I'm a secret beauty buff. I don't wear a lot of makeup, and eyeliner scares me, but my goodness do…read moreI love to treat my skin right. I'm trying to be nicer to my hair, too. Sephora may be best known for its amazing selection of makeup and fragrance, but lately, they've really been killing it on the skin and hair treats. Sephora used to be the kind of place that has some ultra-luxe items that are definitely in the "treat" category, but they've been adding more and more brands that are a bit more budget-friendly while still offering great results. I scored myself a big bottle of Moroccan Oil (treat) and a couple of items from the new-to-me TheInkeyList brand. This brand uses ingredients that you definitely won't see in your typical drugstore brands but keeps the prices lower. Bonus: they go on great and work well. Absolutely stop by and look at their serums. Helpful staff and a clean and well-organized store make this location one of my favorites. (This location always keeps their testing stations well-stocked with applicators, tissues, alcohol, and makeup remover, too.)

The lighting at this Sephora location is unlike any other I've ever set foot in across the Twin…read moreCities or the United States in general. It's so dark and dreary that it's quite impossible to compare colors and undertones properly. I generally avoid it for this reason, as the dim lighting is a hindrance enough that I can't discern swatch differences despite holding the palette of colors on the back of my hand up to any brighter source of light possible. A lot of people like to vary their makeup looks, and I enjoy appreciating their creative personal expressions of beauty. I prefer only to subtly enhance my natural looks, so I'm specifically seeking only most natural color possible. I take my time comparing products in being very deliberate in anything I do. With beauty products, I test new bestsellers in every beauty product type against my current kit once annually. I do the same with digital apps and programs twice a year. As I'm starting to become more active as a model again now, I'm fleshing out my kit again for the first time since pre-quarantine. One of my last products to find is a longwearing liquid lip product, which I narrowed down to two products across six colors to test in the store. Southdale was on my route, so I stopped in and was able to narrow the six down to three. With the lighting at the Southdale Sephora making the comparison of subtle swatch differences entirely unreliable, I asked to use my allowed three samples to be used for the three lip colors I'd narrowed down to from the palette of rosewood, tea rose, and nudes still swatched on the back of my hand. The Sephora teammate was visibly unwilling though verbally stating otherwise - before suggesting that I use the lip swatch applicator sticks to sample the three lip colors and bring outside to sample. Let me get this straight: You're actively suggesting that a customer swatch a lip stain product on three open-ended sticks to walk outside with. Questions: 1. The lip product is so known for its staining power that it comes with a warning, and you knew it had staining qualities as it was part of our conversation. I'm wearing white. Are you covering the cost of cleaning should a customer get bumped and get the staining product on their clothes on their way out? 2. The walk from the storefront to the parking lot is 5-10 minutes long. Long-wearing liquid lip products are known to be fast-drying, and the movement of walking plus the time between applications dry each one that much further, thus affecting test application, appearance, and wear. How did this factor into the logic of suggesting applicator sticks? 3. Testing immediately outside with no makeup removal product in hand to wipe clean between tests, the residue of each last color would of course affect the next. How is this conducive of proper sampling procedure? 4. Part of the intention of this sampling was to test the longwearing claim of the product and see how each of the three compare against each other. How does swatching one right after the other in a parking lot allow for practical wear testing? This is not the first time Sephora has been awkward about sampling. I've witnessed plenty of representatives assisting guests and being very passively aggressive about the practice, and that's across the nation. That said, this experience of mine was paired by far the most ridiculous reasoning I've received or witnessed yet. Sephora, if you don't want to offer samples, it's simple: Don't offer samples. If Sephora locations actively make customers feel unwelcome for asking for samples that the Sephora brand so proudly claims is a part of the brand experience, expect customers to have a major problem with this consistent incongruence in brand identity and the disconcerting treatment that has me looking elsewhere for ongoing subscription purchases for all products that become part of my kit as my response in voting with my dollar. That's bad business for Sephora considering that the brand carries over 50% of the products in my kit in stores and over 80% when ordering online.

