Sephora

I came here last minute in hopes of getting make-​up done for a formal event tonight. Alicia was the girl that helped me out and was spectacular at her job. She made the experience so wonderful and if I ever needed this done again I will call to schedule an appointment with her.

While we normally frequent the West County Mall Sephora (my review of that location here:
), we happened to be in Columbia recently and decided to swing by this location to test out their ColorIQ system.
For those that are not familiar with ColorIQ, Sephora has partnered with Pantone (arguably «The Authority» on color) to create a system that will identify the «perfect» foundation color match (es) for your skin. While I was happy with the foundation choice that I obtained during my «makeover» at the aforementioned West County Sephora, I was curious as to the ColorIQ and if it could do a better job.
The process is relatively simple, they have a small device with an embedded camera that they use to take a few shots (3 if I recall correctly) of your face and/​or neck and it provides a value corresponding to one of over 100 skin tones. This value can then be used to identify your «perfect match» shades. This may be just a few (as in my case) or a significant amount as in the case of my roommate who went with me.
In our case we went in there in the late afternoon and got a nice, but very new young lady to help us. She struggled for a bit with my roommate; and finally decided to enlist some help. At this point a wonderful young lady named Jordan came to her (and our) rescue. For me, the process entailed removing my foundation and letting them take the camera shots. For whatever reason the value it provided for me was a very poor match overall — that’s not an indictment of the process or the people; for some reason my skin was overly irritated that day and *very* red which skewed the results. Rather than blow me off or push something on me that I wouldn’t be happy with, Jordan took the time to manually match up the foundation. She went through perhaps 5 or 6 (all of which I think I would’ve been happy with) until she found one that was honestly perfect. However, she didn’t stop there, she took the time to redo my entire face for me and frankly I walked out looking better than I did walking in and I thought my makeup looked nice to start with that day. I also appreciated the fact that she explained how she applied it to me versus how she would apply it to herself — on me she used a sponge initially and then a brush for hygiene reasons — but she explained that I’d likely be happier using my fingers to apply and then a brush to blend. I know that sounds like something insignificant; but it’s little things like that, that bring me back to Sephora time and time again.
I believe the service is free; although I did purchase the foundation she used (and a couple of other things) since that was the whole reason we stopped there. As a side note, the ColorIQ worked *must better* on my roommate and she was very happy with the results as well. The value that they give you can be searched on their in-​store iPad or on their website to provide other brands that are the same shade as well. Additionally, if you have existing foundation you can use that on their website to find the equivalent ColorIQ value and search for other products based upon that.
Overall a thumbs up to ColorIQ and Sephora and an extra thumbs up to Jordan for her efforts.