MAC Cosmetics

Great mascara, good customer service, and some wonderfully bold lipsticks

I am a make-​up artist and Pro member and this typically is the store I prefer to go to if I need something immediately and cannot order online. I am only writing a review because I keep running into this problem, not only at this MAC store, but at each and every location I visit and I am so tired of it. I am convinced the behavior is imbedded in the MAC culture. As usual, I experience stellar customer service when I am spending $ 200 or more, but when I need to exchange or return something (rare, but it happens) everyone has an attitude and is less than helpful! First let’s talk about how friendly everyone is during purchase time, but when you return 3 days later, no one knows you! This time there were eye signals between the manager and the sales consultant (one of the girls who actually helped me) to indicate that I cannot make an exchange without a receipt. I of course went to the manager directly after being told «no» and explained that I did have my Pro Card which includes purchase history and that the error was not my fault. The Manager on staff during the day of purchase, gave me an eye shadow in the original case, not the case for the palette’s. I made it clear to her what I wanted, but never saw the items she pulled. If you’ve ever shopped at MAC, you know they pull items and hold everything at the counter. Of course when I went home I noticed the mistake. I had to endure the manager’s slow and lackluster demeanor as she decided to allow me to make the exchange. I couldn’t help but to mention that it didn’t make sense that they would give a Pro member such a product. She then couldn’t help but to make up an excuse, which made matters worse in my opinion. Then… are you ready… I find out that the original case shadows are $ 6 more than the palette shadows!!! I wouldn’t be surprised if it was purposely done. My next review will be of the Soho store in NYC. The Manager there wouldn’t look up my Pro number so that I could make a purchase during my time in NYC. MAC customer service needs improvement!

Ok, this review was initially a 3 because the makeup artist that was supposed to do my makeup didn’t show up two weekends in a row. However, I have upgraded my review after Kendra (the manager) did my lesson instead and really went above and beyond to make sure I had a worthwhile experience. This store is typically under staffed and very crowded and sells out of product quickly, so be prepared to wait or walk out empty handed. My advice: call before you go in to make sure they have what you need.

I came to inquire about an E-​Gift Card for my WomanBaby & get a Lip Liner for myself, & the stupendous Alicia was here! I had the pleasure of meeting this London beauty when I was traveling through Union Station a few months back… she is still as sweet & vibrant as can be.
I really appreciated the fact that she didn’t try to sell me products after I stated I didn’t wear makeup, with the exception of enjoying MAC’s awesome line of MAC Matte Lipsticks & Liners.
What Alicia did educate me on was the bare essentials I could use when I wanted to dabble in looking extra flawless & even shared with me a very natural looking concealing trick for the Villalago on my eyelids.
With MAC providing a line of Men’s products nowadays, I would behest anyone in need of any beauty tips to go see the MAC Master-​ette herself, Alicia. You surely can’t miss her billion dollar smile & presence.

I love some of MAC’s products that I would never change it to another brand (such as studio fix powder). This store’s location is very convinient for me. They have a good variety of products. However, communication with staff can be a hit or miss. I was told to have different skin color tone by 3 different staff, thus was given different shades of powder each time…

Ask for Alicia if you want exceptional customer service! She was working alone in a store full of clients and still managed to provide great service, recommendations, and a wonderful smile. Thanks for all your help Alicia!

Went here early on Saturday, when they first opened. Was greeted by 2 artists whose makeup was beautifully done. Wanted to try the lipstick «Heroine» because I had heard such great things about it. Not too keen on purple, but it wound up being a great shade. Lasted All Day though! Loved quality service too! Those ladies know their makeup.

I’ve been here twice, each time to get lipstick. Both times, the sales associate took the time to help me make a selection. Both times, I wound up with a shade other than the one I planned on getting, and was very pleased both times. The associates’ choices were more flattering than mine. They did not try to sell me other products and treated me as customers should be treated. No negativity — a purely pleasant experience.

This store sucks. These people act like you are coming into their house with globs of mud on your shoes. I mean, the frowns couldn’t get any uglier. After milling around, one of the MUS (i guess you could call them that, NONE of their faces were beat) decided to bless me with her presence ask me if I needed help. I did need to look at a couple of lipsticks, so she cleaned them off and as I tried them on, she hovered over me and kept asking me ‘do I want it?” Um five minutes ago, I was rode kill to you, now I can’t get you off my back. Geez, can I let the lipstick marinate a bit? Anyway, I chose to lipsticks and she put them at the counter. After that, she just disappeared. I stood at the counter wait and waiting… and waiting and… nothing. Meanwhile, the tow other MUA (again using that term loosely) walked around me like I was a sack of garbage in the middle of the floor. Someone could have quickly rung me up or at least tried to find out why I was standing at the register with my wallet out and NO ONE was being the counter helping me. What is equally sad is one of the people out of the floor was the manager (whose face looked the worse btw)!
After standing around for about 15 minutes, I decided to take my business elsewhere. As my momma always said, «I’m not going to beg you and pay you too.» I grabbed my purse and walked out. I will never come to this location again and if you value your time, you won’t either.