This place feels a bit like a garage sale, but I pay that no mind, I'm here to get my scent fix…read more They have hundreds of fragrance oils that you can sniff and mix until your heart's content. Coming here can be a bit overwhelming, but don't worry, they have the requisite coffee beans for you to huff whenever you need them. They have a bunch of commercial fragrance dupes that I could do without (think Burberry Brit and Ralph Lauren Polo) but then they have a ton of single notes which are always my favorite. For $5, I can get a rollerball of oil that I can combine and proportion to my approximate specifications and this baby will last me months at least. Unless you're a fragrance junkie like me then you have too many to use in an entire lifetime and so you'll probably be taking this to your grave. Oils are stored in clear containers which makes me cringe (it causes the oils to age more than if they were in darker bottles) but like Lil Wayne says, I ain't got no worries. Here are my favorite combinations that I've made: 80% almond/20% cherry; 50% Egyptian musk/50% fields of honey; 75% teakwood/25% plum. Have fun coming here!

I have visited this place twice. I was looking specifically for rose oil for my oil burner. The…read morerose oil was potent and I only had to burn it for 5-10 minutes and I could smell it all over the house. They also carry designer fragrances in oil form. It's nice because they can add the fragrances to a lotion if you want. There are multiple bottle sizes and they take credit cards (excluding american express). They also have some unique plug in oil burners too. It's a pretty random store as they carry belts, watches, wigs, body moisturizers and hair care products.

I love L'occitane's lotions so I was super excited to find a shop in the cities! They have a cute…read moreshop tucked into the Edina Galleria. Definitely stop in and try all of their different flavored lotions and beauty products. They even have items for baby and men! I made a special stop to get their advent calendars for the holiday season. They are expensive but worth it! So many amazing samples to use as you count down December. They have cool ornaments which include their products that make really sweet gifts too! I've always been a Francophile and hope to visit Provence, France the area that this company was founded from. Until then I'll stop by the Galleria and sample some of the Cherry Blossom lotion and buy another tube with the fancy key to roll it up for my purse. Plus some travel sized items for when I travel. Love this brand and will save up my spending money to splurge on their products when I can. petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid

Terrible customer service. There was no greeting as I entered the store. No one came to help or…read moreacknowledge me. Both employees just standing there talking to each other as I was testing out perfumes and was the only one in the store. The only reason they got my sale was because I was getting my mother her favorite scent otherwise I would have skipped giving them my money

Fantastic staff that is so welcoming and friendly to all . I just got snubbed walking around the…read moremall at several stores and the staff here took great care of me . Alexis even gave me a nice facial cleansing and just took time to make me feel special . It's the little things ! Customer for life now

Rude customer service. Spent over $350 and found my eye shadow crumbled. Called right away. In the…read moreend they did not address this issue. I had to get a replacement direct from the line of cosmetics. Never returning to this business.

My first visit to this location yesterday. The mall was fairly dead with regard to customers and I…read morewent in knowing what I wanted. There was one sales associate working and she was helping another customer so I had to wait about five minutes or more. No matter, but it would've been nice for her to acknowledge me while I was waiting. It was easy to tell that I knew what I wanted because I had my product in my hand as I waited, but she didn't even look at me. The woman she was helping was offered tea, of which I was never offered during my visit. While I waited I checked out some products of which I could have been sold possibly had the associate spent a moment of her time with me, other than ringing me up. A little customer service goes a long way and even if I didn't look like I could afford a big sale, you cannot judge a book by its cover, young lady. With a little attention she could've made the store three times what I bought. I will continue to purchase the few Aveda items which I cannot live without, but I won't forget the cold slight cold shoulder

I'm a fan of Aveda - it's local, uses fresh plant essences for its products, and everything smells…read moreso good. The staff are very knowledgeable and direct you to the right products. There's always a demo going on so you can try the latest greatest. On a recent visit the staff was exceptionally helpful - I had bought an item at the airport store and gone to return it within minutes but couldn't because the manager needed to be there and she was away. I was assured that I could return it at any Aveda store later. This turned out to be wrong information - I could get store credit, not a refund. The Southdale staff member was very understanding of my annoyance. This is what outstanding customer service looks like. Aveda has lost its cruelty free bunny because it will test on animals in countries that require it. This is making me reconsider my relationship with Aveda products.

