Beauty Perks

One of the reasons I keep my ULTA job is because I work in prestige (read: fancy schmancy 'spensive makeup) we often get gratis from the vendors. Most of my gratis is Bare Escentuals and Paula Dorf (Love. Paula. Dorf.). We rarely get any skin care stuff because skin care stuff is much more expensive than a lip gloss or a mascara.

The only skincare I've received until this point was Dermalogica, because ULTA now does Dermalogica facials... so Dermalogica wanted to make sure that we knew what we were talking about. The other day, we finally got a vendor for DermaDoctor, which we also recently started carrying. And we got two gratis products from them: full-size (yay!) of their pore minimizer, and a trial-size (but still about 1.0 oz) of their glycolic facial wash. Now. I'm a dry-skin girl. It's probably more dehydration than anything else, but stuff that is meant to dry the skin is not for me. But, this pore minimizer is awesome! I've used it for a few days now... it tingles when it first goes on (2x a day) but so far my skin isn't dry at all.

I used the glycolic facial wash this morning... and my skin is super soft. But that could also be from the Vitamin C lactic acid mask I got from Murad (I love my job sometiems). My skin has never been this soft before, except when I was a kid. You can usually feel the dryness (and see the dryness) and right now, it's just supple awesomeness. That's right...supple awesomeness.

Between this and my new favorite foundation, Smashbox Halo Mineral Powder, I have the best skin of my life. Generally, I wear no foundation. Because whether I wear a liquid, a cream, a mineral, or a power, you can see the flakiness of my nose. I haven't had that with Halo yet... and someone yesterday actually said to me "Well you don't have any foundation on" which is the best compliment ever. Because that's how you know that you're foundation is doing it's job--if you can't see it at all. You shouldn't be able to see the foundation mask. Nothing irks me more than the teenagers who wear foundation 2 shades too dark, or bronzer all over their entire face (that's not where bronzer goes, sweetie)... or just as bad as the women who wear foundation two shades too light. I actually had a middle eastern woman one time tell me that she wanted to have the foundation I wore. Not the brand. The color. I have Irish background. My skin is practically clear. I burn if I think of the sun. I matched her perfectly, it she said it was too dark. When I put a really (really) light foundation on her, she liked that.

I don't understand this at all! Why are some women so adamant that they wear the wrong shade of foundation? It just makes you look dumb. Makeup shouldn't look like makeup. Makeup is all about illusion... it's meant to perfect the features you already have. Can someone explain this phenomenon to me? Why women insist on wearing the wrong (and horrible looking) foundation shades?

Peel off my face, please.

One of the reasons that I really like working for ULTA is gratis. aka free makeup for no good reason. Well, there is a reason... so I'll use it and sell it to other people. Most of the time, it's a lip gloss or a mascara. I have finally gotten myself down from six mascaras to three... but LORAC just came out with a new mascara, and I may get that one as well. The best piece of gratis I've received so far (which I have talked before)was from Clarins, which is a skincare company. Most of the time, we don't get anything from the skincare companies... but they're starting to be a bit better with their gratis giving.

Last week, I got a hand cream that you aren't allowed to apply more than three times per 24 hour period (doesn't that scare you? It says: Do not exceed three applications per 24 hour period. It doesn't say WHY though). Yesterday... I received a chemical peel. An at-home chemical peel. I wasn't aware that A. you could do these at home and B. that you should do these at home. without professional supervision. It's a 5-day peel from Kinerase (the Instant Radiance Facial Peel) and I did day 1 yesterday. They come in these pre-packed amounts, and they have this little wand, and from waht I understand... you take the little wand...and you smear the sand-like yellow stuff all over your face. It doesn't really sting or anything, nor does it smell weird, and until I woke up this morning I wasn't aware that it did anything. You're also not allowed to rinse it off...just apply, and walk away. So if you do it during the day...you have weird yellow sand all over your face... and if you do it at night, then you have the possibility of having it get all over your sheets.

