

I used to love getting my brows done at Sephora, but it became too much of a hassle to get there and back just for brows.

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I've definitely noticed that some of SAs are clueless...but maybe that's because they carry so many different product lines. However, for me, I love the convenience of it...if I know what I need, I can run in there and get it without having to talk to anyone! I go to the one in Americana and I've never noticed it being dirty at all...

Re: Any fellow Sephora haters? (rant included) Ha!

I've only been in a Sephora store once and don't see any reason to ever go into one again.