Why do makeup sales assistants recommend dark foundations??
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free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:41 am

Maybe it's just me, but every department store makeup SA seems to push foundations that are too dark on me! It's happened with Lancome, Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown, Cargo and Dior, over the years. Consistently, they insist that a particular shade of foundation or tinted moisturizer is "just right" for me, and they always end up being too tan, too orangy, and just plain too dark. When I suggest that they seem a little dark, the SAs always say "Oh no--it's perfect for you!" I'm relatively pale complected, but not by any means milky white, so it isn't as though there wouldn't be a good shade available for me. But it's like pulling teeth to get a sales assistant to see this.

Luckily, I've learned to always ask for a sample to try in all lighting before buying a full sized version, but it's still annoying to me. Do they think that tanned skin looks better? (Even against a whiter neck??) Or is it just laziness--picking an "average" shade is easier than really trying to match a customer. Or is it just me?

free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:02 am

I have exactly the same problem, and now also always ask for the sample to try by myself. I think they train them that way - sort of "healthy sun-kissed look"...

Some European SAs sometimes are better, but not always.

Also, someone told me to go outside and check if it still looks good, since the lighting in the stores is horrible.

free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:04 am

ha, the same thing happened to me many times. I think they assume I am an air hostess.

Fri Sep 12, 2008 11:41 am

Probably the crappy lighting... You should walk outside with a mirror and a patch tested on your skin...

free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 1:14 pm

ooh don't get me started on this. I spent so much $$$$ buying that Shiseido foundation and it looked nice INSIDE...as soon as I walked outside, my face had an orange shade against my neck!!!! Plus the SA didn't take my coupon for department store points! Grr!

If I go foundation shopping again I'll make sure to do a patch test then walk outside and sit in the car under the sun. Lol!

Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:11 pm

Also... if you shop at a Nordstroms, they will still take back just about anything is my understanding...

Or ask the sales rep about their return policy...

Or as someone said... get several samples in a few shades... and test!!!!

free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:22 pm

I really think its the lighting, which will never give you a perfectly matched foundation color to your skin tone. Choose 3 shades and swipe them close the the jawline and ask if you can take the hand mirror and check it in DAYLIGHT. Whichever shade disappears IS the shade to buy. Thats what the MAs tell me here. You don't have to go home with any product you don't want.

free skin care · Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:11 pm

well I have a similar situation but not with foundation. It's with concealer. Whenever I asked them which shade is better in covering my eye circles, they'll just randomly pick one. They will then apply it on me but I can still see the circles thru and I don't like how it is on my skin! I told them that I don't really like it as I can still see my circles. The sales would tell me that's the best it can get and try to pressure me to get it or try to introduce me other products that I have no interest in! Anyways, now that I'm into MMU, I can just order samples to test my shades and save the hassle!

free skin care · Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:13 am

flitcraft, you hit on one of my major pet peeves. I'm light/medium asian, but sales associates see "person of color" and immediately pull out dark orange. Makes me crazy!! Luckily, by now I can tell at a glance what will definitely not work and blow them off. But arghhh!! Mad

free skin care · Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:44 pm

1) as many have already said, -- bad lighting. I always go outside with a mirror to see how the color looks in the natural light. And i don't care how weird it seems Cool

2) there is a perception (and i was surprised to read it even in Vogue) that going 1-2 shades darker than your actual skin tone makes you look "fresher" ("tanned" or smth????).

Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:26 pm

Well... a gazillion years ago before there were sooooooooooooo many types of makeup... I used to get an oil free foundation... and get it a few shades darker than my color.... THEN I'd mix it with water to give not so much coverage as more of a tint. It evened out minor imperfections... and looked nice... no mask... but todays foundations tend to be put on thicker... and THAT means it must match with perfection...

free skin care · Sat Sep 13, 2008 4:53 pm

Back when I was twelve, and finally allowed to wear makeup, my mom took me to buy one of every type of basic makeup as my birthday present. We did it department-store wise, since she wanted it to be something special (and she always just wore drugstore makeup). So we kind of just turned ourselves over to the sales assistants.

The MAC gal sold me a foundation shade that was waaaaay too pale -- and I'm incredibly pale and usually need the lightest shade out there! I looked like a friggin' corpse, but I wore that stuff for ages to help cover up my acne before I realized that a) it looked awful and b) it was full of stuff that made my acne worse.

We had also gone to a small local cosmetics shop/consultation center/spa kinda place, and they sold me a very pinkish concealer based on the fact that I have pale skin with pink undertones and rosy cheeks. But I had specifically told them I wanted something for under-eye circles. Do you have ANY idea how awful it looks to cover up dark circles with PINK? I looked like an alien for about a week and then I just threw it away. (And it was EXPENSIVE -- I felt so sad that my birthday present had been wasted like that! And we were too clueless to request a refund or anything.)

Ugh. I really do think it's mostly lighting, though I also think some SAs are clueless and just want to make the sale no matter what. For stuff like concealers, a lot of places don't have very many shades -- Clinique has only had three (light, medium and dark) for as long as I can remember. And so they'll try and push to make a sale since they know they have to fit you into one of those three boxes. But for gals like me who wear concealer with nothing over it, it's important that the concealer be a better match!

Now I just buy MMU, and it's so easy to get tons of samples, plus the individual products are pretty cheap. I wound up buying enough shades to make my own custom concealer palette, and I blend the shades I need depending on my skin's tone -- i.e. whether it's rosier on my cheeks, or bluer under my eyes, or whether I have a tan, etc. This works FAR better than anything some SA recommended to me! Laughing

free skin care · Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:24 am

You're right about the color selection in mineral makeup, ginnieliz. It really spoils you for lines that don't have a dozen intensities and four or five undertones. Too bad that my mature dry skin sometimes doesn't get along with mineral makeup. I still do wear it in the summer sometimes...

free skin care · Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:34 pm

I get the same thing!!
I'm indian- golden medium skin tone and anytime I check out a new foundation, they pull out something with pink in it ( I have yellow undertones) and they will pick out the darkest shade they have!
My skin is MAC NC40 and once when I ran out and went to buy a new bottle I told the SA i wanted NC40, she said "oh no, that is much too light for you, you are much darker and need a warmer shade". Well she pulled out one that was way too dark and pink and said it looked good (it didn't) and then when I told her to try the NC40, she kept saying, thats going to be way too light and that she was an NC35 and there is no way I am an NC 40. Well I got her to put it on, and it blended into my skin perfectly. No lines etc. Well I think i made her eat her words after that!!

free skin care · Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:09 pm

flitcraft, have you ever tried mixing your MMU with oil or moisturizer? I sometimes do that with concealer to get better results on drier areas. With mixed exults I admit (no pun intended) but it might be worth a try. Smile

free skin care · Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:05 am

I'll have to agree about SA's being obssessed with dark shades of make-up. However, I don't think it's just the lighting.

Somehow they believe that everyone has to look sun-kissed even when they are relatively pale and don't sit in the sun!

free skin care · Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:37 am

I had actually just read that Kyra Sedgwick's MA used a darker shade of foundation (Like 3-5 shades darker) to give her a more tanned look. Of course they probably extended it and blended it like magic. I would chalk up most suggestions due to bad lighting but they may also be trained to think that you should use a darker shade to look tanner. ? Also I do find that when I use my natural shade (in the slim instances that its actually made for my pale skin) that I look slightly dead. So that could be another reason.

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