Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia

I stopped by the Estee Lauder counter in Isetan Scotts counter today to pick up the new Blue Dahlia palette (S$68). Designed by Tom Pecheux, who is the new Creative Makeup Director, I have been lemming this palette ever since seeing the ad visual featuring Hilary Rhoda.

Blue Dahlia is quite a bold colour combination by Estee Lauder's standards and should be fun to experiment with.

I also decided to pick up the Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Surreal Violet (S$26, 9ml) after seeing these beautiful swatches on Lipglossiping. It is an elegant dusky mauve pink with a very fine shimmer.

Unfortunately, my experience at the Isetan Scotts counter was completely marred by the sample policy. After telling the SA that I would like to purchase the two items above, I asked politely if I could have a sample of the Double Wear liquid foundation. She then checked my customer record on her computer and said that since I had already received samples of the Double Wear and Cyber White foundations from the Tangs counter, she could not give me any samples of these two foundations. Instead, she could only give me a Resilience Lift Extreme foundation sample, which is not suitable for my skin type.

After leaving the store and reflecting on the exchange, I came to regret going ahead with the purchase. I really should have just walked away instead of giving her my business and rewarding such poor customer service. I was not a cheapskate customer trying to blag a free sample without making any purchase. I was spending close to $100 and they couldn't even give me one small foundation sample of my choice? There was actually a big container full of small pre-packed pots of foundation samples sitting right behind the counter in plain view. And seriously, these samples cost a pittance compared to what I was spending.

I am a very easy customer to serve as I usually go to the counter knowing what I want to purchase and I don't bother the SAs with questions aside from the prices. All the Estee Lauder SA had to do was tell me the prices and then get the two items for me. I was probably the easiest five-minute sale of her day but she just lost Estee Lauder a customer for a good long while.