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Ever wonder what it\u2019s like shopping with a beauty editor? Welcome to Counter Service, a new series where we visit our favorite beauty boutiques IRL. We\u2019re visiting the curated spaces and places that make shopping in person oh-so worth it\u2014and you\u2019re coming with. On a recent commute to the Allure office, commerce market editor Sarah Hoffmann picked up a new base routine from Laura Mercier and rediscovered the joys of loitering in a Sephora.<\/em><\/p>\n Ever since I started working at Allure<\/em>, my time spent browsing for beauty in person has significantly dropped. Instead of methodically examining store testers, I comb through my email for exciting launches and take notes from fellow editors, who are basically walking beauty encyclopedias. But when I was younger, I was a Sephora tween before the phenomenon even had a name (or press coverage). I lived to wander the colorful aisles of my suburban mall Sephora location, making a thrilling (and typically travel-size) purchase once I had stashed up enough hard-earned babysitting money.<\/p>\n A recent flare of unhappy skin brought me back to my mall-dwelling roots. An uncouth mix of stress and chlorine exposure recently left my skin simultaneously drier and more breakout-prone than it’s been in quite a long time, and my usual routine of a quarter-size drop of skin tint just wasn\u2019t cutting it anymore. I knew I needed a head-to-toe revamp of my base routine, and that there was only one brand for the job: Laura Mercier<\/strong>. Shade matching is key when buying complexion products, so it only made sense to do my swatching IRL, which is how I ended up in a physical Sephora store for the first time in maybe years. It felt like returning home.<\/p>\n Happy to be home.<\/p>\n <\/span>Katie Gunderman<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n In complexion heaven.<\/p>\n <\/span>Katie Gunderman<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n In This Story<\/strong><\/p>\n