MAC Cosmetics

I went in today to Nordstrom today to return some product and asked a Mac rep for a sample of some lotion. K. C gave me a few! I wasn’t even buying anything and she took genuine interest in talking to me about my skin and what I want to work on. Super sweet, caring and thoughtful! Totally went out of her way for me. Mac is lucky to have her! I was very impressed

Amanda P. is the best! I called at the last minute to ask if someone can do my makeup for a work function nearby. Amanda P. was so gracious to take me, and was very conscious about my time constraints. I only had 45 minutes, so she explained that since they charge by the hour, unfortunately she still had to charge me for the full hour. I thought that was perfectly fair. She paced herself to make sure we were done within that limited time. I explained to her what I wanted, she listened intently, and she completely understood. She even worked on an area of concern, and I was very pleased with how it all came out! She was very friendly, and made me feel so at ease. Very professional, but fun nonetheless.
If you want to look gorgeous for your event, ask for Amanda P! You will go to your event with extra confidence, knowing you look nice without looking fake. :) I wish I lived closer to the Gaslamp so she can do my makeup every weekend. She gets a very well-​deserved 5 stars!

My daughter wanted to start wearing makeup, and we stopped in for her to learn some techniques. She was primarily interested in learning how to do a natural, but polished, eye, and Cami was really wonderful with her. I have had plenty of experiences with makeup artists where you ask for something natural and end up looking like a Kabuki doll, but Cami took her time and taught my daughter how to do her brows, lids, lashes, etc. exactly as she envisioned.

I signed up for a No Make Up — Make Up class with Brad. Something came up and I was not going to be able to attend. Brad was able to get me in the next night and give me a one on one lesson. After learning of my very limited make up knowledge, he took the time to not only show me the steps, but made sure I understood how to do it so I could recreate it myself. I made it clear that realistically, I would not be willing to spend a lot of time getting ready in the morning. He was able to create a look that is easy for me to maintain yet makes a huge difference. Not only that, Brad also showed me how to get a more dramatic look at night. I thought I was destined for a life of only mascara and he made the steps so easy and clear for me.

DO NOT GET YOUR MAKE UP DONE HERE!!!
I flew down to San Diego for New Years. We wanted to treat ourselves to getting our make up done so we made an appointment here. Bad idea! I had showed the lady 5 different pictures of ideas and told her I wanted no frost or shimmer. Also asked me how I liked my coverage for face make up and told her full coverage. Unfortunately I got the complete opposite! My eye shadow was straight shimmer. My skin looked blotchy and horrible. Not to mention the eye shadow wasn’t even blended. My appointment was at 3:00 and she had me done and payed by 3:26!!! Never have i had a professional make up application that only took 26 mins when the appointment is booked for an hour. The worst was I had to pay a $ 60 application fee not redeemable in products. The top two pictures are taking at the store after she did it. And the bottom is after I redid my whole face and blended my eyes out. Glad i paid $ 60 for a half ass make up application that i had to COMPLETELY re-​do!

Couldn’t wait to get here! This was the highlight of my trip! This Mac Pro store had everything I needed and I got to use my Mac Pro card. I purchased lipsticks, gloss brushes and eyebrow pencils. The discounts here for makeup artist is well worth the hassle. This place was easy to find and is in walking distance! I love love this place.

I came in a few weeks ago looking to get my make-​up done for my company photos and was lucky enough to meet Brad! He immediately approached me as I entered the store with tons of energy and a vibrant personality. I told him what I was looking for and the vibe that I wanted to achieve for our photoshoot. He did an AMAZING job! Not only does he have an intuitive sense when it comes to make-​up artistry he was FUN! Considering your make-​up artist is literally up in your face they need to have a good personality. I had so much fun with Brad I didn’t want to leave when he was done. Good times, good vibes, flawless make-​up! Thanks MAC and Brad

Brad is absolutely amazing! I took one of his classes, which was incredibly helpful. He was very patient with everyone in attendance and not to mention extremely knowledgeable. He gave us tips to make us look flawless in our everyday looks. I ended up buying everything we used in the class which I continue to use on a daily basis.
I recently made an appointment with Brad for an event I had to attend. I’m not a type of person that knows too much about make-​up nor do I divert from my every day look very often. He was able to teach me how I could make my make-​up look more dramatic while keeping a natural feel. I bought the products he recommended so I would be able to achieve this look on my own. Sure enough on the night of the event, I was able to use all the products I bought and what Brad had taught me and was able to re-​create his flawless look.
I have another appointment with Brad in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to see what else he’s able to teach me!

