I ran out of my favorite tinted moisturizer a couple of months ago and decided that I would go to Sephora at the mall after I took my mom to the airport and dropped a tent of at my friend Stacie’s house this morning.   Since I was out that way, I thought I’d go to the Sephora at Perimeter Mall.. near Stacie, not so close to my house, but that didn’t work out seeing as how I got way lost. So, I drove on to my neck of the woods.. Kennessaw, GA and thought I’d be in and out of the mall (not one of my favorite places to be) in a few minutes. Well, that didn’t happen but I’m glad!

Once I got to the Sephora store in the mall, I went to the Laura Mercier counter and grabbed my favorite tinted moisturizer.  Then I thought that while I was there I might as well take a look at some eyeshadow and lipgloss.   After about 15 minutes of browsing and swiping at least a dozen lig gloss colors on the back of my hand, a store employee asked if I needed help.  I may have scared him a little when I replied with “Yes, I’m desperate!” and  told him that I needed to find a lip color that would provide good coverage, but not require a lot of swiping on my lips.  You see, my lips are very sensitive and more than two swipes of a lipgloss makes my lips bright red and puffy.  Not pretty.  Well, this wonderful employee (who’s name I’m sad to say I don’t remember) said that I gave him a challenge he’s never experienced before! Score for Alicia!

After seriously pondering (I could see it in his eyes) my predicament for a few moments, he walked me to the Smashbox section of the store where he excitedly said “a brush applicator is what you need”! A brush applicator!  Why didn’t I think of that?  He proceeded to try a few colors on my hand, adding to the dozen I had already tried, and wahlah.. we found a delightful color that applied smoothly and matched my skin tone.  It’s a miracle!

Next thing you know he and I were talking about the eyeshadow color palette I picked out (above) and when he had to go to the register to tend to a customer, another talented Sephora employee talked to me about less expensive tinted moisturizer options.   I went in to Sephora thinking I would buy my usual $42 tinted moisturizer and thanks to this helpful employee, I left with Sephora’s own tinted moisturizer, saving me $21!

That wasn’t the end of my trip to Sephora.. not at all! As I was about to check out, an employee asked me if I had a few minutes to spare to get a free hand massage and eye treatment. By this time, they knew me by name and I couldn’t turn down a free hand massage from Sephora employees who referred to me by name.  Even if they called me Bob I wouldn’t have turned down a free hand massage. The wonderful employee in the photo below, gave me an amazing hand massage and used the fabulous Clarisonic Opal Sonic Infusion System ($245) on my eyes.  I’m not sure when my eyes will look as vibrant and non-puffy as they do since the treatment.  It really has an instant effect on the puffiness and dark circles.. love it!

I don’t think I’ll be so hesitant to visit Sephora at the mall again.  It’s not Sephora.. it’s the mall.  I just don’t like going to the mall really.  I usually buy makeup products online but the service and personal makeup and beauty advice that the employees at Sephora provided me made it 110% worth the drive and time to go to the actual store.

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Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post.