I did notice a considerable difference in my face when I woke up. I'm much "dewier" than I was before. Shiny isn't a good work...because I'm not oily...I'm dewy. I guess I'm just supposed to continue to do it at night? That seems to be the best time? The only thing that worries me is that when you apply it... since you aren't lying down on a table and having someone else apply it... gravity makes the yellow sand stuff fall into the sink, and all over your shirt. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? I don't know. If anyone has used this stuff... and you're laughing because clearly this stunod doesn't know what she's doing... please let me know.

There is one company that I so wish would just give us prestige girls their product, but it's hella expensive and I know that it will never happen. ULTA just started carrying the Clarisonic. And if you don't know what this is, ohmygodit'swonderful. Whenever it's on QVC, I drool. It's on my amazon list.. and I know I'll never get it... but it's there so that I can stare at it and drool at it's wonderfulness.



It's basically an electronic toothbrush but for your face... and it makes whatever face wash you use become amazing and wonderful. It exfoliates without ripping your skin... and it' the best thing ever invented. Ever. And I want. But I'm not paying $195 for it. Even with my discount, it's still $147. Just imagine my philosophy Purity Made Simple with the Clarisonic. It would be so wonderful. One of the makeup artists with Paula Dorf swears by it. Paula Dorf actually bought it for her for Christmas one year, and when she saw that we were carrying Clarisonic, she got all kinds of excited because now she can get her replacement heads with us.

Just a little courtesy, please.

Since I'm a "prestige girl" at ULTA, I get to play with makeup like Urban Decay, Smashbox, Benefit, and the like. Occasionally, we'll have make up artists who represent certain lines come in and do training. I've been trained on Bare Escentuals, Smashbox, Clarins, Dermalogica, Lorac, Urban Decay, and Bourjois. Today, I was supposed to have training with Paula Dorf. Oh, I'm sorry... yesterday I was supposed to have training with Paula Dorf. Yesterday, the barely an inch of snow was too much for her and she was "iced in." My mother lives in the next town over. We had more snow in Delaware. And it wasn't that much. Today, she calls out sick.

Yesterday... I took the day off at the station so I could take my time at the training, run some errands, etc. It turned out to be not too bad because I did get a lot of stuff done. And I went into LUSH and didn't buy ANYTHING for myself! I'm so proud. Anyway, I decided today to just take my lunch break by going over to ULTA. It's about half a mile away from the station, so it's not a big deal. But someone could have called me. Or this woman could have not cancelled training two days in a row. If she was sick yesterday, which she probably was, she could have rescheduled it for next week. Now it's rescheduled for next Wednesday. We'll see if it happens. I'm always whoring out Paula Dorf's concealer because it's one of my favorites, but now I'm rethinking that. I hold grudges. Gratis or not, these Paula Dorf people have to be pretty darn nice to me to get back on my good side.

And of course we're having a "visit" today at ULTA. And by "visit" I mean our District Manager (whom I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and the VICE PRESIDENT OF ULTA JODI (who is a lovely woman b slightly intimidating because she's, um the VP of the company and very particular) is in the store. They were coming in when I was leaving. Our DM was also there yesterday when training was scheduled the FIRST time...so when he sees me leaving again, he gives me this "question mark?" look... so I have to explain that training was cancelled again because of sickness. Not something I wanted to spill to Jodi, but whatever. It happens. I was very careful not to be angry or disappointed or anything. I was very "Meh, it's all right... I'm only right around the corner. It's no big deal."

A Surprisingly Uncrazy Black Friday

My black Friday began at 4am. I had to be at work by 5... and not just present at 5, but pretty by 5. Something that is a bit difficult, especially when you have to get dressed in the dark. but I managed. And I managed to get to ULTA by 4:50 (despite it taking 10 minutes to get through the red turning light to get into the mall... not fun). Me and 5 of my co-workers are standing outside the door.. and no one is showing up. At all. This is a bit of a BFD because A. it's Black Friday and we were supposed to open at 5:30. B. Our district manager was coming to the store.

