It was almost my birthday and I had to rush down to the ICI Paris store to redeem a gift voucher I had received on my previous birthday which was about to expire.

I was in need of a nice nude lip gloss and after entering the store I was a bit overwhelmed by the variety of products available. That left me a little discouraged because I just don’t like having too many options. I didn’t want this lip gloss search to last forever.

Luckily in ICI Paris the staff is very helpful and before I knew it a very eager young employee approached me. I am never sure about how to deal with such overexcited people, you want them to be pleasant and helpful but not overboard with enthusiasm as I find that to be quite distracting.

Chanel ‘nude’ was the first to try out. I have a weakness for Chanel so my excitement was short lived as the color was too cold, too purplish and too grey (her words). We moved on to another option: ‘Clinique’. This was a long lasting lip gloss and very sticky. The color looked nice and “warm” maybe this could be it! Just to be sure she gave me another one from an unfamiliar brand ‘Urban Decay’. This lip gloss called Revolution lipstick, was a bit less glossy but just as beautiful, it was time to make a choice.

She told me she also uses the clinic herself and that she was very happy with it. I was leaning more towards the other one because I wasn’t sure about that stickyness. “Ah yes” she said, “it can be annoying when you have European hair because when the wind blows, your hair sticks to it, but you’re not going to have that problem since your hair type doesn’t move”…… right, Maureen think positive she is just trying to help (now focusing more on her remark and how that made me feel instead of choosing which lip gloss I liked). Ok! Made my choice not really liking the comment but not in the mood to make a fuss about it either while looking at her overly happy face, this lady just has too much energy! She then continued, “Yo, you should see me with that other color, you would be cracking up it looks better on you”

She said, Yo and cracking up with a hood (read ghetto) accent. Why?…. Well you know, (still thinking positive) maybe she’s a young caucasian girl from the hood and because of that over excitement she forgot to speak in a proper manner. But then she said, “you know, you should go for the less glossy, it’s better, you wouldn’t want your big lips too look even bigger!!”

Bam, hold up, ok what? Red alarms went off in my brain. What did she just say? I had already made my mind up on the less glossy one because it had more coverage but looking straight in her eyes because I was facing mirror first to see if she was really that clueless, I replied, “I made my choice, I choose the less glossy one because it has more coverage not because I am insecure about my lips, how I see it the fuller the lips the better”. “That’s actually the right term for them full lips and not big lips”, I continued.

Her expression changed in a matter of seconds from happy to confused to I got the message. She finally took that boldness and over enthusiasm down a notch to an instant professional level and packed my chosen lip gloss adding a bunch of samples to make up for her out of line remark. I wished her a happy day and hoped she learned her lesson.

Now what do you think about my new nude lip gloss?

Love,

Maureen