MAC Cosmetics has always been, in my eyes, one of the most classic beauty brands around. I am a big fan of their gigantic lipstick range, in fact the first ever makeup product that I received was a MAC Viva Glam Nikki lipstick, but never really ventured out further than that to try other products.
A couple of weeks ago I plucked up the courage and asked one of the counter assistants in my local store to help match me to a foundation. If only I knew how much of a task this would actually turn out to be! The way that MAC works with their 'foundation consultations' is you give them your name and they write it down on their list and you wait. You could be waiting 5-10 minutes, or sometimes 20-30 depending on the day and time! Unfortunately I decide to go into the store during the student night, so as you can probably imagine it was heaving. Eventually I was greeted by a lady who seemed to be feeling as stressed as I was. I told her what I was looking for and she went away and came back with pretty much every shade in the Pro-Longwear range.
After a lot of matching and swatching, being told I was really pale (which for the record I am well aware of!), I was finally given the shade NW15 in the Pro-Longwear foundation. After speaking with the assistant and telling her that I wouldn't be buying the foundation that day and wanted to try it before I bought it, I was reluctantly given a small sample pot. When I got it home and gave it a proper testing for myself with all of my normal face products, it was very clear that not only was this foundation's finish not the right fit for me, but it was also not my shade in the slightest. Not going to lie, I felt a little bit frustrated! I wouldn't say the experience of being matched to the shade I was given was terrible, but it wasn't the easiest either. Granted I should have gone back on a less busy night, but if I am being completely honest that shouldn't have made much of a difference.
Last week my dad and I were shopping in Westfield after handing in my work for my first final deadline at uni. I mentioned that I wanted to look in the new MAC store, which for the record is amazing, and look at the other foundation shades to try and match myself to the one I thought would be suiting. As we entered the store a lovely lady came over to greet me and told me where she would be standing if I needed any help. Me in all my stubbornness thanked her and made my way over to the foundation's to start swatching them. After 10-15 minutes of struggling to find the perfect shade, the lady came over to me once again and asked if I wanted any help. I told her my horror story of the foundation matching the week before and she sat me down at one of the beauty desks and told me she would find the perfect match for me.
She found the shade I was initially matched to and you could instantly tell that the tone was too orange for me. It was at this point she mentioned how drying the formula was on my skin and if I was happy with it (this shocked me a little bit as I was never asked this question in the previous store). Without being asked she went and got a couple of shades from the fluid foundation range. After a couple of swatches on my jaw line she matched me to NW13 which was the perfect match for me.
It was at this point I thought the whole process was over, but boy was I wrong! She asked me to take off all of my base makeup leaving on my brows, eyes and lips. I have read some absolute horror stories of people being given very extreme makeup looks when having their makeup done in MAC so I was a little hesitant, but I did this and she started to apply a primer followed by the foundation, a bronzer then highlight. Throughout the whole process I didn't feel pressured at all by the lovely assistant to buy anything, and we had a really lovely chat about all of the different products MAC sell whilst I was having my make up done. It's safe to say I bought the foundation there and then. I was happy with how it sat on my skin and I loved my whole experience of being in the shop. After I paid and was about to leave she asked me if I wanted to try a lipstick out to finish off the look. She applied Deverish Lipliner and Viva Glam 2, which is now on my list for the next thing I need to buy.
(Below pictures are of my makeup from the in-store make over)
After the awful experience of being swatched for a foundation in the first store I thought I wasn't going to actually write this post. It just goes to show the difference a little bit of friendly and helpful customer service has in changing the image of a company! I was made to feel really welcome in the second store I visited and not a bother in the slightest for the assistant. More importantly I have finally found the perfect shade and formula of foundation that I like and am so glad that I did give it a second try as it's made such a difference to my whole makeup routine. Now, all I need to get is the prolong wear concealer and my whole face base will be complete!
 |
| I've been wearing the foundation for the last week or so and am LOVING how it looks on my skin! |
How has your experience been when shopping in MAC? Do you use a MAC foundation, what do you think of it?
Until next time,
