Ever since I first started working on the Don’t Go… books with Paula, we have had a fondness for doing our hands-on research in the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Not only is this major city a relatively short drive from Seattle, but time and again it has proven to be a very friendly, helpful city for The Cosmetics Cop Team to work in.

By “work,” I mean we literally hit the streets, notes in hand, ready to visit drugstores, department stores, and specialty shops to personally look at dozens upon dozens of skin-care and makeup products. As you might imagine, this process requires lots of preparedness and concentration, not to mention a comfortable pair of walking shoes!

A co-worker and I recently did some research in Vancouver and it went beautifully! Not once were we asked to leave a store (yes that actually happens to us) or suspiciously questioned as to what we were doing, or even eyed with nervous apprehension. It seemed the salespeople simply viewed us as conscientious consumers with a rather intense curiosity about cosmetics—and that’s just fine with us!

What really struck me during this last trip was how different it can be doing such research in Vancouver vs. Seattle and environs. When we’re out doing our work in the U.S. we’re almost always on guard, ready to explain why we’re taking notes, why we need to see every shade of foundation (not just those the salesperson thinks will match our skin), and why we need the complete ingredient list rather than just the buzz-worthy ingredients the cosmetics industry loves to emphasize. We were careful in Vancouver, too, but found that for the most part, the salespeople weren’t all that concerned with what we were doing (and when they approached us they were always polite as opposed to the terse “What are you doing?” we normally get). 

I don’t know why this is, but we really appreciated just being able to go about doing our research without being questioned or treated like we’re up to no good. It’s amazing how often we’re either viewed as shoplifters or, more often, as employees from another store, there to check out the prices at a local competitor (I’ve been accused of this at Walgreens and Wal-Mart, and have had my notes scrutinized by management at Wal-Mart, not to mention questioned by security at Sephora stores) despite the fact the information we are gathering is mandated by the FDA to be available to the public.

The department stores can be the worst. Salespeople are often rude, they tend to hover, or they protect their products as if we were going to steal something. We gladly go through these experiences for you and have for years (even Paula has been thrown out of stores for writing down ingredients lists), because our goal is to do what it takes to get you the facts about the products you are buying. We truly want to help you spend your cosmetics dollars wisely, because wasting money is never pretty.

Of course, we’ve had lots of pleasant experience doing cosmetics research in the States. I can think of several salespeople who’ve been exceptionally helpful and who’ve willingly provided the information we need. These encounters are always appreciated. But I do need to send a great big “thank you” to the city of Vancouver for being such a great overall place for The Cosmetics Cop Team to do the work that so many consumers rely on to make informed decisions about what they buy. Until next time, Vancouver, THANK YOU!

“You have nighttime free radicals and daytime free radicals. Daytime free radicals are the sun and pollution, the nighttime free radicals are, um, I’m really not sure what those little boogers, the little nighttime pesticides, are that damage your skin at night, but they are there!”

Free radicals are destructive molecules that cannot tell time! Yes, it is true that sunlight is a major source of free radicals generated in the daytime, yet pollution, whether coming from auto exhaust or industrial pollutants, is ever-present. The level of pollutants may be higher during daylight hours, but it certainly doesn’t disappear when the sun goes down! And what about the fact that the oxygen we need to live is a potent source of free-radical damage, and that’s around all the time, too?

I don’t know what to make of the “nighttime pesticides” comment, but unless you are sleeping in a field or on farmland that has recently been crop-dusted, I wouldn’t be too concerned about pesticides on your skin at night.

Regardless of whether it’s day or night, antioxidants are state-of-the-art ingredients to look for when shopping for skin-care products, and there are dozens available (with no clear-cut “best” choice among them), but none of them can distinguish between daytime and nighttime free radicals. In theory, antioxidants in well-formulated skin-care products should perform regardless of the time of day.

I’ve witnessed the attacks from both sides of the counter. As a fragrance customer, I’ve had to stand and wait while two fragrance salespeople bicker over who was helping whom, who got so-and-so to make a purchase, and whose “turn” it is to ring in a sale. As a cosmetics employee at department stores, I’ve had to struggle with getting past the fragrance associates for a bottle of something a customer I’ve been working with wants to buy. Either way, entering this sea of sharks without knowing how to swim isn’t fun, and either way, it’s embarrassing for the associates and makes the customer uncomfortable. I don’t know what it is about fragrance salespeople that make them so competitive and, well, shark-like (ask anyone who works around these people what a “shark” is and they’ll know what to say).

In many ways, fragrance is an easy sell. After all, everyone wants to smell good, especially younger customers with money to burn (and significant others to find). I’ve rarely seen a fragrance salesperson have to work too hard to get a sale. In fact, I think the average car salesperson would find a day at the fragrance counters to be as stressful as a nap! There isn’t even a lot to learn in order to convincingly sell fragrances. Sure, knowing the brand history and individual notes (accords) is impressive, but what ultimately gets the consumer to buy is their personal impression of the scent itself, which is much more subjective than purchasing foundation or a moisturizer. It boils down to money, and how quickly it adds up for those who are aggressive in their tactics to sell fragrance.

Of course, that leads to all manner of drama (the thin-skinned rarely survive) that often plays out in front of customers.  That’s why when I shop for fragrance, I let the salesperson know I am testing scents on my own, and am not intending to make a purchase. If you say this firmly (but nicely) enough, they’ll leave you alone and move on to the next victim, er, customer. Of course, not all fragrance salespeople are shark-like but it seems such gentle fish are few and far between (maybe because they get stuck with the off-hours shifts?).

My advice to fragrance salespeople with shark-like tendencies: learn to share the waters and play fairly. There are more than enough customers to go around, and they don’t want to endure a behind-the-scenes drama as they shop and sniff.