The MAC MA's in my area mostly seem like they don't know how to do makeup. One MA used blue e/s and literally made me look like Mimi from the Drew Carey show... seriously, everyone in the mall stared at me... SERIOUSLY, it was SO bad. This other MAC MA put blush ONLY on the tops of my cheekbones near the hairline/eye area. I mean, WHO blushes on the side of their eye!?!?!? And then there was the one MAC MA that swore to me that the lip lacquer that looked BLACK on my lips was great on me. Ya, I never trust her opinion @ all anymore.
Also, when I went to buy Studiofix powder, three different MAC MA's could not, for the life of them, match me. One sent me off with NC35, which was too light for me. The next darker NC shade was too dark for me. FINALLY, when I went to this one MA at the freestanding store, he properly matched me at a C3. However, he rubbed the powder with the brush much too hard and got powder all over me. It was literally a powder storm.
So, long story short, I just ask them for a brush, etc and do it myself. When they put makeup on me, I never want to buy it. While I am sure some MA's would do an awesome job, I've had pretty much only bad experiences so I'll just handle it myself, thank you.