Articles

Take this at face value

By Tatiana Boncompagni


It’s a quiet New York Thursday afternoon in Bergdorf Goodman’s white-tiled beauty department. A well dressed woman steps into the Erno Laszlo enclave and eyes a couple of the company’s skincare products as a saleswoman approaches. They chat about what she’s looking for – a few travel-friendly basics and an anti-aging serum – but she’s not sure if she’s going to replenish her bathroom stock just yet. That’s when the saleswoman pulls out the big guns: “How would you like a complimentary facial?” she asks.

“Really?”


“Yes, we do it right here,” she replies, indicating an unmarked door behind which Erno Laszlo’s in-store service room lies momentarily vacant.

“OK then,” the woman says and the two go to work arranging a time for her to come back for an hour-long facial which will include ultrasound-enabled deep cleansing, hand massage and the application of numerous masks and serums. By the time the woman leaves, she’s glowing. And why shouldn’t she be? She’s getting a full-length facial, one that would have cost her more than a hundred dollars at a spa, for free.

Nowadays if you’re not getting a free facial at the skincare counter, you are not getting the most out of your beauty shopping dollars. Thanks to an increasingly competitive skincare market that’s pitting spas against department stores and prestige brands against mass marketers, savvy shoppers have more opportunities than ever to get their skin cleansed and pampered for free.

“I believe that the key for a niche brand like Erno Laszlo is to make a difference with unparalleled customer service,” says the company’s president, Francois Duquesne, who recently decided to expand the Erno Laszlo facial program to high-end stores across the US. “It’s about making the relationship long and giving the customer a token of our appreciation.”

Yes, it’s a nice gesture. But these free treatments are not usually quite as free as they seem. Some companies require a minimum purchase; others offer the service to anyone, even new customers, but expect to rack up hundreds of dollars in post-treatment sales.

For example, at select Neiman Marcus stores in the US, recipients of French beauty brand Orlane’s complimentary body-slimming treatments spend on average $700 post-treatment. Those that opt for the oxygen or firming facial, spend $500, according to a company spokesperson.

Likewise, Körner Skincare, a line of sensitive-skin friendly products, recently sold its entire range (worth $879) to a new customer who had been signed up by a friend for one of the brand’s facials at Selfridges in London. Shoppers in New York, where Körner started offering complimentary facials at Bergdorf Goodman last April, can qualify for a treatment with the purchase of two products, whereas in London, there’s a small booking fee that is redeemable against product purchases.

Founder Rebecca Körner says some clients love the facials so much that they come back for them every 2-3 months, and in-between, they ask for mini facials at the counter.

Others offering complimentary in-store services include Japanese beauty giant Shiseido (at Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys department stores across the US), Spain’s Natura Bissé (at Harrods in London, Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Neiman Marcus in San Francisco), and Therapy Systems, which is sold at Henri Bendel in New York.

Therapy Systems customers can sign up for microdermabrasions and glycolic peels at the company's counter at Henri Bendel, but at the Therapy Systems store at the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee, they can slip into express treatment rooms (basically a lounge chair in a partitioned-off area) for a variety of quick treatments.

“There are always going to be women that want to put on a robe and hear the water trickling, but the rest of us don’t have that kind of time,” says Therapy System’s founder Linda Roberts. That's also the idea behind Elemis's “SpaPods”.

For a £45 fee, shoppers at Harvey Nichols, John Lewis and Debenhams stores in the UK can pop in for one of the brand’s five “Power Booster Facials”. In the US, Elemis customers can pay $45 for the facials (which last 30 minutes and come with names like City Survival and Skin Radiance) at 23 Nordstrom locations.

For Cristina Greeven Cuomo, vice chairman of Niche Media, a New York-based magazine publisher, indulging in a department store facial is about saving time rather than money. Recently when the busy mother-of-two stopped in for a 45-minute Inhibit-Tensolift facial from Natura Bissé, she made a short detour to buy a pair of Christian Louboutin wedge heels.

“It’s great to kill two birds with one stone,” she said. “But the best part was how my skin looked the next day. I felt so rejuvenated.”