The Mac Counter--Why I Hate Going There

Here I am again with yet another rant. These seem to becoming more and more frequent here on Beauty and Blogging but this is definitely a beauty subject that needs to be addressed. Especially because while researching some of my material on google such as "do Mac employees work on commission?", my search results were flooded with forums saying "because they sure are bitches!"

And you know what ladies and gentlemen, I am going to have to agree.

I do want to make a point right now loud and clear; this is not meant to be a hasty generalization. I'm speaking from experiences of my own and through others. This is not to say that there haven't been times when I've gotten great service at the Mac counter (meaning the counters or the free standing stores, by the way) and had someone who was willing to help, not pushy, and easy to talk to, but these times have been few and far between.

As a cosmetic junkie, I find myself in Mac quite often. I really do love Mac Cosmetics. I love my Mac palettes, adore my Mac lipsticks and liners, lipglasses, blushes, the whole nine yards. What is really important to realize, is I do not just wander into a Mac store to "browse" anymore. I know that place like the back of my hand and always go in with specific things I want to pick up. I never walk in NOT to buy. My bestie put in best in her blog (check it out! She rocks) the Mac counter is like an adult Crayola Crayon box. You cannot beat the selection of colors and finishes at Mac. With all these times that I am in the Mac store, I very rarely spend less than $50; I like to think I am a good customer. Apparently the majority of employees think otherwise. 

I always walk into the store and go to the display of things I'm planning on buying. I'll swatch them out and compare them to a few other shades and what not and wait patiently for someone to come help me. Most of the ladies and men working in there just gaze over my head like I'm not even there. If I'm feeling not quite annoyed enough, I'll sometimes ask "excuse me, could I get some help?" and they will usually say "Sorry, I'm helping someone else". That's fine, could you send one of the 7 ladies behind the register my way to help me?

Of those 7 ladies behind the register, maybe one is actually ringing things up? Whatever. So I go jump in line with a bunch of other people who are waiting to be rung up; the only difference is the majority of them must look like high rollers because all of the items they would like to purchase are behind the counter with a sticky note with their name on it. 

The worst part of the whole experience is when I get to the front and they ask what I want from the back, they never apologize for the lack of assistance that I recieved. Then, they ALWAYS have the audacity to try to up-sale me. 

"Oh, well you know, buying one pigment is almost as much as the set" 

"I know, Just the one pigment please"

"Well, I would just like to make sure you understand that for only 12 more dollars, you can get the whole pigment set"

"yes, I understand, I am educated, I can read the numbers, I've already told you just the pigment"

"Now, You're sure you just want this ONE pigment, instead of the set?"

OH. MY. GOSH. YES. I. AM. SURE.

"do you have a lipliner to match this lipstick, or do you need to purchase one now"

"yes, I do, at home"

"what brand is it? what is the shade?"

I cannot take the up-sale. ESPECIALLY after receiving bad....not even bad, actually, it's non existent service. 

It also drives me crazy when they run out of products; you are responsible for ONE brand, how are you ALWAYS out of the things I need? 

Why would I buy the empty palette without the insert? WHY? So I have to come back and deal with more poor service? How are you out of the inserts, but not the palettes? 

The whole deal about ALL of these events is that they are not one time occurances. I usually never get helped, usually one of the several items I'm purchasing is out (there have been occasions where all 4 things are out of stock...how?!), and I'm always a victim of the up-sale. 

I'm not sure is Mac employees work on commission, but I'm sure they do. I would think they would want to impress customers and try to build a retention with them so people will continue to come to the same employee and purchase items through them. Maybe I'm wrong. I do know what it is like working in an establishment that runs on commission, and though it wasn't my favorite way of working, at no point under any circumstance was I ever rude to a customer. I also would never ignore a customer; upon walking in the door, you should be greeted by an employee even if you are not able to assist them right away. 

Does anybody else experience this at the Mac counter? I would LOVE to hear stories down below in the comments =D

De-potting Mac Eyeshadows [Video Demo Included!]

