Some time last month, I went to Vacaville Premium Outlets to do a bit of shopping with my boyfriend, but mostly to check out the Cosmetics Company Store (CCO) there. I was absolutely bursting with excitement upon entering the store, but that slowly turned into disappointment and irritation the more time I spent in the store.
I was a bit disappointed in their selection, which is probably fortunate for my wallet. I was most disappointed in the way some of the testers were handled as well as the customer service. As I'm sure most of us here are beauty fanatics, we tend to like to swatch testers to see the real thang before we make a purchase. I wanted to check out the Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadow Cremes as I only own one of them, but all their testers were tried out. When I requested new testers, the SA refused because she said they had to leave the caps off and they would dry out anyway. When I went to check out the MAC paint pots, however, all the caps were kept on and the products nice and creamy. I'm not sure I understand what's going on here.
I think the atmosphere in the store was the most, suffocating and unpleasant. I had such a wonderful experience at the CCO in Gilroy Premium Outlets that I had expected the same in this Vacaville location. Couldn't be more wrong. The SAs here seemed to have quite a snobbish attitude. It probably didn't help that it was a very hot day and I was wearing minimal makeup and dressed very casually. I had a feeling they thought I was not a serious buyer. The SAs there asked me continually if I had any questions or if I was finding everything all right. Based on the tone and frequency they were asking, it sounded much more like they wanted to get rid of me rather than an invitation to ask questions. I was thoroughly annoyed and irritated, but I still left the store with three purchases: Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadow Creme in Blue Velvet, MAC Paintpot in Pure Creation, and MAC eyeshadow in Dame's Desire.
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| Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire |
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| Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire |
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| Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire |
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| Blue Velvet, Pure Creation, and Dame's Desire |
I also stopped by DF & CCO to check out what they had for sale. They change up their sales every two weeks. I picked up Lancome's Star Bronzer, which I hoped would be a cheaper alternative for NARS Laguna bronzer.
When I was having my purchases rung up at CCO, I asked if there was makeup remover available. The SA paused and told me there wasn't, but there was hand sanitizer I could use. She knew that I wanted to remove the makeup swatches on the back of my hand, and I was really annoyed because I had a feeling she was lying to me. Blah. I will probably still return to this store because it's the closest to me, at about an hour's drive away. It's somewhat close to my university where I completed my undergraduate studies so I'm most familiar with that road. California has 8 CCO locations, which is the most out of any state in the United States. If you live in the U.S. and would like to check for locations, you can click here.
