Are You Inadvertently Buying Used Nail Polish?

Hello, I am back with another opinionated view. :) Where do you buy your nail polish from typically? In the stores or online? Is there a certain store, you will go to more often because of cleanliness and price?

I've slowed down my habit quite a lot. If I buy in a store I typically buy from Sally Beauty. They have a smaller store and it's usually clean and bright. Plus, they offer the best discounts to non-pros. I occasionally go to Ulta because they have a section of OPI. However, the price on Orly and China Glaze is a lot more compared to Sally's. If I buy from drugstores, it's typically CVS or Walgreens.

On Thursday, I went downtown for some window shopping. As usual, I made a stop at the Ulta State Street store to check out what was new. I like going to Ulta to check out new products since the layout and lighting is way better than Sephora.

I make my way through the floors and then I reach the nail polish section. I'm starting to notice women walking around with those little fragrance papers. I keep watching... They are all opening up which ever bottle suits them and marking up the paper. I get really curious and wondering where they are getting the idea from. I start looking around at the displays and I start noticing this...

Are you noticing what I am noticing? They are placing the white pieces of paper next to all the areas of the nail polish section. Encouraging people to pick up whatever polish they would like to test. Yet they have no stickers marking the polishes testers. I know when you buy in the store, you will always run the risk that someone might of opened the bottle. However, I think by using the method in the pictures you are definitely encouraging people to open bottles.

So because I like to take action... I did go on to Ulta.com Thursday night and used the "contact us" button. Put in my concerns, email. and phone number. I got an email back this morning and a phone call from the State Street manager in the afternoon. I'll give them A++ on actually contacting people back. Getting a reply back was actually a nice thing.

The phone call was basically me re-telling my thoughts to the manager. I should of written notes down, but I was sitting in the parking lot after finishing grocery shopping. What she told me was that they put the papers out to be more hygienic. To stop people from putting it on their nails or the display. I understand that. I've totally seen that as an issue when at other stores. Like the picture below taken at Walgreens.

Walgreens Mayhem

I told her while I totally agree that this is a problem a store faces. It still doesn't seem like the solution at this Ulta store was the best way to combat this. You don't just pick whatever box of perfume and open it to test it. She said of course not and we provide testers for prestige cosmetics and fragrances. So I asked why not for nail polish? She replied that OPI doesn't provide testers. Fair enough, but why not provide them yourself. She replied that's a decision made by corporations.

All in all the phone call was deadlocked. She asked what could she do to make me happy. I just replied back that I won't feel comfortable buying nail polish from Ulta. She said she will take my concerns I voiced on the phone back to the corporate offices. Considering the call backs and emails I received in less than two days... I do believe that she may call them back on that. In order to possibly get Ulta stores to mark bottles tester it would need to be a decision made by corporate due to multiple complaints. So if this is a concern to you then take the time to contact Ulta and voice your wishes for testers to be placed in the stores for nail polish.

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What do you think?

Would you buy nail polish from this particular location if you saw what I saw?

Have you seen this somewhere else?

Is there a better solution?

I think I won't be buying from this Ulta that's for sure. For salon brands I will probably stick to ones online or at Sally's. As for a better solution? I would like to see tester stickers on the nail polish bottles. I also think about how CVS puts the electronic sticker to protect against theft. I'm sure there are stickers that Ulta could place on bottles so you can tell if they have been opened. That would be a great thing to see. That would make me feel way more comfortable about buying from them.

I do know of stores that supply testers. Sephora provides testers for nearly all the products in it's stores including nail polish. The stores in Switzerland that sold OPI placed tester out for them too. 

Ulta why can't you?