Bare Escentuals

Yikes. Talk about hard sell. I walked in looking to purchase a full face of make up and some new brushes. I was ready to shop, but the young woman who helped me was more set on simply unloading product on me than she was on helping me find the right products.
She asked questions but didn’t listen to my answers. She handled my face roughly and constantly tried to upsell me. She got impatient and walked away when I didn’t immediately purchase the products she wanted me to.
Funny thing is, I listened to her repeat this exact routine on someone else before I left.
A few minutes later, in Sephora, I saw the other customer checking out mineral foundation.
For the record, my previous career was as a hairstylist. I also freelanced as a make up artist. I was great at selling product because I listened to what my clients were looking for, recommended the right products, instructed the client on appropriate application, and educated my client about the benefits of each product I sold them. None of that happened here — just a blatant and uncomfortable sales pitch.
I purchased my products downstairs at Sephora.

Pushy sales.
I know for a fact that they get in trouble if you only buy one item, so beware. I went in for one product and they proceeded to try to get me to purchase EVERYTHING. Because I know their sales tactics, I will only buy one item at a time.
The ready wear foundation is a nice product if you want to get BE products that travel well.

All I wear is Bare Minerals. So, I have to either go to a boutique or Sephora to get my makeup. I work in Lexington one exit down from the Burlington Mall so, it’s easy to take a lunch break and pick up my refills. The staff at this boutique in the mall are so sweet and don’t try to sell me anything that I don’t want. They make nice conversation… and not the typical New England check-​out of hand me the money here’s your receipt.

I’m a big fan of Bare Escentuals so anytime I have the need to go — I go. I was recently out of their moisturizer. I went into this specific location with the sole purpose of getting more moisturizer nothing else. I specifically like this location because if you go in with a purpose they are not trying to upsell you or get you to buy things you don’t need. After I was done checking out, I asked the gentleman helping me (yes, a man working in a make-​up store another point I like!) if they still carried Liquid Loofah — a product I LOVE but couldn’t seem to find anymore. He informed me it was discontinued but he could call around to another store.
He called a store in TX, to which he informed the sales girl on the other end to waive the shipping for me! yes! He handed me the phone, I gave my cc number and off I went. Easy peasy and what a great example of customer service!

I’m not going to lie. Me and eyeshadow aren’t that great of friends. I’m envious of those who can make their eye makeup look perfect, as I just don’t have this skill. I’m not like Mimi from Drew Carey, I’m just very basic. I throw on a couple neutral colors and I’m done. I don’t want to be totally blah on the wedding day, so I thought I’d get a little (or a lot) of help.
My friend Connie had recently gone here and had a great experience getting her make-​up done with Amy. I took Con’s advice and found Amy when I got into the store. She was super nice and so helpful, and in the end picked out the perfect colors for my wedding day, with basically no direction from me. She also took the time to explain to me exactly how to replicate what she did, I have my fingers crossed that I can do it come the big day.
I went on a not so busy Wednesday night and was able to get a lot of help. Something tells me though that as people know this place is open you may not get the same attention, so if you’re in need of help like I was, plan in advance!
Also keep in mind that when you walk in here you’re going to want to buy everything. The displays with the eye shadows are amazing, the colors grab you and you instantly want to own seven different shades of green eyeshadow, and even the 80s blue that you swear went out of style decades ago.