Beautilicious…really?

While in Midvalley today, I came across a promotional booth set up for the new Malaysian cosmetic brand Beautilicious. The display did catch my eye (which I unfortunately did not manage to get a picture of), but the other thing that caught my eye was this:

The makeup promoters were just hanging around the booth, applying makeup on THEMSELVES. This would probably explain the absolutely disgusting state of all the testers (at 11am in the morning no less!!), and I really feel your pain, Paris! Granted, Beautilicious probably appeals more to the younger crowd. BUT, having teenyboppers manning your booth and using all the products instead of reaching out to potential customers is a big NO for any brand.

I was actually quite interested in stopping to look at the products, but as a customer, would have been totally put off by the disinterested looks. Since I was quite determined to see the product lineup, I stopped, but otherwise I would have just steered clear of the entire area. This is a shame because their set up was quite nice and very chic.

This brings me to my gripe session. I’ve got a peeve issue with bad customer service, and this is seriously one of those.

Firstly, the girls are just standing there toying with the booklets they’re supposed to be giving out. I had to physically STOP and STARE at the display before she deigned to give me one of those booklets. And more of that disinterested expression.

Next, when I asked her about the promotions happening, she only parroted two of the promotions (probably because she was staring at the two signs put up around the booth), which are the same as the ones below:

It wasn’t until I came back to the office and checked the website that I realized she had left two of the better ones out (below)…why? Because they’re trying to save money on giving out freebies? Saving it for themselves? Can’t remember? Who knows?

As for products, I tried out the Beautilicious Pie Pan Refills (RM15.90)…or at least, those that weren’t already covered with makeup dust or the promoters weren’t standing in front of (yes, they were blocking half the display applying the eyeshadow on themselves…eww) and tried them on the back of my hand. After seeing those promoters, the eyeshadows are not going anywhere near my face!

The texture of the shimmery ones weren’t too bad, with a good pigment hue as well. The flat colour shadows were a tad gritty, which is quite surprising as I’d have expected it to be the other way around.

But for the rest of the makeup kits? NO WAY was I going to try those. They were just haphazardly tossed on the counter, spilling out powder. The glosses in the kits looked like someone had taken a toothpick and scuffed the whole thing up. The promoter actually had the gall to suggest that I try the eyeliner, and said that I should apply it on my eye to see the ‘full effect’ (when I’d seen one at least two of the other promoters already use it!) and got huffy when I declined. There was also a guy standing there (I think it might have been their supervisor) with the same ‘duh’ expression. What is wrong with these people??

In the end, I was quite tempted to buy one of the Pie Pan Refills, but JUST because I liked the colour (Seafoam Suds)…but after that experience, I didn’t feel particularly inclined to contributing to their commissions in any way. Perhaps when I find a Beautilicious counter that has a decent promoter…whenever that may be.