Introducing Sephora

Hallelujah! All my cosmetics shopping problems are over! I have often written of the intimidation of the brightly-lit jungle that is the average department store cosmetics department (complete with swooping and hovering vultures disguised as salespeople!&#41 but today I found a jungle oasis worth braving the downtown crowds for: a store called Sephora, the Niketown of makeup stores. The entire first floor is made up of every perfume known to man, in alphabetical order no less, and the second floor has acres and acres of makeup and makeup accessories. But you haven't heard the best pert yet: it's all out in the open! You can actually touch it, and try it on, and look at it without any salespeople coming over to you at all! Oh, they're there, hovering around the edges of the store, but they are very unobtrusive. Every little aisle has a mirror and a little tray with stuff to put on and take off the makeup and best of all, all of the prices are clearly marked. I tried stuff I've only coveted from afar, and although I'm not a real makeup-loving person, I did like the rose petal-y cheek tint from Benefit and the temporary green and blue haircolor from Urban Decay. I also found out that bright yellowish-green nail polish looks mush cooler in the bottle than it does on my fingernail. All this, and they don't even make you feel inferior if you don't look filthy rich or model-beautiful.