SEPHORA — Local services in Avenue District

Arrived for a make-up appointment (early) and notified the employee that I came prepared for my afternoon appointment with a bare-face, but had my normal serums & sunscreen on from the AM. Did not go well for the make up artist. Not only was she very unfamiliar with this, but she had to ask for help. How do you get ready in the morning? They selected a primer to put over my sunscreen and foundation. My normal brand was not sold at this store because they are a “small store”. My shades and complementary colours were not prepared, and a lot of time was wasted walking back and forth “finding” items. You have my profile & I called to confirm the event, a lot of this could have been avoided. Fast forward, we’re about 20 mins in to sitting down and my face is peeling - as I said it would from the foundation selected and we’re basically forced to start over - we’re 30 minutes into me sitting down and I don’t have my face completed. What was concerning was the fact that I’m the one who has to advocate for the changes, when I fully booked this service for an expert. I booked the 60 minute package, and specifically said I wanted the focus to be contouring. I even called to make sure they knew this & why I was getting my makeup done. At the beginning I had requested fake eyelashes, but because of the time constraints I said just to skip them… does this mean I can still get mascara? Nope. I also said I wanted simple eyes, natural and classic for a day look. I very clearly said no sparkles - because of the photos. I have large green eyes, she used a red-ish brown eyeshadow and when she showed me in the mirror I looked like I had two red eyes!! Since when is this a complementing colour? I was panicking at this point. I asked if she could fix them, she said yes, with sparkles!! Sparkles!! Why?! I booked this make up appointment for my grad photos and when she stopped and said were done I almost cried. I actually didn’t know if I should even pay for my make-up. I left Sephora with my brows untouched (thank god they’re micro-bladed), no mascara, no lips, no bronzer. I sat in the back of my Uber trying to apply mascara, and apply concealer because I still had patches where she missed and red spots showing!!

*I wrote this review the day after and felt it was maybe a one off, but my grad photos came in the mail today and there is absolutely no way I should have paid for this make up appointment. No contouring whatsoever, I’m one solid colour (foundation) with a very red/orange based blush for my cheeks. You literally only focus on my nose & forehead … largest objects which should have been made to appear slimmer… I look like I’m strung out on drugs, pale washed out skin & reddish eyes.

For the record, I did notify them that I have sensitive skin & I specifically only use medical grade skin care (ZO Skin) and high quality products (Guerlain, Channel, Dior).

2/5 because the employee doing the make up was polite and respectful… perhaps new, which should have been better observed or...

Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. EVERY time I come here and ask for a colour matching they do it wrong and insist that the shade they got for me is correct. This is the closest Sephora I live by so I have no choice but to come here. I came here today thinking that maybe they’ll do it better this time but absolutely not. First of all I came in and nobody greeted me. I had to search for an associate myself. And I asked her if she could help me find the right shade of foundation for me and that the last one I got was too pink for my skin (the last time I went to this Sephora the lady insisted it was my colour) and my skin is not pink. I have a bit of an olive tone to my skin. The last foundation looked absolutely ridiculous on me but I trusted her. But anyway, so I asked her today and told her about my situation and she picked these 2 random colours that she thought matched me and put it on my neck and told me that the lightest one matches the best. I told her it doesn’t match at all but she insisted it’s my colour but she didn’t even scan my face she just picked 2 random colours. I felt like she was rushing with me. I told her in the nicest way possible that I’m not satisfied with this colour and asked her if she could try an olive skin tone and she said that the one she put on is the best one. I finally trusted her and thought maybe it’s just the lighting that’s making it look pink but I went home and washed my face and reapplied it and nope it’s just not my colour. Absolutely ridiculous.

The very first time I went to a Sephora was 2 years ago and it was the location in red deer and they did an AMAZING job with me. I was greeted, they made conversation, they asked me what I needed and scanned the colour of my face to find the right shade of foundation and kept trying to find the right shade until I was satisfied. This is how every Sephora should be.

I am NEVER going back to the Sephora at Kingsway mall. After only having 1 good experience out of 100 times I’ve been at a Sephora, I’m thinking I should take my business else where...

I'm in agreement that this is the worst Sephora for customer service in Edmonton. If I had not been to the other locations before I would have thought this was supposed to be the normal work culture at Sephora and not have minded it as much. When this location first opened close to home I was excited, but every time I walk in I find myself wishing I were in either the Southgate or WEM location and not just because of the smaller selection. You can feel a big difference in the atmosphere of this location compared to both of the other ones. While Southgate and WEM are almost always packed and the staff always busy, they've always made an effort to provide assistance to me sincerely and with a friendly attitude. At Kingsway which is comparably not as packed sometimes you'll see as many as three associates on the floor idling, but when I approach them I'm met with an attitude as if I'm inconveniencing them by asking for assistance. There were a few times when the associate I spoke with was a supervisor that was genuinely interesting in helping me, but she is the exception to my usual experience. Sometimes I even hear the associates gossiping between each other about work related drama while in view and earshot of customers. While I'm not dissatisfied with the cashiers, I do feel they seem quite bored and not as friendly as the ones at the other locations who will actually greet you and take the initiative to make your checkout experience easy and pleasant.I wonder why there is such a stark difference...