Pros
-Inexpensive makeup -20% discount, 40% discount on 1st of the month for select months—however, discount comes with restrictions. Later on that in cons -Frequent new launches -If you're lucky, wonderful coworkers and store manager -Their lipsticks are actually pretty bomb
Cons
Wow, where to start? I guess first off, what I want to say is, this company makes lots of promises to its employees, and then fails to deliver on them. You'll be told there's room for advancement, and if you DO manage to be "promoted" from a sales associate to a key holder, or from a key holder to a manager, do not expect a pay raise. They will expect you to do double/triple the amount of work with this "promotion" without a raise in pay or hours. Have a second job? In school part time/full time? Don't bother applying. They want complete, open availability. Even for a part time position. My personal biggest gripe is their policy on personal makeup. I've been told several times by upper management to "put on more makeup" or I'll face a write-up. I've been told that my makeup should be seen if someone is standing outside the store, and I'm at the registers. That is a huge distance, and the only way to achieve that is to pretty much don stage/drag makeup. I actually DID drag makeup one time, and was told my makeup was perfect. As someone who prefers a more natural look and feels WAY more confident and beautiful in a more natural look, this made me feel like crap, and I genuinely felt ugly. The amazing thing about makeup is that you can make it your own. Kiko wants all its employees to look like clones; primer, foundation, concealer, and powder are a MUST for every Kiko look, even if your skin is already flawless. Then you MUST use contour/bronzer and highlight AND/OR blush. Whatever you decide to use, it must be heavy enough to be visible. Heavily defined brows are a must; filled in and pretty and natural are a no-go. They constantly want you to wear false lashes. Here's the worst parts; lips and eyes, according to the Kiko Monthly Lookbook. Lips involve lip base, lipliner, and lipstick always, sometimes topped with gloss. Eyes will require 3+ shadows, plus at least one eyeliner. It wouldn't be so bad, but the lookbook pairs a very bold eye with a very bold lip. "Extended wing shape blue eyeshadow with black winged liner and bright magenta matte lip!" Not everyone can pull off that look, nor does everyone want to spend more than 30 minutes doing their makeup. Speaking on that note, however, the hypocrisy is amazing. Higher management will wear relatively simple looks (maybe a little contour/highlight, winged liner, and nude lip or the classic winged liner/red lip) that take very little time, but they will harp on you for wearing the exact same look because "you're not wearing enough makeup!" The only times they ever seemed to not say anything is if you happened to be a more mature woman rather than the 18-20 year olds they only seem to hire. If you don't look like an Instagram makeup guru, don't expect to be treated with any sort of praise or respect. They definitely play favorites. Again, the girls who looked like Instagram makeup gurus were treated WAY better than the girls who didn't, and were given more opportunities even if they haven't been working for the company as long. They have a very strict timekeeping policy; whereas most companies allow you to clock in 5-10 minutes early or 5-10 minutes late without punishment, Kiko wants you to clock in on the dot. If you have too many "early" clockings (even if it's by 2 minutes), you get written up. If you have too many "late" clockings (even if it's by 2 minutes), you get fired. There is absolutely no training; no school, no in-store training. You are pretty much shoved a skin care guide and makeup guide and told to figure it out yourself. They'll sometimes provide little tips for new launches in the weekly, but it's usually not enough to help you sell anything or help you actually know the product. If you reach out to the "trainers" for more information, you'll be told "it's in the weekly." Understandably, they want you to wear new collection/launches, but they do NOT provide gratis which is very highly unusual for a makeup company. And with a limited number of times you can use your employee discount, it's bull. Yes, that's right. You have a set number of times you can use your discount in a year. I have never heard of a restriction on an employee discount, yet Kiko has one. The return policy has been a constant pain. I understand in Italy, there is a zero returns policy. That is fine, but the American market is so different. Americans want to be able to return things they've bought if they don't like it/don't want it. Because of Kiko's return policy (30 days to return and unused product with receipt), I've had customers yell at me, threaten me, and assault me when I tell them: 1) I can't take back their used products, 2) It's been over 30 days, so I can't take it back, or 3) They don't have their receipt, so I can't process their return. Here's the kicker; upper management will get angry with you because that customer then leaves a very nasty review, and will tell you to "just take the return and make the customer happy," all while giving the customer a gift card. However, if you "just take the return" too many times, upper management will get angry with you and tell you "you MUST uphold the return policy!" There is no winning. Follow store policy, get yelled at. Make the customer happy, get yelled at. Worst of all is how upper management treats everyone like they're stupid. They treat the store management like they're stupid, they treat the employees like they're stupid. They make fake profiles of the employees (saying they worked for X companies when they didn't) and tell store management to fill in appointment books with fake appointments, all to present to the owners when they do store visits to make their stores appear far more successful than they are. They lie and will adjust your clockings to avoid paying you for the time you actually worked if you indeed had to work overtime. There is no support at all. Overall, there's a reason turnover rate is so high. This is a terrible company to work with. They do not care about their employee's individuality, they make false promises, they play favorites, and worst of all, they're extremely contradictory. You never feel like you have any support, and are always made to feel like you're to blame when things go wrong. Indeed, we were constantly told "if you don't improve, we'll replace your entire team." Threatening your employees is not how you keep them working for you.
