Photo by Michelle Lim
Is this the same for everyone?
By Tania Arora, Staff Writer
I am not sure about everyone, but I personally love makeup. The moment I enter a professional makeup store like Sephora or MAC, I feel no less lost than Alice did in Wonderland. Even if I plan to not buy anything, a person like me with a deep interest in makeup could spend hours inside. A giant makeup store to me is like the library to the biggest of nerds. But I would make a personal confession here about my experiences—out of all the thousands of visits I have made to makeup stores, not even once I have not felt intimidated. We could probably all agree to that somewhere down the line we have felt intimidated when inside a store. No one has a clear answer as to why we might feel this way; I, in contrast, have an arm raised so high for this question that it could touch the ceiling.
I must say that my feeling of intimidation does not come from any of their work ethics. Their beauty and skin advisors have never refused to help me. Never have I been ignored at the door—I am always greeted with a sweet smile. Even though I do not always walk into the store with the intent to buy something, I have never been judged or gone un-assisted. We must all at least agree that makeup representatives are trained well.
You see the most amazing of the artistry on the faces of the representatives and, why not? It makes sense— they probably do it because they want to promote the brands after all. Their hair will give us major hair goals most of the time. And well, they have hair products to promote as .
We might feel like their work environment is chill because of how they walk around with bags for clients and do friendly touch-ups on the go, but if we rationally think we can realize that it seems like a difficult and skill-intensive job. Professional makeup brands get thousands of customers every day in each of their retail stores. The employees are generally required to wear full makeup. If the company doesn’t use their own products, why will others want to buy it? The workers at these stores have to be trend setters and motivation to everyone who walks in the store. In my opinion, it is the most important of all the marketing strategies. We might see makeup store employees as wandering around just to ask if everything is okay. But despite holding thousands of products, they are the cleanest of all. They make sure to maintain the hygiene level of all the testers. Ask them for help, and they will word-vomit every piece of knowledge they have based on your needs. You ask them for samples and the employees will shower you in samples. And even though you came to the store for the 364 time to exchange a product, they will still do so in a kind and understanding way.
I am still wondering why I feel intimidated. Maybe it is a basic human nature—we get mesmerized by the beauty we see and make assumptions. I won’t say that next time I go there I won’t feel awkward, nervous, or subtly intimidated at all—but I would certainly be calm and try to consider things in a different and sympathetic way.