Had my make up done for a vacation day/​night in San Diego with my girls. So happy we did, not only did our make up look flawless but we had fun. The artists were so friendly and playful. They helped us plan our night on the town! We had such an eventful evening, I’d like to think it was because our make up looked so good!
We walked in and made appointments for the same day. We showed up ready and on time. The session was quick, about 30−40minutes. The make up lasted for approximately 14 hours.
We were staying in a nearby hotel, so parking was not an issue as we just walked over.
My only complaint would be that the building itself was hot. The air conditioning was either not working properly or set on the wrong temperature.

Brad is a freaking miracle worker. He was super gentle and left me looking flawless. I can’t thank him enough for making me look like a model on my 30^th birthday.

First time customer, I wasn’t greeted, when I asked the staff what color bronzer and concealer would work for me, I didn’t get any help, she just pointed to it, that doesn’t really help a girl who has no idea how to apply it, I additionally stated I had sensitive skin and asked if these products would be ok, got a quick «sure». Anyways I ended up returning the makeup as I broke out in hives and entered the store again and of course there was no greeting, I showed the staff member my hives she could care less, just handed me me money and didn’t say a word. Good lord I felt like a kid who got in trouble or if I purposely used the makeup and ghetto returned it lol not returning !! Learn how to greet and treat paying customers. Smile more

So I’m here during Cisco live 2015 in San Diego. I’m super tired of my current makeup so I decided to check out this Mac and get some help. The associate was super nice and helped me with all the questions I needed answers to. She found the perfect match for my foundation, she also helped me get my brow game on! I’m so happy I didn’t feel rushed. There was lots of people in and out of the store in waves she apologized every time when she had to greet and help other customers. I’m totally okay with it. I didn’t mind her having to stop to help others. She gave me amazing tips and tricks. I recommend people going in to see her. She’s on point with matching foundation. Eyebrows and much much more. Her name is Roc. The best experience was due to her! Thank you so much! Oh and I easily spent 200 $

The sales associates here are horrible. Wasnt greeted at all, and I felt like I was doing something wrong when I asked for help. I just wanted some advice on lipstick and instead of providing some recommendations I was just pointed to the counter with lipsticks.
Since NO HELP was being provided. I walked out.

Every time I go to this store Celina gives me the best service. She always recommends awesome colors and when I’m stuck between colors she makes great suggestions and sometimes even better ones. She will let you know what colors are trending or popular and what will look good on you. She is great at giving good color combos. She is super nice and helpful and so are the other ladies who work here don’t be shy ask away and have fun!

Jessica is the best!!! Ive been here several times and never met anyone as nice and helpful as her. She is an excellent makeup artist also, shes very thorough and informative!
So I came in wanting to get a full new makeup set for my face– I mean I wanted the works. I asked questions and didnt even bother asking anyone to do my makeup because Ive asked at this location before and always get the same lecture-«you must make an appointment and pay for us to do your makeup, we dont do makeup for free anymore» …But TODAY I met Jessica, after I asked her some questions she OFFERED to match my makeup for me and show me how to use concealer and she did the works! This is what ive been waiting for! She matched me perfectly and did such a beautiful job. I am SOOOO happy with my products and she taught me the steps on how to apply everything. I HIGHLY reccommend her!

