Cosmeticcounterphobia

I'm not sure if it's an actual phobia, but I've definitely got it. I'm fearful of cosmetic counters and I actively avoid them. I'll quickly skirt by the perfume spritzers to get to the handbag department unaccosted. Unfortunately I walk by the cosmetic ladies like they're mentally unstable folks who loudly rant about the end of the world or about conspiracies to anyone who will listen; I walk very quickly and with my head down avoiding any eye contact with the overly eager and deranged, but nice looking women.

Mostly I'm scared I'll walk away from one with a bagful of unwanted cosmetics and skin creams because I had a mild, but mentally paralyzing panic attack and no longer know how to say, "No thank you, I'm not looking for cornflower blue eye shadow." I'm slowly getting better about it, but I'm still a long way off. A few months ago I bought moisturizer on my own with very little commotion, but I need to buy foundation and lipstick next week. I'm enlisting my friend Corinna's help when I visit her in DC next weekend. She's actually excited about the excursion and I trust she won't let me buy anything that makes me look grotesque.

Part of my problem is hereditary; my mom doesn't wear makeup so we're both basically clueless about such matters. My mom bravely ventured out with me one winter break four years ago to buy some foundation and face powder and stuff. She had a pretty good strategy, which I may employ again, when it came to picking which makeup counter to go to. We surveyed all the cosmetic counter sales people and determined which one had on makeup we liked the best. We didn't trust the Lancome girls who looked like they were wearing an inch of makeup on their faces. We deduced they would make me look overly made up and I would lose the ability to move my face. We picked a nice sales person at Prescriptives who was wearing minimal, but still nice looking makeup.