Primer Yourself For Lots Of Questions

I am redoing some makeup displays when an old woman approaches me.

Customer: “Excuse me, but I need your help.”

I cringe because I dealt with this lady last week and she was a nightmare.

Customer: “I’m looking for a concealer, but I want it to be cheap.”

I take her over to the cheapest brand our store carries that has a pretty good selection for a variety of products.

Customer: “I want coverage to help cover up dark spots. I don’t want anything matte—” *pronounced as “mate”* “—and I don’t want anything too heavy.”

I show her a concealer that’s $6.

Customer: “I also want a powder that covers everything but doesn’t have a color because I hate wearing makeup. I hate anything too heavy. I don’t like loose powders and I don’t like pressed powders.”

I’m literally at a loss for what to do because she wants it all as cheap as possible and wants a powder that isn’t a powder and doesn’t want any liquid product at all. I show her all the options we have for forty minutes but she isn’t listening to anything I say and keeps getting distracted by random products.

Customer: “What’s a primer? Will that make me glowy and not ‘mate’?”

Me: “It’s meant to go under your makeup, and yes, it can make you more glowy as each primer does a different thing. It won’t really cover anything up, though, because like I said, it’s meant to go under makeup and just make it last longer and provide a smoother canvas.”

Customer: “What’s the difference between that and highlighter? Can I use highlighter to set my face?”

Me: “Highlighter is meant more to accentuate the high points of your face. They are glowy, yes, but most of the powders that we have are more shimmery and have glitter in them. They also have a tint so it could give your face a champagne or pink cast.”

We continue to look at every brand and I keep having to remind her that translucent powders do not have coverage and just help set makeup down. It’s getting to the last ten minutes of my shift and I still have a huge mess to clean up from rearranging the displays and I feel bad since I’m off the next three days and I don’t want to leave it for my coworker.

Since she continues to only listen to what she wants to and pretty much ignores any actual help such as even explaining products and brands we don’t carry which might suit her better at other stores, I grab a loose highlighting powder that is relatively flesh-toned and hand it to her as I’m just emotionally done at this point.

Me: “This is a loose highlighting powder that you can use with a powder brush to put on your face so you will be glowy, but since you’re using a fluffier brush to more evenly distribute the powder it shouldn’t be as blinding. It’s also the cheapest brand we have.”

Customer: “Perfect! Thank you so much.”

I hightailed it to my stock room to put away my stuff before she could stop me with other questions and then I quickly clocked out.