I came to this MAC during the late summer (around August of this year.) What I experienced was the absolute worst customer service experience that I’ve ever received at any store.
I walked in around noon time after lunch, hoping to find a beautiful red lipstick. I know that MAC’s lipsticks are extremely reputable in quality, and I was down in San Diego for vacation, so naturally, I wanted a nice pop of color to add to my makeup kit.
I was not greeted by the three staff members on duty. A man and another sales girl ignored me completely even when they saw me – they glanced, made a facial expression that made me feel completely unwelcomed, and continued to gossip amongst each other. The other sales girl was too busy texting on her cell phone to even look up and realize I was there. Mind you, this was during an hour when they should’ve been OFF cell phones and paying attention to customers (it was MID-​AFTERNOON!) but nope – they were too busy with their own life to care about a potential customer.
I cautiously approached the counter, already feeling extremely unwelcome in the store. The man finally looked up at me and realized I wanted assistance, and asked me (with extreme snark… ugh) what I needed help with. When I told him of my needs, the other sales girl promptly rolled her eyes at him and walked away, and he said, «Well okay, sit down over there and I’ll help you.»
Then, he brings over several Reds (I’ll admit, they WERE beautiful) and proceeds to match me. At least he did that right… then, he did one side of lips, and had me do the other side to make sure I knew how to do it myself. He also brought over with the Reds a MAC lip primer, several corresponding lip pencils (an absolute necessity for red lipstick), and lip glosses to add a little more «pop» to my lips. I was pleased with the color I ended up buying, but still extremely unhappy with the way this salesman treated me. It was extremely sassy (in the BAD way) and completely unprofessional. When he rang me up, he basically made me feel like I was too poor to afford the makeup anyway (HELLO?! Did they not teach you how to treat customers right?!) and did not even try to make me feel a little bit better about my experience at MAC – trust me, I was pretty upset. I am NOT a high-​maintenance shopper – I just want a little respect and to be viewed like a fellow human being.
The last straw was when I felt like I was being racially profiled – I am an Asian-​American, but it felt like the sales people thought I wouldn’t be spending money there because of my race. What made me come to that conclusion was this: Just as I was getting seated for my lipstick try-​on, another Caucasian woman walked into the store, and was IMMEDIATELY greeted by everyone in the store, smiles and everything – and then all of a sudden, EVERYONE was trying to help her. Mr. Salesman was definitely pretty grumpy that he had to help me instead of this other woman… the other two girls ended up BOTH providing service to this woman (who ended up walking out anyway, without buying anything.) For this reason alone, if I could give them no stars, I would.

One of my favorite mac stores in San Diego!
Everyone is always super friendly & eager to help.

I love this location! It has all the products of your usual MAC store and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful. It is right next to a lot of great restaurants as well as the San Diego Trolley. I stopped by around 3pm on a Saturday and the staff was very friendly and helped me find a new lipstick color and liner.
There weren’t too many people in the store, which I appreciated because I don’t like when it’s crowded. I was in and out in 15 minutes! I would definitely stop by again the next time I’m in the area.

I lost my Candy Yum Yum somewhere and wanted to get a new one, so I knew what I wanted when I stopped at the Gaslamp store yesterday morning. However, instead of being treated as a potential customer, I fell like no one cared and I even had to ask the tall girl with unfriendly rictus if I could try some lipsticks. She would not move from my side, like if I was going to run away with a full of bacteria item! The store is nice, big and plenty of room to try out products. I regretted shopping there though, because of not feeling welcome. Pretty and tall is not enough, MAC. Bring smiles onboard.

I had my makeup done for my friend’s wedding at this MAC store last Friday. I booked the appointment a month prior to make sure I had a private appointment scheduled at Noon on Friday, October 25^th. It was critical for me to get the private session (versus being a walk-​in with the possibility of multiple disruptions if they get busy with more customers in the store) since I was on a tight schedule with the wedding day festivities as one of her bridesmaids.
When I showed up at 11:52, it was pretty busy with five other customers and one sales girl working the store. To my surprise, I saw other employees in the back, but the one gal that was visible to all the customers was left alone helping all the other customers. You would think that they would come out and assist, but nope… didn’t happen until later.
When the friendly gal apologized for the delay and finally helped me out, I told her I had an appointment, so I was told to take a seat and she was going to be with me shortly.
Trying not to stress out about the tight schedule I was on, the clock continued on to 12:00, then 12:05, 12:10 and still no start to my 12:00 ‘private’ makeup session. Finally at 12:15, she was done helping all the other customers and was able to work on me.
I was surprised that the other two MAC employees didn’t come out until she was nearly done helping the wave of customers that came in. It took me a while to relax once she began because I was concerned about the late start to my session. Fortunately, Vanessa worked her magic and stayed within my time limit and I was done by 12:50, just enough time to run back in my room and change into my bridesmaid dress.
It was a little stressful to have my session start 15 minutes late, but with the end result of how she did my makeup, I was very happy with how it turned out. There was no pressure from her in purchasing more products, so I appreciated that.
Overall it was a good experience, I’d definitely schedule another makeup session in the future if I ever need to get glammed up again, but hopefully they’ll be better sticklers on their customer’s time and with their other sales gals better serving the store with their assistance when needed.