I’ve been a long time MAC customer and I always visit for something fresh each season. My complaint is the manager KENDRA, she never acknowledges guests and is very passive aggressive; I’ve visited this location four times in the past six months and drop a nice penny consistently. KENDRA stares at me and is very disrespectful, what a shame to be a Estée Lauder company and show such unprofessionalism. I will now be traveling to Tysons where I don’t feel uncomfortable. It’s just makeup ladies it’s supposed to be fun!

Well-​stocked and well-​staffed store. A makeup shopper’s dream. They have great wide mirrors so you can check yourself and the colors out. I love watching the artists as they do makeovers. This place is one of the best stores in Friendship Heights!

I’d been in there once before, but I’m writing up the visit that occurred after the unfortunate event at Sephora. What a contrast.
There was only one clerk on duty in MAC and one other customer who had a lot of questions. She managed to help me pick out a foundation that matched my hard-​to-​match face while helping the other customer. Even better, I’d wiped off all of my foundation in Sephora, and without my asking she offered to repaint ye olde face. I really appreciated that.
Why not five stars? For the very petty reason that I hate shopping for foundation. It does not reflect on MAC at all.

I don’t wear tons of makeup but I like dressing up for special occasions. The staff seem to know what they are doing. Some are nicer than others. The makeup is more expensive than some products but quality.

Never again am I going to this location !
The staff is extremely rude. It almost as if you annoy them by even thinking about stepping up to their counter. Which baffles me because clearly they don’t realize that they are at work. The woman who helped us was so annoyed with me since I asked her to color match me. She chose a color put it under my eye, pointed me to the mirror and walked back to the register to ring me up. Didn’t even ask me if I was okay with the color or anything. I let her know I wanted to browse and if looks could kill I wouldn’t be writing this review now. Aside from that when we were ready to check out the man who was at the register asked her where she placed our products. she walked up to him and told him that we didn’t even know what we wanted to buy. I stated to him that I was pretty sure of what I needed, she walked away and as she got near another co worker she began to whisper about us as they giggled. Yes, Im not exxagerating they were literally talking about us while I was no more then 5 feet away. I didn’t confront them because lets be honest she clearly wouldn’t have cared and would have been defensive. I felt my best route was to contact MAC personally, and of course as expected to this day I have to heard back from them. Considering that they are a business and with any business your over all goal is to attain and maintain customers. Whether my purchase was $ 20 or $ 500 dollars shouldn’t matter your objective is to make money $$$$. If I am correct and Money is the overall goal
MAC really needs to reconsider the training that is provided to their rude ass associates !!

I finally got into this MAC location. The young man who helped me was very sweet and attentive. I just went in for brush cleaner and walked out for a suggestion for a new concealer. I am wearing MAC foundation NW45 in my profile pic and it comes out looking flawlessly in photos. Yes, products are pricey, but they give great results and last a while. Hoping the great service wasn’t just a fluke and will visit again next time I need to restock my supplies. Much better service than the Sephora around the corner.

I have had great service at this location. I have been several times now and every time it is good! One time I was in search of a new mascara. I walked in and was promptly greeted and asked what I was looking for that day. I replied a new mascara, I told the sales associate what I was using currently and what I liked and did not like. He promptly showed me Studio Fix in Bold Black. I fell in love after he showed me how my eye lashes looked with it on! I then looked at the glass. I am a MAC gloss lover so I couldn’t resist. I was very clear about what I thought about colors and he did not stop until I found a color I liked.
Another time I was in there I was looking for a primer and foundation. I asked lots of questions and was given immediate responses. The sales associate was very knowledgeable and helpful. She even asked if I had a minute so she could match the foundation to my skin. I sat in her chair she wiped my current makeup off and we chatted for about 15 mins and she applied concealer and foundation and blush. Overall I was very happy with my experience here!

My experiences here tend to be relatively inconsistent. Except for once instance, I have to wait a very long time for someone to help or even greet me (!). Usually I’m just completely ignored and leave.
One thing that I’ve noticed in particular is that some sales associates are very pushy – every time I buy a lipstick, they try to sell me a lipliner even if I say I already have one and tell me it won’t look good on me without it. Another thing that really bothers me is when I ask for a specific product but they try to sell me a Pro product that’s more expensive. I can think of three separate occasions where someone has told me, «Oh, this is what you’re looking for,» that’s $ 10 more than what I wanted to buy.
I tend to only go into this store to see the product firsthand but I end up buying it online because the sales associates are pretty pushy for the most part.

