SHOPPING for make-up and skin-care products is a very personal affair, as different products suit each of us in a different way, so when you want to take the time to get your purchase right, there is nothing worse than a pushy sales girl.

Nay Chi, a receptionist of a hotel also said that she preferred using skin-care instead of cosmetics.

“I like light make-up and I buy things like facial scrubs, facial wash, toner, moisturiser, and various lotions,” Ma Nay Chi said.

Ma Myo Myo, a marketing assistant, said she bought the same sorts of products as Ma Nay Chi, but both women said they get very annoyed with the pushy sales girls at the cosmetics counters.

“If I want to buy something I want to be able to choose it myself and then if there is something that I want to know I would ask them,” Ma Myo Myo said.

“But as soon as I get to the counter they just throw words at me non-stop and I get so confused that sometimes I don’t buy anything,” she said.

Ma Nay Chi said that it was hard to reject the sales girl’s suggestions on how good their products were and she often felt pressured into buying items she does not need.

“I feel really uncomfortable and I don’t feel like I can stop them, so I just buy the least expensive item,” Ma Nay Chi said.

Ma Nay Chi also said she thinks the sales girls at the counters selling the most famous brands were the worst.

“Maybe the sales girls get a percentage of the money made from the sale and that is why they try so hard,” she said.

Ma Myo Myo said she sometimes told the sales girls that she can not try the products because she has skin allergies, as a way to get them off her back.

Daw Khin Mya Nwe, who is in her early fifties said she prefers buying cosmetics over skin care.

“Skin care wouldn’t work very well at my age, and I need make-up that will help me cover my wrinkles,” she said with a smile. Daw Khin Mya Nwe said she often buys cosmetics that she sees in advertisements because she likes to try out new things but she is also often frustrated by the sales techniques used by the girls at the cosmetics counter.

“For that reason I never buy cosmetics from counters at the super market. Instead I buy them from the spa that I go to because the girls don’t push me and I can choose what I want peacefully,” Daw Khin Mya Nwe said.

But many sales girls say it is their job to lure customers into buying a lipstick or two.

“It is our duty to give information to the consumers and we do feel sorry when customers tell us we are disturbing them,” said a sales girl of one of the most famous brand.

Another sales girl said, “We want you to be beautiful and we sell the products because you are worth it,” while she was explaining a new liquid foundation product to a customer. The woman nodded her head and bought it.