Are you purchasing more beauty products in person now?
I didn’t do so before the pandemic–usually preferred to buy online when possible–and we’re still pretty much staying inside, lol!
— Christine
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I don’t go into enclosed shopping malls, but there are free-standing Ulta and Sephora stores near me. I’m more comfortable in those.
I didn’t buy beauty products for two years during the pandemic, but I’ve been doing some in-person beauty product shopping over the past month or two. I’ve always liked the experience of going to a store much better than shopping online when it comes to makeup.
Yes, i have been going to Ulta and our Downtown Summerlin Mall to do my shopping.
I am simply purchasing less, period. Partly it’s the Pandemic and all the lockdowns but it’s probably more owing to the over abundance and overwhelmingness of my collection. I still prefer shopping in person rather than online. I’m just shopping less.
No, but I’ve always mostly shopped online.
I would rather buy in person or buy from reliable companies like Sephora. I don’t trust in USPS anymore. Their updates are inaccurate and they have misplaced my packages in the past. Live in an apartment complex. Recently, I ordered stuff from Colourpop and Usps delivered it to another parcel locker and I haven’t heard from my neighbors since then. Luckily Colourpop understood and resent me another package.
There’s an Ulta in my town but not a Sephora. If I think it’ll break in shipping, I usually go in-person (seasonal Ulta candles for example, Ulta branded mini palettes most recently). But, and I don’t know if this is true with all Ultas, but mine seems to only keep limited stock when something is first released so I have to go snatch it up as soon as it’s available.
While I have always preferred shopping in person, I have pretty much shopped on-line mostly because of my living situation. I am still double masking whenever I go out in public and am fully vaccinated and boostered, (my own word!). Even when I go shopping in person, I have frequently not purchased and waited to purchase on-line where I can do some price comparison. I am buying much less overall.
Nope! But this is due to a lack of easy accessibility to stores without taking two buses. And so, in-person purchases are now a much rarer occurrence.
Yes, only because I am back to getting MAC makeovers again and I purchase the required threshold and then some, and then of course I have to stop by the other stores makeup counters and then Sephora on the way out 😀
It’s always lovely to me to be able to simply browse the beauty shops in person (ditto for women’s clothing shops too) and see for myself what the products you have reviewed Christine really look like. It’s actually quite rare that I purchase anything in them because our Sephora and Mecca are just so expensive.
Secondly, there are so many brands we don’t get here (like Lorac) and if we do have a brand available, we only get a fraction of their collections here too – who decides what we get is a mystery.
So I am still back to ordering online for something that I see here on this blog.
So to answer the question, I am actually purchasing far less and I have been for quite awhile now and just shopping my stash.
It’s a two-part process for me. Being that I used to work at Nordstrom, I prefer to buy in-store because I enjoy maintaining my relationships with counter managers and sales associates (it brings me joy). BUT! I prefer to do my window shopping online so that when I visit a store, I have a wish list to work from so that I stick to a plan. There’s no substitute for swatching in person and asking for an expert opinion. I feel that shopping with the same people offers perks as well, be it custom samples or a timely heads-up when out-of-stock items arrive on the delivery truck.
No, I switched to mostly shopping beauty online years before the pandemic. Between cashback and better deals, I get better pricing by shopping online. If I go to stores it’s just to test products in person.
I’m still not back into the whole shopping in person. I do go grocery shopping but I wear a mask. I’ve had my covid vaccines but I am immunocompromised and I know a couple of people who have been very ill with covid and I want to do all that I can to try and avoid it. I realize we can’t hide for the rest of our lives and hopefully there will be a day that I will feel more comfortable out in the world. Baby steps for now. So my beauty purchases are online only for now and way less than prepandemic due to the fact I don’t go anywhere.
I’ve not been to any store except for groceries for over two years now. I do all my shopping on line and I shop so much less. I still love adding to my WL, though. 🙂
Thankfully, I’m not purchasing much of anything, but the little I do is in person, as it’s skincare.
No. I have been buying cosmetics on-line for a very long time. I find I curate my purchases better on-line than in person. Now that I live even further away, there isn’t an actual makeup store within a couple of hundred km’s of me 😆.. time and fuel…no thanks.
Nope. I was initially pleased with the option to look at things in person again…..but is everyone else experiencing overwhelmingly obnoxious associates? I’ve worked in retail, I completely understand the pressures of being in that position. But I also wasn’t an associate who stuck on customers like glue and wouldn’t let them shop in peace. I can’t handle the pushiness of the associates and in particular the brand sales reps. Brand sales reps can be downright RUDE and I’m baffled as to how they make sales that way. I don’t know what Ulta and Sephora are doing, as far as “incentivizing” employees to force more and longer interactions (lol – I’m familiar with their policies. generally they pay very little and punish you for not selling more, putting more things on the shelf, gathering personal information from customers at checkout, pushing credit card sales, etc. – the “incentive” is to get the least shit from managers as possible. you are not compensated anywhere close to what your time and efforts are worth).
So, in the end, to avoid being hassled and bothered I still just stick with home shopping.
No, I never really did. I’ve always tended to do most of my purchases online.