Our district manager (who is lovely, actually) showed up... and there was no opening manager still. We called two of our other managers, and our GM ended up letting us in, after an hour of standing outside. And you best believe I got paid for that hour I was standing outside.

For the most part, it sounded like all of the black friday evil crazies were next door at Best Buy (where they were bouncing people. They actually hired BOUNCERS.) and apparently Long Island and California. I had one person who wanted a BE color match at 6am. And a lot of people yelling at me because we didn't have the smashbox $12.99 blockbuster. We weren't hiding it from you... we couldn't find the damn thing! I'm sorry!

Most of my Christmas shopping is actually almost done. Mom, sister, brother, goddaughter, dad, Colleen, future in laws and most of Gene are done. That leaves my friend Lindsey. And my cousin Linsey, but I'm not spending a lot on her. I always do, and then she always "forgets" my gift. but I feel guilty not getting her anything. She's getting something from Lush, as is my friend Lindsey. Sara & I are going to a Lush party in Philly this weekend.. and we get a goody bag if we spend $55...which let me tell you is so not hard at Lush.

And in un-holiday news... I'm really excited about my next interview for my radio show! (I have a radio show. It runs at 6:30AM on Sundays... no one listens to it. But it's mine! I interview people) I'm interviewing Thomas Kinkade tomorrow afternoon... and I'm very squee about the whole thing. I love his art.

Enough with the crazy!

It isn't even Black Friday yet, and I've already had my fair share of ULTA shopping crazies. Last night, this woman comes in ten minutes before we close demanding a "makeup artist." Well. We don't have any of those on staff, so you get me. Who is trained on all the makeup lines, but I'm not a licensed cosmetologist or esthetician. Whatever. She tells me horror stories about the last time she was in and how this girl told her Bare Escentuals doesn't have a shade for her (which was a lie, but whatever) and how this girl had terrible skin and horrible makeup. I know the girl she was talking about, and she has a serious skin condition that she's been dealing with for years. Now she looks great because she's on acutane. But for a while, she had a really bad acne problem. I didn't appreciate the bash on my friend who has an unfortunate overproduction of sebum (the oil in your skin). But fine. I let it go.

Then she grills me about everything Bare Escentuals does, and demands to know if I wear it, and yells "don't lie." I don't. I tell people I don't because they don't match my skin. Which is true. She tells me that we have the same skin color and she can't wear Bare Escentuals. We don't have the same skin color, she's much more gold than I am. But I humor her. It's now 5 minutes before we close, and I don't do full makeovers when we're closing, but this woman was such a nutjob that I HAD to do one, because she kept yelling at me when I didn't do the other things. I didn't put mineral veil on her and she flipped her lid! Then she grilled this poor girl I was training (IT WAS HER FIRST FREAKING DAY) if she wears Bare Escentuals. Then crazy starts talking about herself in the third person, and my poor trainee was so lost and had no idea what she was talking about.

Now, I'm a good salesperson. I'm a really good salesperson. It also doesn't hurt that I like the products that I sell and that they are very nice. But I didn't want to do my pitch, I just wanted to clean my damn store and be on with it! And THEN this woman finally leaves, and says to me "Oh don't worry... I'm coming back" like it was a threat. Am I supposed to be frightened?

I'm already wishing for Christmas to be over. Is that normal? Between my two jobs... I've started to hate Christmas. I just want everything to go away for a whiel. I'm not looking forward to Black Friday. Luckily, I have off from the radio station... but I have to work at ULTA at 5am. Not happiness.

Edit: I changed "talking about herself in first person" to third person. Because first person makes no sense.

Holiday Crazytown

I really do like working in retail...except during the holidays. And what's funny is that both retail jobs I've had (ULTA and The Limited) I've started during holiday season. The first day of work for The Limited? Black Friday. My first day of work for ULTA? End of October.. and the following week we had the company holiday meeting. Well, this year, holiday started this Sunday. Now, ULTA has some pretty nice deals during holiday (the best being the free bathrobe with fragrance. We get it every year. And they're always very nice).

