Intimidated by Beauty Counters? Have a Great Experience!

I'm a sephora member and they do free 15min mini consultation/makeup kind of things over in the US. I went for a foundation/base one and it was SOOO helpful, the lady taught me what kinds of foundation suited my skin and recommended me some foundations. Made my next visit much less scary and I bought my current fav foundation!

I only make it a point to visit beauty counters when I have a particular product in mind or to check for a sample to trial before I decide on purchasing. I can easily put a tick against these great tips yet the beauty counter experience in general isn't as fun as I'd like it to be. For me a good beauty counter experience is as simple as a smile and a passing comment that if I need help just call out to them. A great beauty counter experience is coming across someone who is passionate about the brand, is genuinely interested in helping you find something that works for you and knows their stuff!

In the old days Dunedin had DIC and most of their products were in rows of bins and no annoying salespeople shadowed shoppers. I loved it - I bought lots of products, especially perfumes. Arthur Barnetts had beautiful products but they also had beautiful assistants who followed your every move, to pounce and sell - I hated it.

I've had good counter experiences. I definitely take my time and try quite a few brands when it comes to foundation because to me it's a very finnicky item, as the shade not only needs to match, but the formula has to suit my skin type, not make me break out, last throughout the day, how does it oxidize?etc. So yes that's where I take up counter assistants time. That being said if I do love a formulation, it's the right shade, works well with my skin tone, etc. I don't mind throwing good money at it. That being said I will tell counter assistants before they descend on me whether I'm here to browse or interested in a particular item and if I need advice or info I will ask, never had a product pushed on me that way.

sometimes im intimidated. its worse when you are wanting help and the sales people ignore you cos they're too busy gossiping! so rude. i hate going to farmers! i do like going to the local chemists but they only have brands i'm not likely to use - but theyre still very lovely and informative!

Just when you find a great sales person they get rotated out to another store (here's looking at you Life Pharmacy!). I suppose it's good for the sales person as they get to encourage new customers from other areas but bad for those that love this lady and always go to see her for her advice.

Unfortunately I find the standard of customer service in our stores leaves a lot to be desired. I remember going into a shop to purchase some jeans and the girls handling the store were all busy chatting out the back while a woman was standing at the counter patiently waiting for someone to serve her.

I have found terrific service at Bras N Things in Botany and Sylvia Park and would love the same attention and service from those ladies in places like Farmers and Life Pharmacy.

Customer Service Training really isn't being made into as big a deal as it should be here.

I've had good and bad experiences. I think more bad over good. I'm a rather chatty person so when it comes to talking to a sales person I'm pretty talkative. I dialike the ones that look at you like your dumb if you've asked the wrong question, or the ones that look at you like you don't belong and the ones that just stare at you and don't actually help. If I'm asking a sales person it's usually because I'm interested in a product and either want to find it/buy it or need some more information about the product. Beauty counters can be rather itimidating but I love it when you hit some that knows what the are talking about and can help you out!

I have never uses a beauty counter as I don't like to be pushed into a sale and I am not confident to be able to say no when the staff have worked hard to sell. I find I read reviews and then purchase and that was I don't feel guilty for wasting the staff,s time when they could be selling to an interested party.

I was over the north shore. I approached the Bobbi Brown counter. I was ignored the hole time that I was there. I was looking through the products no help. Wasn't a pleasant experience. I did have one good experience at MAC . The girls there were lovely.

I've had both good and bad. I've had a mixture of snotty and nice sales people.

I overhead the counter manager at Farmers once training a new staff member; telling her she needed to pounce the moment she caught people looking at Chanel because that would weed out the browsers from the serious buyers I had to stop myself from walking over there to tell her what good sales techniques were and that I'll only buy from counters when I'm happy with the service (the exception being when there is a sale). I had encountered this lady before and I always find her pushy but lacking in information and service.

I've also had really lovely girls at Farmers and other counters such as at Mecca and David Jones who have taken the time to help me find the right thing and then I'll buy it from them.