I agree with the one star review below. Yes, the staff was very very unpleasant and rude, and I wish I never went there.
It was late in the evening during the weekday, and there were only two customers including myself in the store. There were two sales rep.
The other sales rep was a fairly young girl, and she sounded super helpful and nice. She was really trying her best to help out the customer she was talking to, and she was extremely friendly and cheerful. Well, I wasn’t too lucky with mine.
I wanted to get a Mineralize skinfinish for a friend as a gift. I saw a limited edition on display, and asked the other sales rep for help. She came over, and she opened the drawer to look through for 2 seconds and said there was one left.
This may sound extremely silly and weird to non-​MAC make up users, but to some avid MAC make up lovers (especially among the Asian MAC community), we buy the limited edition items for the sake of… almost collecting them. We admire the pretty marblings of the skinfinish and blushes and buy those limited items. To be honest, MAC doesn’t offer the best quality make up products compared to other more high end make up products such as Chanel, Dior, etc. Korea is one of the highest revenue grossing markets in the world for MAC, and that is the general opinion among the Korean make up communities.
So, I asked the sales rep if it would ok for me to check inside the drawer and see if there was an extra one left, because if possible, I wanted to buy a skinfinish with better looking marbling for my friend. I usually try to be polite, and I asked her very nicely, too. She said, «No, you are not allowed to do that.»
?? I shopped at MAC numerous times, and this was the first time I was told I couldn’t look through. They always said I could check and pick the one I liked. Also, she said it in a way as if she was talking to a 2 year old. If she just said it in a nicer way, it would not have mattered. Couldn’t she have said it in a much nicer way such as, «Oh sure, let me check one more time» or «Oh, no I made sure that it was the last one, and we don’t allow the customers to look inside the drawer»
I gave her a confused look, and then she said, «I mean, we have numerous surveillance cameras in the store and you can’t look through the drawer.»
…
Isn’t that why I first asked her if I could check inside the drawer? and what does it have to do with the surveillance cameras? Was I about to steal something from the store right after asking the sales rep if it was ok for me to look inside the drawer? I told her that I just wanted to make sure if there was another one, and then she said, «well I told you already that that’s the last one. You don’t believe me? then go ahead and look through if you don’t believe me.»
And then she said «are you gonna get it or not» and then looked at me like I was retarded.
Wow. You know, I don’t go into a store expecting to be treated like a queen. I think I am a pretty nice easy going person, and seriously I think I asked her nice enough during the conversation.
This was one of the very very few moments when I felt like… What the heck is seriously wrong with this person and why is this extremely rude and snobbish person in sales department???
That was some experience.

It seems to be a common trend among MAC staff to be unfriendly, not helpful and just generally rude. Every time I have gone into this MAC, the staff treats people like they have better things to do than help you. Um, it’s your job. If you don’t like it, work somewhere else.
I went in to make a return on an eye pencil that someone sold me in that store 5 days earlier. When I originally made the purchase, I asked the woman if I could try on a different shade. She assured me that no other shade would fit my skin. Thinking she was an ‘expert,’ I didn’t save my receipt or question that another shade might have been better. When I went back to return it, another unpleasant staff member just said «we can’t do anything without the receipt» and offered no other help. She could have tried to pair it with another product to make it look better or something. Anything. Instead, she just stared at me until I left.
I have worked in retail and I know for a fact that even if the «computer won’t do an exchange without the receipt,» the manager can still help the customer until they are happy. They CAN do an exchange if they WANT to, regardless of the rules. I wouldn’t have thrown the receipt away in the first place, but I blindly trusted that the ‘make up expert’ actually knew what she was talking about. This is the second time they have sold me a product that didn’t even fit my skin tone. There definitely won’t be a third.
There are MANY, MANY other make up stores with quality products and friendly customer service that actually put their customers’ satisfaction first. Why bother going here when there’s way better competition just steps away? You would think with so many other competitors all around you, you would care enough to 1) be friendly to the customers 2) actually have knowledge of the products you’re selling and 3) be reasonable when someone is simply trying to do an exchange and refer them to a manager to resolve things if you want to hide behind your policy or rules.
People don’t have all of the same kinds of complaints about MAC and MAC staffers for no reason. I definitely won’t be giving them any more of my business.

I love this Mac store. Normally Mac stores are overcrowded and understaffed but this place every time I go is always fully staffed and ready to help you. For some reason the men always help me and I’m fine with that cause they are really very friendly. Makeup in the store on these women is Fierce!!! This is the ONLY Mac store I want to frequent.