If your Better Half is halfway serious about make up and related products all is not lost if you go shopping with her, far from it.
Be patient, interested, pay a bit of attention and offer helpful suggestions… and Lo! free samples will come your way from the shop assistants, because they are trilled and overjoyed by a guy who isn’t moping in the corner looking like he hates his life!
If you keep frequenting the same shop on a regular or semi-regular basis, the employees will remember you, and also recall what samples you have gotten already – so you don’t end up with ten of the same – and will also ask your opinion on the samples you received so they can narrow the selection of new samples to offer… or offer you things that matches, like when I received matching Eau de Perfumes to a pair of shower gels I had already gotten.

I’ve built up a modest scent archive of samples so far by the simple expenditure of taking in interest in something my Better Half enjoy. Not only does it mean I get to spend more quality time with her, but so far I’ve also found at least two perfumes I would enjoy receiving for a birthday or Christmas.
And as an added bonus I know I can go to that shop my Better Half prefers, smile at one of the girls working there and know that if I ask for suggestions for a make-up item or scent I can give as a gift to my Better Half, they will hook me up with something that my Better Half will enjoy receiving and using.
It’s a win-win-win all around!