A few months ago I wrote a blog post on how I depot my Mac eyeshadows (catch that here!). I wanted to make a video to show the procedure so that you would be able to get a visual. I hope you find it helpful! Please Enjoy =]

Faded Purple Lip Tutorial

Hey Everyone! Late last night I posted a super quick and easy tutorial on this faded purple lip look. I have been wearing this A LOT lately and keep getting compliments and questions on what color I am wearing. If you are interested, be sure to check it out and subscribe to youtube.com/beautyandblogging

My First Empties Video! AKA Dakota's Dumpster Dives

Hope you guys enjoy my very first "Empties" video! I did a bit more of an extensive post about filming it Over Here on my "daily doses" blog. If you aren't subscribed for updates for that blog go check it out at dakotasdailydoses.blogspot.com; I post daily! I hope you guys had a really nice weekend!!

October♥Favorites 2013

Hey Everyone!! This is my first monthly favorites video, I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe (it would mean SO much to me!)

PS tomorrow is Friday, Hooray!

Youtube.com/beautyandblogging

Oh, Sorry I'm "Fashionably" Late...

So, this post is coming completely out of the blue and was inspired by an article I read this morning on my way to class on the light rail. It was actually quite funny because I usually arrive at school with at least a half hour to spare because I like to be sure I am in my class room on time. I do not want others to wait on me and I want my teachers to feel that I am engaged in their class and care enough about their time and efforts to at least be there on time. This particular morning I was "running late", which, by my standards, means I was going to be at school with only 15 minutes to spare. Nonetheless, I was experiencing a racing heart, increased blood pressure, and irritability because I really hate being late. I remembered how I took extra time this morning to pick out my outfit, change my lipstick, and create a more elaborate eyeshadow look. I was, by definition fashionably late.

Ughhh, those words make my blood boil. The article I was reading can be seen here by the Huffington Post, written by Greg Savage, and basically he is making a point saying that "fashionably late" is just an excuse for people who lake respect for others or have no manners. Ain't that the truth. The very expression "fashionably late" makes a statement that you don't mind making others wait on you, just as long as you have the perfect shade of red lipstick and a triple-foam latte in your freshly manicured hand. 

I'm not saying I'm perfect, I am a human and I do run late from time to time. Sometimes there are accidents that happen or other things that cannot be avoided that make you unavoidably late, I completely understand that. What I don't understand is when my time and efforts are not taken seriously and I am left waiting 15 minutes for you to show up to coffee. Also, your text that tells me you will be there in 5 minutes means nothing to me, because by 5 minutes, you really mean closer to 10 I am sure, which means I could have deposited my check at the bank before I met up with you. I am a busy individual, I'm sure you are a busy individual, lets all be adults and take each others loaded schedules seriously and just BE. ON. TIME.

Try to put it into perspective this way; we have all experienced that doctors visit that they advise you to be at 15 minutes early, yet don't even take you back until nearly half an hour after your scheduled appointments. By that time, the person before you is likely running late, you are running late, the person behind you is kept waiting and will be running late, it's a slippery slope! The excuse that the doctor is "very busy" means nothing to me because we are all very busy and the last place I want to spend my non-busy life moments is in a germ ridden waiting room with a crying child, a cell phone talker, and two gossiping receptionists. 

As a college student, I loathe when I arrive to class perfectly on time (even with time to spare!) and people walk in late because they were busy printing out the assignment that was assigned a week ago, but they chose to print out two minutes before class. It goes along the same lines as procrastination, which is another thing that makes my head spin. What about on days of tests when you are in your chair waiting to be given the test that kept you up for the past three nights studying and your teacher says "I'm going to wait five minutes for the rest of the class to stagger in". How about no we just start the test and when they show up five minutes after class starts, they can just lose those 5 minutes off their test because CLEARLY they found that smoking their E-Cigarette was far more important than their awaiting exam. I find that these tend to be the same students that you are assigned to do a group project with and they continually arrive to group meetings tell you that they haven't yet written their section of the speech on an index card, but it will for sure be done. Please, do not waste peoples time with this kind of bull crap! Have your stuff written, ready, and rehearsed so you can practice together as a group and dominate the speech! Those of us who are ready do not want our grade to suffer because you procrastinated. We are all students, we all have full schedules with lots of classes, many of us also work on top of all that school work, so the least you can do is pull your own weight and do not make others wait on you. 

