Estee Lauder Signature Services

After my little rant yesterday, on to a brand that's at least trying to get their counter service right.  I mentioned the other week that the worst makeover I ever had was at an Estee Lauder counter, and as a result I was invited along to try out an Estee Lauder Signature Service for myself to see how things had changed in the meantime.

There are several Signature Services, including Skincare Check Ups, Foundation Matching, Fragrance Finding, Colour advice, "Two Minute Touch Ups" (snigger) and Time Reversing Tips and Tricks.  I popped along to the Selfridges counter (ironically, one of the nearest proper Lauder counters to where I live), and spent some time with Kaman to get some skincare hints, and find my perfect foundation.

I'm a lapsed Lauder customer. I used to use their Double Wear foundation back in the day, I always found it slightly the wrong shade, but it was about the only foundation at that time that would cover up my dreadful reddened, angry and pustular skin.  Likewise, aside from Idealist, I'd always steered clear of their skincare, finding it dreadfully over-perfumed and found the names way too long and confusing (still do, as a matter of fact).

However, with the recent addition of Tom Pecheaux to their creative team, Lauder powder products have impressed me hugely, so I was happy to have my prejudices challenged.  Kaman, is a lovely girl, and when she told me that she's going to be spearheading Lauder's campaign to get all counter-staff trained in making the customer feel comfortable, I wasn't surprised that she had been chosen for the job.  Calm, chatty, and willing to listen to my specific concerns about my skin, and my less specific whinges about customer service in the beauty industry in general she's a great person to spend 20 minutes or so in the company of.

She really knows her stuff too.  The Lauder system is based on you answering a few specific questions, and then a range of products are suggested to you.  My skin is going through an oily patch at the moment, so I wanted to look at products that were good for combination skin showing the first signs of ageing, no mean feat, really.  I was "prescribed" products from the Perfectly Clean range (Sparkling Clean is for oily skin, Soft Clean is for dry skin, and Perfectly Clean is for normal/combination skin), alongside Revelation Moisturiser and Idealist serum.  Oddly, I've always thought of Idealist as a primer rather than a serum, so we'll see how it goes.

As for foundation, I was matched to Double Wear Light (bad beauty blogger alert) which I wasn't aware actually existed!  It's a lot easier to wear than regular Double Wear, that's for sure!  I was surprised that I was matched to a cool tone - I actually think my skin tone is pretty neutral these days, I'm pale, but I tan, and the veins on my inner arms appear green rather than blue, but I do prefer cooler tones for clothing, and silver jewellery for some reason - but it was interesting to see that Lauder are making an effort to match cool, warm and neutral skin tones.  I was also really pleased to see that even though this is a free service, I was actually given a ten-day sample of the foundation of my choice to take away with me, which I thought was brilliant.  Much better than a sachet that may, or may not give you a full application.

All in all, I was very impressed with my time at the Estee Lauder counter, and once I've finished trialling a few things, I'll be back to tell you more ...