Things I’ve Learned While Working in a Cosmetics Store

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for makeup. I view it as an art and have even considered making it a permanent career. I’ve had people encourage me to show off my makeup skills on YouTube or TikTok, and even put serious thought about going to school for makeup artistry. While I haven’t crossed these career paths completely off, I’m not sure that they’re for me. I’ve still learned a lot from working with makeup, and I want to share that knowledge with you.

My job is not ‘playing with makeup’ all-day

Guests love to tell us how much fun we must have playing with the makeup all day, but we’re not allowed to do our makeup with the tester makeup. While we can swatch the makeup on our hands or arms, if we’re seen applying the makeup to our face, we can get in trouble. We get gratis, which means we get to try products for free so that we can sell them to the guests.

The testers are filthy

Even before I worked with makeup, there were certain testers that I refused to use when shopping. Since I’ve been working with makeup, I’ve seen everything from people applying makeup straight to their lips using without using a clean applicator, to people mixing products. There have even been incidents where I have had to throw testers away because a guest mixed it with nail polish or some other substance that it wasn’t supposed to be mixed with.

Some guests will apply a full face of makeup or skincare using the testers

They hired me at an odd time right after the store had just reopened during the pandemic. They wrapped the makeup testers in tape to prevent them from being used. I was told that the tape was both a good thing and a bad thing. The bad was that we could no longer color match the guests and because of that, we were getting a lot of returns. The good was that customers could no longer come in and do an entire makeup or skincare routine.

People open new products, use them, and put them back on the shelf

The amount of people who open a brand-new product just to use it and put it back on the shelf is astonishing. They’ll apply a full face of makeup with products they don’t intend to buy. When you catch them and tell them not to open new products, they’ll get a horrid attitude and tell you they didn’t know if they’d like it enough to buy it.

Sometimes we can’t catch the guests opening products, and because of this people buy products that someone has used. This usually leads to a customer coming back to the store and returning or exchanging the product. I think if companies put better seals on their products, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue anymore.

Some guests hate being asked questions and others just don't like the person helping them

I have a list of questions that I like to ask guests before matching them to a foundation. These questions are used to find the best match for their skin type. I like to know their skin type and what finish they’d like for their foundation so that I know I’m finding the best product for them.

Most guests like that I’m trying to find what’s best for them, but there are a handful of people who hate it. I’ve had a woman tell me I didn’t know what I was doing since I was asking her questions and she just wanted to be matched to a foundation.

Usually, I just pass these guests onto someone else who can help them better. Sometimes, the customer acts this way because they don’t like something about the person helping them, but they think they will appear rude by asking for someone else to help them. There are other times when someone will confess there’s a reason they don’t want your help, such as an older woman who expressed that she thought I was too young to help her. I’m fine with passing a guest on if I’m not the right fit for them, but I would prefer if the guest were honest from the start.

There are vendors for some of the brands

Sometimes there are vendors or brand reps in the store. These people are there to sell the brand that they’re representing, so they usually have the most knowledge of their brands. Most of the vendors will help guests find things outside of their brands, but others will simply state that they only work with one brand and can only help with that brand.

Most of the vendors are professional makeup artists or estheticians, but some are just people who’ve started working for the brand and have only received training for that brand. While being trained only for that brand isn’t bad, it means that most of their knowledge will be within that brand, and they may not be sure how products from other brands work.

The theft is out of control

I’ve worked in retail for longer than I care to admit, so I’ve seen my fair share of theft, but nothing prepared me for watching the perfume counter get robbed. I had been warned about them before I ever saw the fragrance felons, but even that didn’t prepare me. I was told that it’s best to get out of their way because they sometimes carry weapons, so I usually go to the back so that I don’t get hurt if a guest confronts them.

A group of two or three people come in with enormous bags and take whatever they want while we just watch. I’ve been told that they resell the products they steal, but most of them haven’t been caught yet. It’s almost unreal watching them take what they want and leave, but they aren’t the only thieves we have to deal with.

Some smaller thieves put items in their bags or their pants. I’ve even witnessed a woman walking up to a testing station, taking the cup of eyeshadow applicators and dumping in it her purse. She bought nothing, she just walked in, took the applicators, and left.

The dumpster divers

As I’ve mentioned above, some thieves steal things to resell them, but there are also a group of people who view our dumpsters as a gold mine. Although there are plenty of dumpster diving videos online, real-life dumpster diving is a bad idea.

People deciding to dumpster dive could be injured or get a product out of the dumpster that makes them sick. They could also, unknowingly, sell a contaminated product to a stranger online. Many companies destroy their products because of the dumpster divers.

The dumpster divers are usually not kind when they are caught. Some of them have cursed out, or even threatened the staff at my workplace. Therefore, the trash is brought out in pairs.

Creepy men have ill intentions inside the makeup store

When I first started working at the makeup store, I was warned that there was a certain type of man who enjoyed coming to our store. The manager who told me about this type of man used the word ‘pervert’ to describe him. They even gave some of these men nicknames, such as armpit man and sweatpants guy.

Sadly, it didn’t take too long before I had my own encounter with one of these men. I answered the phone, only to be greeted with questions about my armpits. I quickly hung up on him, but they informed me he calls about once a month.

Sometimes on the weekend, men would wait outside the store and catcall all the women who left. I’m not sure what they hoped to accomplish by doing this, but one manager chased them away before they could harass too many women.

While this doesn’t happen often, it shouldn’t happen at all. If another guest ever makes you feel uncomfortable, please tell an associate so that they can get a manager.

While I’ve learned a lot while working with makeup, I’m looking forward to learning more. I still haven’t figured out if I want to work with makeup long-term, but so far working with it has been both difficult and rewarding.