I know you know Ulta... that's why you're looking it up on Yelp. Yes, this location is a good one…read more It's conveniently located (but be prepared to walk a bit... the parking spots closest to the entrance often fill up) at Knollwood and is close to some of your other favorite shops (I see you, beauty and style maven!). They have the excellent selection of both drug store and department store brands of cosmetics, skincare, and hair care products that you would expect, along with a great selection of fragrances and beauty tools. There is a salon and a Benefit Brow Bar, though you will need to make an appointment for either (worth it--they do a great job). It's really easy to find help with anything, be it finding a product that you know and love or getting help choosing the perfect red lipstick for you. The prices are standard, but regular promotions and deals mean that you can often score pretty extraordinary deals, especially if you've signed up for their program. Ulta also always has fun gift sets for every occasion, do stop in if you have an occasion to celebrate.

I love Ulta beauty in general! This store is well situated, the staff is pretty helpful, I have…read moreplaced a few pick-up orders here and never had any issue. Pick-up orders at Ulta is a great way to prevent yourself from going too crazy. The staff is ok here. I have definitely walked in here a few times and the staff is kind of socializing or sitting on their phones and I have not gotten any help, and Ulta is one of those places it is nice to have help because there are SO MANY options. I'll be back but hopefully the customer service aspect can improve just a bit!

Monica was amazing so kind and helpful! She is wonderful at her job, very knowledgeable on the…read moreproducts as well

Honestly, I haven't even bought anything in particular yet from Kiehl's stores but just giving a…read morehuge s/o to their in-store service. Went to the MOA location looking to get what I could for skincare advice since I'm dealing with some new breakouts and don't think it's too serious for a dermatologist. Chris, one of the employees working that night, helped me out right away. He was very eager to help, knowledgeable about all products and skincare in general, and honest about how I should deal with the breakouts and what they actually meant for my skin type. He was more than impressive. To top his awesome advice, I told him I was not ready to purchase all of what he recommended today. He said that was no issue and provided SOME, but not all [didn't have it or out of stock] samples to me in order to see how they worked for my skin. I thought was more than above and beyond. He went to the skincare stars and back! I will be trying out all products [which I really only hear great things about, including celebs who could buy any product they wanted] and reporting back to the employees at this store because I know they'll give me great feedback. Even if the products don't work for my skin, I'm more than satisfied with the service they provided at this location. Thank you Chris!

I spotted this Claire's store as I was heading to Bliss Acai. Claire's is a couple of stores to the…read moreleft of Bliss Acai. I visited Claire's after having devoured a Bliss Acai bowl in my car. I walked in and was the only customer in the store. There were a couple of young female staff members behind the counter. One said hi to me. They continued to chat for a bit. This store has many Squishmallows. I was in heaven! One of the female staffers let me know that if I buy an item, I get the second at 50% off in the store. I ended up getting two 5" Squishmallows (Vera and Keroppi) and two small ones on clips. The latter ones ended up being 50% off. Yay! I also got a couple of Pusheen pens. Each one has ten different ink colours. I had a few of these multicoloured pens as a kid, but they were always humungous. These ones fit nicely in a purse or backpack, and they work! I paid with a credit card. I also gave the staffers my e-mail address associated with my Claire's rewards. All was great. They put my goodies in a bag. I thanked them and walked out happy with my purchases. This store is cool in my books. I'll be back. (20)

The manager who was on duty during the afternoon on 8/17/24 was incredible. The store was…read moreimmaculately organized, even during peak back to school shopping season. She spoke to the kid shoppers on their level and was super affirming to all their tastes and identities. Truly welcoming and cheerful. She was also patient with my daughter using her Greenlight card by herself. I checked my receipt for her name but it was blank. Give this gal a bonus- she's awesome!