Douglas Cosmetics

This review is for Bluemercury 2, which is now in the same location.
The one star is only for the selection and convenience of the location.
Every time I’ve gone in for a purchase, whether I’m browsing or checking out at the register, every employee seems to not want me to make purchases or be there in the first place. They talk amongst themselves and offer advice when prompted in a pretty indifferent manner. I think I’ve made three purchases this month and as a customer, I want to feel like they want me there. If they don’t, I’ll make the longer trek to Sephora where I can be treated as a paying customer.
Horrible customer service (at least it’s consistently horrible?)

Moral of the story — Do not expect to be prioritized as a customer.
I’m writing a review about Blue Mercury, which now operates in the same store space that Douglas used to be.
I just had my first real encounter with the staff today when I chose to have a 1-​hour long massage. According to their spa menu, an hour long massage is $ 90. With the gift card I had received, I was excited and willing to pay the high price for a high-​quality massage.
They were very limited in their scheduling availability, because their masseuse only operated on certain days and only in the mornings. I shifted meetings around to try and make her time work, but unfortunately my last meeting ran late and I arrived at the store at 11:10am, 10 minutes after my appointment time.
The masseuse, June, did not show any outward signs that she was annoyed I was late, save for a few remarks. The massage itself was so-​so — not as great nor thorough as other, less expensive, massages I’ve had. It actually felt more like a beating on my entire body — and this is coming from someone who enjoys and prefers stronger massages.
That being said, I was willing to overlook all this if it weren’t for the fact that, instead of giving me an HOUR long massage — she only gave me a 45-​minute one. In fact, I went up to the register afterwards, and with tax, it came out to $ 95.00. For a 45-​minute massage. They were not only charging me 25% more than the expected rate, but she did not explain the situation at all.
Only after I began asking questions, did she begin go tell me that it was my fault that the massage was cut short. I only arrived at 11:10am — does that mean I deserve to be overcharged? I asked her manager to come over, and even he had asked her why she didn’t just give me another 10 minutes. I would have been happy with a 55-​minute massage, and overlooked her catty attitude. But a 25% overcharge was ridiculous. I refused to argue with her, since she simply continued to blame me for my shortened massage, and finally the manager settled for giving me a 10% discount.
It’s really a pity. If they had just given me a 20−25% discount like I had deserved, I would have tipped her handsomely for the customer service and understanding. instead, because they pettily fought me for every penny — with terrible customer service and attitude — I realized that I never want to return there. It was a really terrible experience. I left stressed and frustrated, rather than relaxed and refreshed. More importantly, their attitude was that of isolating their customer, rather than trying to make the spa experience *about* the customer; I felt targeted and ridiculed for speaking up.

Douglas has since closed and is now Bluemercury 2. Quite frankly, when it was Douglas, it garnered a reputation during the summer with its free ice pops with a purchase of a certain amount (touted by an employee dancing to fun music outside the shop under a beach umbrella). Not to mention I also snagged a nifty black tote bag for only $ 3 (the handles of which ended up coming off, but I’m not sure that has anything to do with how much it cost…) that I got some use out of. However, now that the name and ownership of the location have changed, I’m not nearly as sold. They don’t carry Benefit, which is one of my absolute favorite cosmetic brands, and even though they offer on-​location spa treatments, it’s just not my cup of tea. Sorry, but should I need anything in terms of makeup, I’ll retreat to my beloved Sephora.

Just a weird place. The employees lurk around like in Victoria’s Secret, and some of them are kind of scary/​scary looking, which isn’t great for a cosmetics store. I recently made a purchase and had to exchange part of it and the manager guy was really awful. He took his sweet time getting to the register, the flung around my items and was then ready to return everything in front of me, which means I could have easily gotten back a bunch of money I never spent in the first place. Not my favorite place, but I’ve been in there for convenience and because they often have free gifts :)

The women here are super pushy. I ducked in one day because it was really cold outside and I wanted to warm up a bit (and check out new fragrances). I was barely in the store for 10 seconds before a woman came up to me telling me she had the perfect thing for my hair. She grabs my hand and leads me over to the Douglas brand hair care products. Before I knew it, she was spraying things in my hair and commenting on how lively and shiny it looked now. All I felt was greasiness. When I politely inferred that I wasn’t interested, she kept saying, «It’s European!» and «This product comes from GERMANY,» as if these statements would make me change my mind about the greasy residue the product left in my hair. I ended up scurrying out of the store back into the cold of winter. I guess I won’t be using this store as a pit-​stop to achieve warmth anymore.

Being in the spa biz it PAINS me to pay retail — but for certain items that I must have NOW (and can’t or won’t wait for shipping online or ebay) I get at Douglas.
They even carry Bond fragrances. (Love ‘em.) Also my 3 year old is a girly-​girl and runs straight to the CHanel display to play with lipstick whenever we are there. She adores Coco Pink.

Douglas has a great selection of brand name makeup, perfume and hair products. From Paul Mitchell to Lancome, Douglas should satisfy your beauty needs. The people who work there are also really knowledgeable about the products and ready and willing to give you pointers, tips and demonstrations. You can also get your makeup done there with a purchase!