Disgustedly Common

[Seshat]

We have tamper-evident wrapping around makeup in Australia, including nail polish. And other than for the cheapest makeups, the displays have a 'tester' product out. The tamper-evident packaging has been removed from the tester, and it's intended for you to use it on your hand and find out what it's like on you.
Increasingly often, there's also hand sanitiser available, in pump packs, so you can minimise the risk of transferring ick from your hand to someone else's, and ditto from someone else's to yours.
(When Bast and I go makeup shopping, we carry our own hand sanitiser.)

At the next expense level up, of course, there are the places that have an assistant to apply the product to you with disposable brushes and other such hygeine measures.

I never feel guilty about making use of testers; but I use them for their apparent purpose: to be a sample.
They probably also have a loss-management purpose, letting the type of person who would otherwise make an entire tube of lipstick unsellable have access to a tube that's already unsellable. But until I came to CS, I never thought of that purpose. (And now that I've come to realise that some idiot(s) has(have) probably used the tester on their lips, I'm doubly careful with using the sanitiser.)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I can only speak for my store, but if we had makeup testers, the contents of said testers would end up all over the fixtures, which are paid for, installed, and maintained by the manufacturers.

[Seshat]

..... What the? Weird.

Our fixtures have spaces specifically FOR the testers. And are also (apparently) product-manufacturer supplied. Some of them even have a space for little paper pads, with the manufacturer's name on the top. You can put samples from the tester onto the pad, and take it away with you; presumably to compare with something from somewhere else.

I've never seen one of these fixtures be deliberately graffiti-d. Spilled on, sure! People are human, some are clumsy, spills happen. But never graffiti-d.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Our fixtures come with neither testers nor the space to put them.

As for graffiti on the fixtures--I dunno, maybe Down Under nobody thinks to take a bottle of nail polish and use it to paint a penis going into the model's mouth. Been there, seen that, cleaned that up, was not allowed to take a picture first.

[Ironclad Alibi]

As for graffiti on the fixtures--I dunno, maybe Down Under nobody thinks to take a bottle of nail polish and use it to paint a penis going into the model's mouth. Been there, seen that, cleaned that up, was not allowed to take a picture first.

That's why you don't ask first.

[Kittykat]

I've sampled body sprays, but only using a tester. That's just gross.

[Sapphire Silk]

Rat nasty

[Trixie]

Yeah, we don't have testers for most of the stuff we sell and if we do any a display with any it's usually glued down so tight you can't use it or it gets stolen. Sometimes both. We also get people trying out our cheap ass body sprays and they will use so many they walk around the store in a cloud.

[Seshat]

As for graffiti on the fixtures--I dunno, maybe Down Under nobody thinks to take a bottle of nail polish and use it to paint a penis going into the model's mouth. Been there, seen that, cleaned that up, was not allowed to take a picture first.

I'm sure people think of it - but I don't think many people DO it. Not 'none' - the earliest European immigrants were criminals, after all, not angels.

But clearly few enough that its worth the companies' time to have testers.

[ShockQueen]

That's why I don't buy ice cream unless it's in a container with an evident seal on it. I picked one up once and it felt a little light. Lo and behold, someone had helped themselves to several bites of frozen goodness out of the container, and then just put it back in the cooler. EWWW!

[Air_Stewardess]

Urgh! At least on the plane the duty free is all sealed up and locked away so they can't get their grubby little paws on the products!

[wordgirl]

[delurks cause I can't stand it any more]

There are some really good arguments for not opening nail polish you don't plan to buy - from the first time it's opened, it's on the road to getting dried out, and using product you haven't paid for is absolutely theft (as in the OP and Miss Three Coats) .. plus, as duly noted, many SC use the polish for acts of vandalism to store fixtures and displays.

But the sanitary/"body debris" issue? Not a thing. No microbe is going to live in a bottle of nail polish. Even the best nail salons use the same bottle of polish on multiple customers.

And TBH? Nail polish does NOT always look on the nail as it appears in the bottle. Most often, reds look a great deal pinker/purplier (OK, that's not a word, but it should be). When I'm searching for a true, true red - especially a metallic red - there's really no way to find out what hue it is without unscrewing the lid at least a little bit and looking through the top of the bottle, where the polish is thinner.

The better brands (which also tend to be sealed) will sometimes provide those little rounds of plastic nails with swatches, which are immensely helpful. But they're also a PITA to make and many stores just don't bother.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I used to get annoyed when people would come into my aisle and spray one of the air fresheners to see what they smelled like. At least that doesn't contaminate the product.

That or go onto the HBA aisle and spray deodorants. . . . most of the time it'd be guys testing out the Axe sprays.

Sorry but you just earned yourself a dose of MY attitude. I cannot stand that stuff - it's gross and will make me SICK. Not to mention I have to damage those out b/c they are used now and nobody wants to buy a partial can of that crap.

[Yes I am watching you]

I don't doubt that the chemicals in the polish can kill any bacteria or fungus, I just would not like someone else's (even sanitized) toe jam semi-permanently attached to me. There are tester for these people to use, the full coloring multiple coats of both hands or feet happens at least twice a month though.

[Catwoman2965]

Eww. I will admit, IF there isn't a tester available, since I am very very sensitive to smells, to opening a bottle of something and sniffing it. But...if there's a protective seal over the bottle, I leave it alone. Some don't, so I can tell how they smell. I do this with cleaners, detergents, lotions etc. But I don't use it.

As for nail polish, i usually bring my own when I get my pedis, mainly because if i chip or something, I can touch it up.