I want to say first that I am a HUGE fan of Inglot products and own a fair bit. So I have nothing against the makeup itself. I have been boycotting the Inglot store at Highpoint Shopping Centre for almost a year now because of a very bad experience I had which I thought I'd share.
So about a year ago, my sister, who isn't as makeup obsessed as me (lol), went to Inglot and bought a bunch of face products. When I finished work that day, I met up with her to continue shopping. She showed me the Inglot products she bought. One of the products she bought was a loose face powder, from looking at it, in my opinion, it looked
wayyy too pink toned for her (for convenience sake, let's refer to this shade as "
Shade A"). I asked her if the makeup artist had tried it on her and she told me that the makeup artist didn't try
any of the products on her face at all, which surprised me. We decided to go back to Inglot so that I could try the loose face powders on her to see if that was the right shade.
So looking at the powders, there was another shade that was a much better tone for her (let's call that "
Shade B"). I tried it on her face and it blended seemlessly. As I was doing that, a makeup artist (different to the one that served my sister earlier), walked passed and said,
"that colour is definitely the right one for her." So with my opinion and a professional makeup artist agreeing, I had no doubt that this was the right shade. So I approached
that makeup artist who was at the counter and asked if we could exchange
Shade A for
Shade B. She looked at us and in an annoyed voice said
"why?" I told her that it was because I felt
Shade B matched better, and reminded her that she also thought so as well from her comment earlier. She bluntly replied that
Shade A was fine. At this point I paused and my sister and I looked at each other not really knowing what else to say. The makeup artist got even more annoyed seeing that we were not satisfied with her answer and so let out a huge sigh, threw the pen she was holding down on the counter and said,
"Come here" and walked to the loose powders. She swatched the two shades on her hand and said,
"See, they're practically the same." I started to explain to her that although the shades were similar, I felt that
Shade B suited my sister better since it had more yellow tones. Whilst I was explaining, she rolled her eyes and sighed. She then looked at my sister and asked in the most condescending and arrogant tone,
"Do you even know what this powder is for?" My sister replied that you apply it over your foundation to set it. The makeup artist got even more irritated and then ordered my sister to come closer. She then grabbed my sister's chin and roughly dusted one side of her face with
Shade A and the other with
Shade B. Then exclaimed,
"See, they're the same, you can't even tell the difference, it doesn't matter what shade you use." Then she walked away. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, putting her rude attitude aside, a makeup artist telling me that it didn't matter what shade we used?? Why on earth is there such a large range of shades if
"you can't tell the difference anyway"?! Yes I agree that the appearance of various shades of loose powders on the skin is similar since it doesn't really offer much coverage, but I would expect a makeup artist to understand the importance of finding the best match for your skin with face products and also that the difference in shades and undertones really matters.
My sister and I still felt that we should exchange for
Shade B. And given that makeup artist had even said herself earlier that
Shade B was the right shade, we decided to go ahead and ask for the exchange. As we approached the counter, the makeup artist was standing there bitching about us with another makeup artist! She wasn't whispering or anything, it was loud and clear. She was saying things like
"those stupid girls," "they don't know anything," etc. Even when we were standing right there in front of her at the counter, she kept bitching with the other makeup artist and going on about how the shades look the same. She eventually stopped, turned to us and bluntly said,
"What do you want?" We told her we wanted to exchange the powder and she responded
"Fine." She went and grabbed the other shade and processed the exchange without saying a thing.
So that is the reason why I have been boycotting the Highpoint Inglot store. I was absolutely appalled by this service. I work part time in retail myself and I know the importance every word or action I say or do as it reflects on the brand. Customers are what make and break retail businesses. I'm not usually one to complain about customer service in any store because I know how tough the job can be, but that makeup artist's behaviour was just so far beyond any bad customer service I have experienced, not only was she blatantly rude, but she also continued to complain about us right in front of our faces. I'm not saying I'm the perfect sales assistant who's chirpy and friendly 24/7. But even on my worst days, I would never belittle a customer or give them attitude.
Like I said earlier, I really enjoy Inglot products and absolutely love their eyeshadows. The Highpoint store is the closest to me. The other stores are much further away and inconvenient to get to and so I haven't been able to buy anything from them for a while. It is a shame that one Inglot makeup artist can taint my image of the brand.
Have you ever experienced anything like this?
