In celebration of becoming a semi-finalist in the #sephorasquad search, I am writing a blog post to tell you all about the amazing things in Sephora stores that you may not know about. I work at the corporate headquarters of Sephora in San Francisco so know all of the amazing things Sephora offers instore. My role allows me to spend days in stores so I get to see first-hand all of the happiness & wow factors offered by Sephora.
You can leave a testimonial for me HERE on why I am a great fit as a #sephorasquad member.
Before I started working at Sephora over 2 years ago, Sephora was the retailer that I always went to when I needed a quick pick me up, a gift for a friend or some beauty advice. I thought my bathroom was wild before, however, I am now even more obsessed with beauty products so the situation has slightly escalated. I absolutely love Sephora and entering a store makes me so happy as you can probably tell from following along on my stories & posts on Instagram. I want to share some amazing offerings from Sephora that you may not know about.
Happy Shopping!
At the recent Times Square launch party in New York - the largest Sephora store in the US is now open & in the heart of Times Square.
Samples
I love a good sample especially for concealer, foundation, & face masks before I fully commit. Sephora offers samples of all products including fragrance so you can try at home before you splurge. Any beauty advisor can make you a sample of a product that you want to try out & can print a slip of paper to provide you with knowledge on the product. Each sample will come with a description of the product, ingredients, application tips & tricks & more.
Beauty Insider Program & Rewards
Sephora has a loyalty program with 3 tiers, Insider, VIB & Rouge. As soon as you join this fabulous loyalty program, you are automatically an Insider which gives you one point per $ spent instore (this increases as you move up the tiers). Points are redeemable for mini sized products & deluxe samples. If you spend $350+ in a year, you’ve made it to VIB and now can redeem your points for full sized products (woo!). You also are awarded a tier celebration gift to celebrate your new tier! Rouge is the top tier, which can be reached when you spend $1,000 in one year (I’ve reached this for a few years now eeeks!) With Rouge, you enjoy free standard shipping, early access to products, 1.5 points per $ spent instore, $100 rouge reward & exclusive event. Make sure you sign up so you don’t miss out on the above beauty benefits.
Birthday gift
Who doesn’t love a birthday gift? Sephora treats every Beauty Insider member on their birthday with a gift. There are choices for your birthday gift (all are amazing)! The gifts change every year so you can enjoy a new gift each year.
Exclusive brands & products
Sephora has lots of exclusive brands that you can’t purchase anywhere else which have been developed exclusively for Sephora peeps. Within certain brands also, there are exclusive products that are only available at Sephora.
Happening at Sephora
On the Sephora app, you can navigate to “Happening at Sephora” where you can see what is happening in your local store(s). So much happens at Sephora stores whether it be make up classes, new brand launches, brand sampling & much more. By using Happening at Sephora, you won’t miss out on cool events. I used Happening at Sephora last year & saw that Tata Harper was in store in San Francisco using her products to show how to treat yourself to an at-home facial. This was such a cool experience meeting the founder & having an in store facial!
Perk Facial
Speaking of facials, Sephora offer Perk Facials in lots of stores. The Perk facial is quite the treat. The instore service lasts 30 minutes and exfoliates & hydrates dull skin to give a glow! The products used are fabulous including an anti-oxidant infused serum which nourishes the skin. The service is complimentary with a $75 purchase.
Mini services & full services
Along with the facial services above, Sephora also offers quick mini services such as lash & dash, a brow mini, foundation matching mini, on-the-fly eye & much more. These 15 minute services focus on one area of product application. You can make a reservation on your app/online or stores take walk ins also. Full Deluxe services are available also where you can get your full make up look completed by a beauty advisor. The Sephora beauty advisors are given top training & are amazing talented artists who inspire me every time I visit a store. They are also in the know about the latest & greatest products and can talk you through the steps during application. The beauty advisor records which products were used which you can access at any time on your beauty insider account.
Beauty on the fly
Right by the registers, there is a section known as Beauty on the Fly which are mini sizes of products & sets. Do not skim past this, there are mega treats here! There are trial size products if you don’t want to make a full purchase or the products are the perfect size for traveling. I’ve often found new products or sets here that I normally wouldn’t have found. The sets are often great value also & perfect for gifting.
Sephora Favorites kits
There is a team at Sephora who pick out beauty favorites and design a kit to give you an amazing assortment of products at a STEAL. I have been buying these kits for years as they offer such value and allow me to try out lots of beauty products. The kits vary from favorite nude lips, mascaras, SPF, fragrances, hair kits, primers, moisturizers & more. The team is unbelievably innovative & comes up with the greatest of kits. The SPF kit is one that I buy every year as I love having lots of trial size SPF products that I can pop in my handbag. A portion of proceeds from this set also goes to charity. At holidays, the Sephora favorites kits go to a whole other level!
Shade matching
All Sephora stores can shade match you for foundation and make recommendations for you depending on your desired coverage e.g. medium, full. This can then be stored on your beauty insider account so you have it for the next time you want to buy a new foundation. This service is complimentary & samples are offered if you want to try out a couple of foundations before buying.
Fragrance quizzes
I love the fragrance quiz at Sephora where you answer a series of questions on fragrance preferences and then an array of fragrances are displayed which best suit your preferences. I’ve found multiple amazing new fragrances using this popular quiz available in store & also online.
New products
New products drop each week at Sephora. Sephora is constantly working with existing & new brands to give you the best & most innovative products available!
Clean @ Sephora
Last year, Sephora launched Clean @ Sephora which is a collection of products which are free from many harmful ingredients. The variety of cleansers, moisturizers, toners, serums and more is unbelievable. Some of the brands are new start ups that are really making waves in the beauty industry & offering the results we all want while caring for the environment & our bodies. Win win!
Community
Community is a forum for all beauty insiders to chat about favorite products they have found, ask questions, get recommendations and more. There are groups that chat about areas that you may be interested in (naturally, I joined the curly hair group!) Community allows you to chat with brands, hear new beauty news, browse & post photos, attend exclusive events to meet fellow beauty lovers!
Sephora Collection
Last but not least, I want to highlight Sephora Collection. Sephora Collection is a Sephora exclusive & has a huge assortment of products across skincare, color & hair care. There is a mask for everything including hands, face, eyes, lips, feet & hair. The hair mask is incredible and a MUST try! Sephora Collection is so reasonably priced for the quality provided. The make up brushes are also amazing along with the lashes and eye liner. When I first discovered Sephora when I was much younger & living in Europe, I always navigated towards this section first & it is still one of my go-to brands.
There you have it! Some top things you may not know about shopping at Sephora. Life is short, buy the lipstick. Hope you enjoyed.
