Do you know what’s really annyoing?
Being in a rush, grabbing something then finding someone had used it as a tester. This has happened to me recently with:
1) Hair wax. Big finger well, where someone had scraped some out. Do you really need to test hair wax? Maybe its a consistency issue. But this is Shockwaves, darling, not Bumble and Bumble so you don’t get a tester.
2) Hair creme – strands of hair in it – yes REALLY. Not happy as I picked one away from the front and still it had been defacated by Vicky Pollards of the world.
3) Eye pencils. Had a thing about GOSH eye pencils a while ago and they had a 3 for 2 offer – couldn’t find three that had not be opened or smushed to pieces. To be honest, Superdrug need to take care of their counters better but it was really quite gross.
So with amusement, I read this article in the awfulness that is the Daily Mail, about a 12 year old girl Hannah Gilbert who tested a brand new polish and was held back by security staff for doing so.
I’m not saying the staff weren’t a tad heavy handed – but I mean, really! Why aren’t brats taught a few shopping lessons by their mothers? Why is a 12 year old wondering round a shopping centre by herself anyway? If she couldn’t afford to buy the polish why did she bother testing it?
But as the Daily Mail points out, she is a ‘grammar’ school girl. That means she’s not a Chav. She’s allowed to do this. And it was just one thumb nail. Who cares if she has a fungal infection? You probably won’t catch it when you take the same bottle home…
Anyway I have a cousin who is 13 and she also has a penchant for nail polish. If I took her shopping and she opened a new bottle of polish to try even though there was no tester (if there’s no tester, you can’t test, no?) and then got caught doing it, I would willingly pay for the item, stand on both her feet and strangle her for having no respect for property that isn’t hers.
Hey – I should be a security guard at boots!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I just left a comment on that (unadded as yet, assume it has to be checked before they post it)
- I’m glad they were heavy-handed to be honest.
Every time i go into Boots or Superdrug there are hordes of teenage girls crowded round the make up, using all the products which aren’t labelled testers.
I had a row with a girl in Superdrug over a lipstick I’d bought the day before, got it home and it was obviously used (no tester sticker, had picked it from near the back) – she said people wouldn’t use the ones which didn’t say ‘tester’. To prove my point I took a handful of Maybelline lipsticks to her and half of them had been used.
She replaced it ;o)
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I’m of the thinking that the companies make enough money as it is, and if they haven’t supplied a proper tester then I will open one. There is no way I’m paying for something I can’t be sure of. Which also means that I ALWAYS check that the seals are intact, or the surface isn’t smudged. Because I agree with your frustration but it is up to the shops to so something about it.
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Hey Chica Chica!
Yup sounds like Superdrug, They are rubbish at providing testers BUT as you say, they deliberately target tweens – and you know what tweens don’t have? The ability to not stick their fingers into glitter and smear their faces in free make up.
You should go and look at the GOSH counter its actually gross!
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Hi Anonymous
Your right, these big companies like Boots are making lots of money – and as a buyer now I always check seals (although I have bought sealed things that have been tested, I presume it was restuck down afterwards).
Having said that I personally would never open an item that was not marked for testing. Because I don’t think its my place to open something thats meant to be for general sale – that’s not my property. The companies should provide testers, absolutely, but if they are not competent enough to do so, (and I’ve watched people literally crush down lipstick testers in front of me – destructive, no?!) then I will go to another store to test and purchase – they lose out on my custom in the end, but I’m not going to get arrested for the sake of trying something out.
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Yes, I read that article too. I thought it was a bit heavy handed, what with the arrest and all, but the girl’s mother should have bought the nail polish and let that be the end of that.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to Sephora with a family friend -really sweet girl- who thought nothing of flagrantly opening up brand new boxes/bottles, break seals, peeling off protective stickers, all because a few testers were missing/empty. Then she left the containers lying there, packaging open, etc… The SA’s must have thought we were shoplifting and I was mortified by her behavior.
The thing is, Sephora will simply MAKE new testers as long as you ask nicely. Ulta won’t though, and I’ve bought something more than once from there that, upon opening, looked clearly used/tested.
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Hey Mandy
I agree – I would have paid (obviously) and forgot about it and told her its not really acceptable. It is mortifying isnt it!
Hmm in the UK, CS is very plank like – perhaps at the high end counters u cud ask for a sample/tester (and they’d prob say no), but at the drug store type stores forget it. They are too busy gossiping about something else and the staff dont seem to have the authority to open new things up for you – which is silly.
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I find it quite annoying seeing a used product in the drugstore here as well. (well, in most of the drugstore in US, there isn’t even a tester…so, some people just went ahead and open stuff up…) Especially when there are two product left, some people just open one as a tester and buy the other one…Argh…
My friend once told me that she got the right shade of Maybeline foundation by simply…opening up every shade she thought it would fit…
“But it was midnight and nobody was there…”
That still pisses me off though, although she is a very good friend of mine…
I personally would never open tester,beside the fact that I am a lazy ass who never bother, I would never want to irritate other people the same way. Plus I usually make my decision based on reviews and swatches in addition to love-at-first-sight. (works for cloth, not that good when it comes to makeup) …If the product really sucks, I can just return it.
Citrine
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Hey Citrine
In the UK 99% places will not let you return so I can see why you would need to test something like a foundation base. But I would be mortified if a friend of mine started opening things!
I remember sitting with a friend at Shu Uemura. There was only one loose powder left so the SA said to her, ‘I only have one brand new one left in your shade – I can open it if you want to test it on you but it is the only one we have left’ ‘ok’ says the friends. She tries it on and it looks great. So are you ok taking this one (that she had opened in front of her) no, says friend, I want a new on in the box.
I wanted. to. die. of. embarassement.
PSSTTT Citrine, check out my new home *plug plug* https://cosmetic-candy.com
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