My experience at the Beauty Counters

So...this is just a post voicing my experience at all the various beauty counters all over the city... Kolkata. To be honest, I'm afraid it's more like a rant than an article...I'll try not to whine too much though...promise.

The issues are many that I have faced through out the years & the worst ? Only that it doesn't get any better. So to start with...

The moment I get anywhere near a 2 meter radius of a beauty counter, the Sale's Assistants' start showing signs of getting into a frenzy with their "Yes ma'am?"/ "How may I help you ma'am?" (in that typical squeaky sing-song way) & it never failed to make me feel unsettled & regret the decision of checking the cosmetic counters in the first place. But anyone who buys make-up knows how unavoidable & important that totally-not looked-forward-to-trip to the cosmetic counter is. Any make-up counter & I'm strictly talking drugstore make-up counters that is. If it's one of those counters in...say a Shopper's Stop, then she would be standing right in front of my nose across the counter & demanding to know how she could help me; so I'm obliged to give an answer even though I know it would be totally not worth talking since I most of the time either know exactly what I want or just browsing to see if I chance upon something interesting. So in both cases I can help myself especially so since I'm (as I'd call) "fluent in make-up" myself. & once I spot what I want I will anyways ask the SA to provide me with the fresh product & make a bill. Simple one would think...but definitely no! No mater which ever way you tell them you do not need help, that you are well aware of the specifications of the products on display, they simply will not leave you alone!

For example, when I went to buy the Hypercurl Mascara by Maybelline, the regular variety not the waterproof one. So I stated exactly that. The first thing the SA said was ~"Ma'am why don't you try the Colossal Mascara? It's also very good" I was like....I mean I didn't even know where to start telling her anything at all. Ok so I've been using the Colossal Mascaras (both the variants) for years & I wanted to try the new ones. As obvious & as simple as that but they are so thick it doesn't even occur to them that if someone is asking for something specific they must obviously a, want that & nothing else & b, either have already used the other variants or not interested in trying if they haven't. But no, they would most of the times keep their pea brains on vacations while they are at work. So I check my temper, & patiently (but couldn't help adding a bit of sarcasm) ask her, "what do you think I've been using all these years? The Colossal Mascaras are not new you know?  & this is not the first time I've come make-up shopping." You can't even guess what she said next~ "But the Colossal Mascaras are really good!" & so for the second time, desperately & a bit more directly I had to almost yell at her with "I know! I have already used it & I am wearing it right now! Now! can you give me the Maybelline Hypercurl Mascara please? The non-waterproof one?" I was so thoroughly irritated by the time she handed me the mascara, that I left immediately after purchasing it, even though I wanted to browse some more & see what else I could buy. And guess what? When I was finally home & checking, I realized she'd giving me the waterproof version! All I could do was punch her a few times in my imaginaion. There has been endless experiences like these & if I really start writing out all of them...I think I'll have enough material to publish a book. 

The most frequent ones are, trying to sell really old stocks as fresh stocks & when I point out that the manufacturing date is actually 2 years old, they would say something like..."but the expiry date is one year from now see?" And then trying to sell me a foundation/compact color which is actually 2 shades lighter than me is a really old story; I'm sure every dusky girl at one point in their life had been through it. 

Or say I tell them I'm looking for some lip colors when they ask me what I want, & even if I tell them I want to browse through all the shades as I do not have any specific shade in mind they would keep interrupting me with their atrocious suggestions! "or ma'am you can try this one? you are dark na...this will look good on your complexion". 

Another time, me & my mom went shopping together...I was suggesting she tried medium shades as her lips are not full & it's an universally understood fact that dark colors make your lips look even narrower. But You cannot even imagine that SA's attitude! Okay, so this was a Lakme counter, (yeah I guess that explains a lot! but this was a few years back though) & that girl confidently announced that dark colors in fact make your lips look fuller! & rudely snapped with "I deal with cosmetics all the time" translation~ "of course I know better than you! because there are like a bunch of products right under my nose all day" All I wanted to do was throw the damn lipstick on her face & get out of there. But my mom took a long time to make up her mind & select something, so I didn't think it was worth it to let all the effort go all in vain. So we bought it anyways. 

This other time when I wanted to see a pure gold eye shadow at the Chambor counter & the SA confidently showed me a khaki eye shadow & announced "this is gold". 

Even worse, if possible, are my experience in the Spencer's or similar departmental stores skincare aisles. Now that's truly nightmarish. Because the moment one of them spots me, I just gain an extra very solid & vivid shadow invading my private space & it's all I can do from preventing myself from screaming my head of in utter irritation. No matter what tactic I used to get rid of them it never worked successfully for me. Whether it's... "I know what I want, thanks." or " I'm just browsing, thanks." or "I don't need any help, thanks." they would still be standing glued by my side stubbornly, staring at me as if any moment I would pick up something & make a run for it or something." I donno what, like do I look like a thief or a shop lifer or something? At times I've even asked them to stop following me around, that I would find them if I need anything, but to no avail. Seriously the SA's these days are extremely thick skinned! oh! there was this one time, at a Spencer's where my mom wanted to buy a Fair & Lovely cream. She was choosing a variant when out of nowhere a lanky, extremely ill groomed & horribly stinky SA literally materialized in between me & my mom! We decided to ignore her & went on choosing but she was so nosy that she kept eavesdropping on our conversation & kept giving her unasked for advice. Something like..."ma'am you should try a hydrating cream instead, your skin is very dry.You should always use expensive creams for the face.These Fair & Lovely stuffs are not good enoUgh." By this time I just couldn't ignore her any more. So I was forced to ask her "does it look like we are asking for your expert advice?" "Don't you know it's rude to impose like that?" & asked her to leave us alone, which she didn't & she was not even sorry or anything! 

Okay, so I donno if you can possibly imagine anything worse but wait! There are. The old kind of make-up shops. The ones that existed before the makeup counters in the malls came up. Well these shops too have brand specific make-up counters now & they contain absolutely the worst kind of SA's. Sometimes it's necessary when you are looking for something particular, especially skin care related that you couldn't get online or in the mall. Every time I go to a shop like that, no matter what I ask for, they would compulsively have to suggest an alternative. Every time! Like once I asked for a Fem Herbal Bleach, & they were like why don't you try Naturoma's Herbal bleach they are also good. & also no matter what I ask for, (it could be hair oil, lotions, cold creams just anything) they would always give their expert opinion on my appearance! "Why don't you use a sunscreen before going out in the sun?" They are so brilliant that one look at me & they can instantly know that I go out & face direct sunlight without a sunscreen! Also they would start reciting all the benefits of a sunscreen. Even before I could start to say anything they have already tried to convince me to buy a dozen anti tan & tan removal products! Another mark of their brilliance~ anyone who is dusky is actually sun tanned lol! & mind you not that they have peaches & cream complexion themselves lol! In fact they are all mostly horribly groomed.

That more of less covers most of the points I always wanted to mention. Have you been through similar situations? Do let me know what your experiences have been like. :)