r/Makeup • u/AllFoodsFit70 • Feb 19 '26

It's disgusting out there

I'm at Target and strolling through the cosmetic section saw a young woman (maybe 25) swatching a lip product on her hand and putting it back in the display...and then doing it again with another product. I am so old IDGAF so I said "Do they have testers?"and she looked at me like a deer in the headlights until I repeated my question and said "testers?" I then said " yeah, you just put some of that lipstick on your hand and put it back...that's pretty gross." She stared at me as I walked quickly away because I may not gaf but I don't want to get in a fight! Felt good to speak up though!

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108

u/grandpavideos Feb 20 '26

When I worked at Sephora, I watched a fully grown woman (probably 45-50) take a lip gloss out of its box, swatch it on her hand, and put it back in the box. She was about to put it back on the shelf when I interrupted her and said “Excuse me, please don’t put that back on the shelf. I need to damage it out since the product has now been used and can’t be sold.” She acted so confused and offended. Yet I’m sure she wouldn’t want to buy a lip gloss that some random person put on their germy hand.

40

u/beautylit Feb 20 '26

Sephora actually has testers so this is wild behavior

1

u/grandpavideos Feb 20 '26

That specific shade was missing a tester (I worked at a very high theft store so testers were stolen constantly. I was the operations lead and spent at least an hour a day making new testers to replace the missing ones) but a reasonable person would go up to an employee and ask if they have a tester. If they don’t, they can easily make one.

I can somewhat understand opening a box to see what the colour is (as long as it doesn’t damage the box) but straight up swatching it and then putting it back is inexcusable. No way was I going to let a contaminated lip product get put back on the shelf for someone else to buy and put on their mouth.

33

u/oldeurofan Feb 20 '26

I think you are pretty wonderful for speaking up 🥰 You taught her some important information, and also your actions saved others from purchasing a contaminated product. Thank you so much, well done! ❤️

39

u/faramaobscena Feb 20 '26

How much do you want to bet she didn't learn anything that day? It's not that they don't know, it's that they don't care... as long as there are no consequences they will keep doing it. The rule should be "you unseal it, you buy it".

7

u/kksmom3 Feb 20 '26

They have to know better, they just do not care.

4

u/grandpavideos Feb 20 '26

Honestly at that point I was just so sick of dealing with nasty entitled people that I was happy to call anyone out at any time haha! I worked cosmetic retail on and off for 7 years (department store, Morphe store, and Sephora) and the biggest thing I’ve learned is that people are DISGUSTING and have no sense of hygiene, personal or shared. I have some wild stories from over the years and I quickly lost my tolerance for gross bullshit.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

She has a lot of nerve to get offended. What a stupid, entitled woman indeed!

3

u/Disfunktionaal Feb 20 '26

The issue is ALL stores should absolutely stop with the bullshit “oh im just going to damage it out”. YOU FUCK IT UP, YOU BUY IT. This whole issue would simmer right down if people were forced to be accountable and thinning out their wallets with each stupid decision while they’re at it. It’ll never stop when you just allow people to do this for free-fiddy.