Not only was this weekend the kick-off of holiday in the new store since remodel, but we also had our new district manager (our other one quit or something, which was fine because she was kind of insane) and the VP of the company in the store, Jodi. Jodi is a BFD... and she's very intimidating. Lovely woman, but very intimidating. We went out to dinner with Jodi last year, all of us prestige girls, and had a wonderful time. Jodi and I had many an intelligent conversation about the difference between theatre makeup and regular cosmetics, and why I got into ULTA, and this whole philosophical debate about actors. But because Jodi was coming? The store needed to be IMMACULATE. And it was close, but not quite.

The thing I hate most about ULTA holiday? The 5fer table. We always have "5 for $5" or "5 for $10" tables... and people go apeshit over this stuff. I had one woman yesterday who wanted ten each of everything on the 5 for $5 table. I spent 85% of my day filling that damn table. Because of the remodel our stock rooms are kind of non-existant, so we are trying to figure out where things are going to go. Some genius yesterday decided to store a glass shelf in the stock room. This said shelf? Broken... as in jagged glass laying open in the stock room for people (read: me) to cut themselves on. I now have this (very small) scratch on the palm of my hand because I didn't see the glass until after I cut myself on it. It didn't really hurt, but it's in such an awkward place that it is uncomfortable.

Holiday crazy of the week: This woman got all uppity with one of our Benefit girls because the line was long. And she was getting all in her face. One of our makeup artists from Urban Decay came over to see if the Benefit girl was okay... and crazy woman looked at Urban Decay and said "Excuse me... do you work for ULTA? No. You don't. You work for Urban Decay. Go away. Get away from me." Then she goes after a manager and DEMANDS to know the full name of the person from Urban Decay and starts ranting and raving. People are flipping crazy. I'm sure I'm going to have many more Holiday Crazy of the Weeks. There's always at least 5 per weekend.

Bare Escentuals...you are my frenemy.

I had training this morning for BE. In Jersey. So all that sleep I needed to catch up on? Gone...because I needed to wake up THREE HOURS EARLY today so that I could make it to New Jersey in time for training at 8:00. And because I live in Delaware, I had to drive into Philly up 95N first to get on the Walt Whitman. Those of you who are not from this tri-state area... it's a nightmare. Luckily, most of the rush hour is AFTER 76-E (aka the Walt Whitman) by the Vine St. Expressway, but it still is usually not a picnic. Luckily we left just late enough that we missed the 5-6AM rush hour and just early enough to miss the 7-8AM rush hour. So that drive that was going to take us so long because of Philly/Jersey traffic only took 40 minutes... so we ended up being half an hour early for training. Oh well. I still got paid for it because I drove-ha!

BE Training was kind of awesome, but I'm still mad at them for making me wake up early. And be pretty. Not only just awake...but hair done and face done. And I get there...and there are three girls in jeans! with no make up! I woke up at 5AM people!!! Put on some damn makeup to see me!! The BE training itself was fine. Our rep from BE is amazing and I heart her a whole lot...because she used to work for ULTA and she understands. Bare Escentuals users (no offense to those who are users) are kind of crazy. And a little obsessive. So holiday time is always fun bc we always have these cute little kits and things for them. ULTA's main kit is the Topaz, which is super cute and I want one. I don't even wear BE a lot. And I want one. They have a lot of other stuff coming out also (which I won't divulge in case it's a secret. It probably isn't, but I couldn't find info on it anywhere, so I won't) but let me just say that they have some super exciting things coming out in November that make girls like me (aka dry skin girls) very very happy because my super dry skin is what keeps me from using BE as my foundation.

The best part about BE training? Free makeup. Always good. I always like free. I now have cute chocolate themed eyeshadow (including a red one... called red velvet cake. Red eye shadow? Interesting) and the SMOKEY EYE KIT which I love. I'm a big eye makeup fan. If I could get away with no lipstick ever and big drama eyes, I'm a happy girl. One of these days I'll have to post pictures of my crazy eye makeup. I'll get around to it eventually.