Buying make-up at a beauty counter can leave you red in the face - even before buying blusher. The shop assistants may be all glamazons but the service can be just skin deep.

Good looks are not enough to move make-up these days. Savvy shoppers want more. They are often time-pressed, seek value for money and want fuss-free make-up tips.

What they don't want is some pushy princess fobbing them off with unsuitable products, or worse, turning up her snooty, perfectly powdered nose and treating them like dirt.

So Urban played mystery shopper at 27 department store beauty counters and four standalone shops, including Sephora and Kiehl's, to suss out the good, the bad and the ugly in three categories.

These were: service, product information and free samples, where you can ask for test samples without being made to feel like a freeloader.

Only eight - five for women's products and three for men's - stood out (see below).

Urban also tracked down the names of the assistants at these great eight.

These good groomers stood out in less-than-pretty encounters experienced by two Urban reporters at beauty counters during the two-week test from Jan 5 to 16. Reporter Sherwin Loh stood for male shoppers while I represented the female side.

Urban has not named and shamed those who botched our beauty test overview but customers encountering such sloppy service might not be so kind.

OUR REPORT

Service and product information: The good news is, while Singapore shops in general have a bad reputation for service standards, beauty counters fared better than expected.

At 26 counters, we were greeted cheerfully by a beauty assistant and asked about our skincare concerns.

No one tried to hard-sell products, even though most assistants work on sales-based commission.

Instead, beauty consultants at 29 counters listened to our concerns and recommended products they felt were best suited to our skin types.

However, there were subtle differences in the way the assistants - or beauty advisers, as they call themselves - approached men and women.

Sherwin found that they were always polite but none went that extra step to convince him to invest in their brands.

I came across assistants who left me alone to pick out products without offering any help.

However, many gave me information about other products such as serums and eye creams to complement my basic skin regimen.

Carolyn Khiu, Singapore's brand general manager for Clinique, which offers both men's and women's skincare items, explained: 'Men usually have an idea of what they want to buy and want to browse around on their own. They like their presence to be acknowledged but do not like to be approached immediately.

'Women usually come with a skincare concern and seek consultation. They like advisers to demonstrate the products on them while men prefer to try products on their own.'

Samples: Ah yes, the tricky bit. No one wants to be guilt-tripped into feeling they are cheapskates, yes?

About half the counters doled out samples.

Of the other half who did not, most simply said they did not carry samples at their counter.

However, a check with the brands' marketing executives showed otherwise. They said that the stores do stock samples but in limited quantities or for selected items.

Kiehl's, Biotherm and Shu Uemura counters were among the most generous: At each of them, I could not decide between two ranges of products and was offered a set of products from each that contained at least three samples.

The only high-end skincare brand to dish out samples happily was Cle de Peau Beaute - two bottles of moisturiser, for day and night.

Potential freeloaders should take note though: Assistants often take down your details so they can follow up with you to see if the products worked. Of course, you can decline to oblige but try this one time too often and word will get around the counters.

BEAUTY IN TRAINING

You might wonder what it takes to be a beauty adviser - someone in whom you are placing precious trust to help you make the most of your most visible asset, your face.

After Urban wrapped up our mystery shopping exercise, we checked with 12 of the brands we surveyed, including skincare superstars such as Clarins, Estee Lauder, Shu Uemura and Shiseido, to find out how they train their counter folk.

All the brands said they carry out intensive training programmes lasting between four days and three weeks for new hires. Newbies are also often asked to shadow more experienced ones for about a month to gain on-the-job experience.

At Kiehl's and Clinique, assistants are taught to identify different skin types and to mix and match products from different lines to create a customised routine for shoppers.

When they launch new products, brands say trainers will hold special sessions with the beauty advisers.

At Shu Uemura, Shiseido, Bobbi Brown and La Mer, advisers are singled out for praise at monthly meetings.

Kiehl's and Clarins also hold get-together meals for staff and give tokens of appreciation such as shopping vouchers for good performers.

Many brands also have supervisors who conduct regular islandwide checks to ensure consistency in service.

To keep beauty advisers on their toes, brands also conduct their own mystery shopper programmes.

UNDERCOVER OPERATION

As part of this survey on service standards, Urban hit 31 beauty counters - 19 for women's products and 12 for men's - over two weeks. Four of these were standalone shops while the rest were department store counters.

We picked counters in the town areas on the assumption that brands will staff these high-traffic counters that see many tourists and well-heeled locals with their best people.

At each counter, we would ask the beauty assistant to recommend a new skincare routine, pretending to know nothing about the brand.

We would then wait for her to ask about our skin type and concerns. If we had to volunteer that information, it was one strike against the brand.

Brands that offer free skin consultation got bonus points - only one brand, Clinique, has this practice.

After the consultant comes up with a regimen, say a three-step routine of cleanser, toner and moisturiser, we would ask for samples of each to test the products.

We evaluated each counter on the following criteria:

Service: Did the beauty adviser greet us and offer her assistance or was she indifferent and kept a distance? Was she helpful and forthcoming with information or did we have to pelt her with questions to get what we wanted? Did she show a passion and enthusiasm for her brand or was she merely regurgitating the marketing spiel?

Knowledge: How well-versed was the beauty adviser with her products? Did she recommend the right products or simply plugged the brand's newest products? Was she able to analyse our skin types correctly?

Samples: Did the consultant offer product samples or did we have to ask? We feel strongly that it is important to test products before buying them to ensure you don't break out and that you enjoy the scent, texture and efficacy of the products. So brands lost brownie points if they did not give out samples.

This article was first published in Urban, The Straits Times on Jan 30, 2009.