SEPHORA — Attraction in Santa Clara

I was really looking forward to having my first beauty lesson at this location. I had read about stellar reviews about Melody and signed up for this session as a way to feel better about my appearance. I had recently had signs of melasma around my face and wanted a full coverage look for a wedding coming up next week. When I arrived at 4:00pm per my scheduled appointment, I was told my appointment had been pushed back by 30 minutes and Melody was on a late break due to a previous client being late. I was told an email was sent out to notify me of this last minute change. I was okay with waiting. After 30 minutes, Melody showed up and she did not explain how the session would go so I thought the start of our interaction was quite awkward as she spent a couple minutes just looking at the corner of the counter where her makeup supplies were sitting. She did not ask me any questions about my goals. So, after I started leading the conversation about what I was hoping to achieve, the session started off with skin prep and a lesson on eye shadow application. It's something I was interested in so I was glad to learn. She was patient with questions but judgmental in her responses regarding her being in the beauty industry and thus cosmetic surgery was not inclusive to her beauty standards.

Unfortunately my biggest complaint is not about conversation, it's because she was so slow we didn't finish the eyes let alone start on the base makeup with just 10 minutes left in our session. She quickly applied the full-coverage foundation to my face but the discoloration was still visible around the upper lip where I was most subconscious. I asked what her recommendations were for concealers since the dark spots were still visible. Instead she responded that it was not visible. I said I could still see it and she responded with some tips to try at home. I thanked her and prepared to leave. However after the time was up, I didn't feel comfortable walking out with my face only half done so I filled in my eyebrows. I'm not sure if she was flustered or if I was visibly upset but she asked if I was okay. I said I was okay and she said for some reason "I hope you're going right home after this." I think she was trying to help but I felt like this beauty lesson was supposed to be a treat for me but I left feeling more self conscious and like I had wasted my time and efforts. Melody seems like a nice person but my experience today left me upset and I wouldn't recommend the beauty lesson service to anyone as the value for the price was just shy of...

I'm so excited when I found out that there is a Sephora nearby my house. It was only 2.5 miles away from my house. How convenient that be. I went there to buy a liquid foundation and also to get my birthday gift as a Beauty Insider member. First sales person greeted me and asked me how she can help me and I said I need a liquid foundation. I was using Estee Lauder double wear and I want to try different brand. So she told the other sales associate to help. She showed me Christian Dior Forever and she got the right color for my skin. I have melasma and it came out perfect. I just noticed that she's not smiling maybe she's new to that type of work. But in Westfield Valley Fair most of the workers are smiling and all of the workers made me feel comfortable even though they were very busy. In this store, I'm the only customer that morning and I didn't get the welcome feeling. After I got my product, I told her I wanted to look around for other products. So I went to the fragrance section and tried some of CD perfume. I tried maybe 3 different scents and I noticed on my right side an associate watching or observing me. She pretended that I didn't see her because she was on the other side of the display shelves or cart. She is so obvious that she made me feel bad. So I approached her right away and asked her if they still give out samples of the perfume? She looks scared because I caught her looking at me lol. My problem now is I cannot forget what happen that day. It's been more than a week and I cannot forget about what happened. She me feel that I'm gonna steal...

Very unpleasant experience. Surprised me a lot because usually consultants in Sephora are very friendly, knowledgeable, and don't try to sell you products no matter what. This place is different! Consultant #1 didn't try to help me at all (even after I asked for help) and knew nothing (I asked her about a product and she said they don't have it. I found it later myself) Consultant #2 suggested me a product that I had to return because quality was very low. Then lied that all stores are out of sunscreen that I wanted and made me buy another sunscreen. Sure enough I found the sunscreen I wanted in another store.

But the biggest surprised to me was that Sephora has a very bad mirrors at the height that make them useless for people with average height (you have to be a super model or something!). At the same time they HAVE good mirrors with bright light BUT customers not allowed to use them! (I was told that "these are for paid sessions only even when there are no sessions in progress.") Seriously?! That the customer service way below my expectations from a brand like Sephora. What is the harm of customers seeing themselves when they try to buy eyeshadow...