This looks like it took a turn from being about lateness to procrastination, but they both seem to be knots in the same string to me and they are both huge pet peeves of my own. Oh, but one last piece of lasting advice: If you're going to be late, and you bring everyone coffee, you are no longer late ;)

theBalm "Vanilla Oil Absorbing" Face Moisturizer Review

Hey Folks! Maybe you recall a few months ago I did a post about a haul from a few brands on HauteLook; one of said brands being theBalm Cosmetics. I have several rave reviews for many products I have tried from theBalm, but I haven't really ventured into their skin care line. Actually to be honest, I didn't even know they had a skin care line! Most YouTubers that I watch that use theBalm mention how wonderful their blushes and their eyeshadow palettes are, but I've never heard anything about their skin care line.

Well, today I was getting ready and I hit that dreaded point in my daily moisturizer where I have to pump to top several times just to get the tinniest bit of product to come out. "Oh No" I think, "I'm getting close to running out!" It is at that moment that I know that the product I am using is Holy Grail product. Sometimes it gets exciting getting to the end of a product, especially if you have your eye on something else or if you really didn't like the product much to begin with. I really hadn't even given my daily moisturizer much thought, until this morning when I was frazzled at the fact that I am almost going to be throwing this bottle into my "empties" collection. 

theBalm White Tea Vanilla Oil-Absorbing Face Moisturizer is honestly AMAZING and highly underrated. Also, quick point off topic, when I tweeted to the company today that I think this product is amazing, they favorited my tweet! I absolutely love when a company is actually interactive with their social media community, I find it makes me want to keep purchasing their products and communicating with them. Anyway, I have in the past used Bobbi Brown Oil Control Lotion and I found it to be nice, but never repurchased. I like the scent of it although it irritated my skin in the slightest way because of the Seaweed Extract; I think it was the scent caused my sensitive skin to turn bright red. With this Oil-Absorbing lotion from theBalm, I find that I do not need to blot or touch up my face with powder all day. My skin is combination to Oily, but can have extreme dry patches, very acne prone, and extremely sensitive. I don't find that this lotion is too drying on my skin when it is drier and I find that it has held up in even the hottest weather conditions I've been in--Reno, Anaheim, Canyon Lake, Sacramento, you name it. The scent on this is absolutely lovely. It is very natural and subtle. I hate when things are labeled "unscented" and it smells like a scent of "unscented" (does that even make sense? is it just me?). This smells like the ingredients in it without added perfumes. I also like that it isn't a "matte" formula, it makes the skin look so much more natural and radiant. It also has not caused me to break out and it is paraben free, cruelty free, phthalate free, and synthetic dye free. 

Another great thing about this product is, and I kid you not, but there are some days where I put this on with my Tarte Maracuja C-brightner eye treatment and feel totally comfortable and beautiful walking out the door without a trace of make up on. It makes the skin look so fresh, clean, and bright. 

The packaging is gorgeous glass and looks very high end if you ask me, and the pump detail is nice too. The best part? This product is only $20! Which is a steal if you ask me as you could easily go to Target and find an Aveeno moisturizer that isn't half as lovely for $15 or more dollars! 

All in all, it is easy to see that I really love this product, even if it wasn't so obvious to me before I nearly ran out, I now see that I am going to need to order this stuff in mass quantities because I never want to be with out it. If theBalm was ever to stop making this, I honestly do not know what I'd do. I find it to be a really unique product that is highly underrated. 

As I always recommend with theBalm products, keep your eye out for them on Hautelook, I think I got this moisturizer for only $10 when it came around!