Sure, it’s always nice to get a great deal on beauty products, and what’s a better deal than 100% off? “Dumpster Diving” — the art of sourcing still-usable items from the trash — is nothing new, but there are growing reports from beauty bloggers and YouTubers claiming to score free lipsticks, nail polishes, eye shadows, and other items by sorting through the items that Ulta, Sephora, and others throw out. Is this legal, and if so, is it safe? [More]
sephora
Is Sephora Killing The Department Store Beauty Counter?
By 5.11.17
While mall staples and department stores continue to close their doors this year, one subset within the retail industry is enjoying higher sales and decent foot traffic: beauty products. But it’s not the traditional makeup counter inside your local department store that’s become a hot spot for customers, it’s the tech-heavy, try-before-you-buy beauty-specific stores like Sephora and Ulta. [More]
JCPenney Pretties Up, Adds More In-Store Sephora Locations
By 4.24.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
In a move to boost foot traffic (and hopefully sales) while getting some help with the rent, JCPenney and Sephora are expanding their partnership, adding and enlarging dozens more store-within-the-store locations of the beauty products retailer. [More]
Women Uninterested In New Clothes Or Gadgets, Buying Lots Of High-End Makeup
By 3.30.16
America’s female shoppers just aren’t as interested as they used to be in most of the stuff available in malls: spending on almost everything is down. There’s one area of retail that’s growing that you might not have expected, though: sales of high-end cosmetics are climbing, which include makeup and skin care. Why is that? Blame YouTube. [More]
Users Complain That This Night Cream Is Giving Them Weird Dreams
By 3.11.16
A night cream is exactly what it sounds like: a cream that you apply to your face overnight to moisturize while you sleep. Yet some users of a night cream from skin care brand Dr. Brandt report that more than wrinkle-softening is happening when they use it: they report incredibly vivid dreams, some of which are scary. [More]
Sephora’s Offering To Customers Upset About Epic Rewards: $50 Gift Codes
By 8.26.15
Earlier this month, we shared with you the story of Sephora’s Epic Rewards promotion that quickly ran out of rewards. Customers were upset after the promotion, believing that they had been misled into racking up points for special “rewards” when there were so few rewards to go around that it might as well have been a raffle. Today, as promised, Sephora is starting to e-mail these customers with their final offering: a $50 gift code. [More]
Angry Sephora Customers Invent Mass Returns As A Form Of Consumer Protest
By 8.19.15
What happens when a retailer encourages customers to buybuybuy in order to rack up rewards points for a special event, and then that event turns out to be a massive disappointment? If you’re the super-loyal, big-spending Sephora customers who tried to take part in the beauty retailer’s recent Epic Rewards promotion, you pack up all of your recent purchases and bring them back to the store. [More]
Sephora Will Get Back To Angry Rewards Customers In Two Weeks (Update: Or A Month)
By 8.12.15
The Epic Rewards event was supposed to be an opportunity for customers who had accumulated a large number of points in the Sephora’s loyalty program to cash them in for valuable items. The question is: was it a rewards redemption or a sweepstakes that only people who have spent thousands at Sephora could enter? The company has promised to make things right with their customers, but are asking customers to give them 10 business days to figure out how. [More]
Loyal Sephora Customers Unhappy With Company’s Non-Apology For Unrewarding Rewards Promo
By 8.11.15
Yesterday was a special event for loyal customers of makeup retailer Sephora who have accumulated points in the retailer’s loyalty program, where unusually fabulous rewards came out. The company hyped the event for days in e-mails and on its social media pages, then was apparently surprised when a large number of customers were ready to pounce on the rewards, and most of them left disappointed. Update: Sephora has promised to do something for these customers, but can’t say what and will get back to them in two weeks. Or in September. [More]
Sephora Promises Epic Rewards, Customers Get Epic Letdown
By 8.10.15
Today was a special event if you’re a fan of cosmetics who has been spending a lot of money at Sephora: the company released just a few very valuable rewards, like valuable and rare makeup assortments, or even a trip to Paris. The rewards would be coming, Sephora told their customers, at some point during business hours today, Pacific time. Fans refreshed the page constantly looking for the prizes. Then the rewards were all gone. Update: Customers still aren’t pleased with Sephora’s reaction to their complaints. Another update: Sephora has promised to do something for these customers, but can’t say what and will get back to them in two weeks. Or in September. [More]
Sephora Launching A Beauty Sample Subscription Box Service
By 8.7.15
If you’re a makeup fan whose favorite part of ordering online from Sephora is the product samples, here’s some good news: the retailer is finally joining the beauty subscription box trend popularized by Birchbox and followed by many other companies. The cosmetics-loving public’s thirst for sample boxes is apparently unquenchable. [More]
Which Items Get Returned To Sephora Most Often?
By 5.13.15
Sephora is a magical playground filled with very expensive substances that grown-ups can slather on themselves. Yet what if that $29 mascara or $45 foundation just doesn’t look right on you? The cosmetics retailer has a famously generous return policy, even for items that have been opened and used, and there are certain items that end up returned more often than others. Which are they? [More]
Why Do Makeup Brands Keep Naming Red Lipsticks ‘Underage’?
By 3.16.15
The controversy over the name of a red lipstick started yesterday when writer Parker Molloy went to Sephora and noticed some odd product names. We sympathize with the people in charge of naming makeup colors, but maybe it’s a little inappropriate to call a bright red lipstick “Underage.” [More]
Sephora Introduces $10 Unlimited 2-Day Shipping Program
By 3.5.15
If you like to buy online from Sephora, but dislike waiting until you have $50 worth of items before making your purchase, great news! The gourmet supermarket of beauty has started its own free shipping subscription service in the Amazon Prime model, called Flash. It gives customers free 2-day shipping and a discount on overnight shipping. [More]
Asian-American Sephora Customers With Closed Accounts File Discrimination Lawsuit
By 11.19.14
A few weeks ago, we shared with you the claims of some loyal Sephora customers who found that their accounts for placing online orders (and more importantly, for collecting rewards points) had been shut down. While Sephora claimed that account shutdowns were aimed at people buying large amounts of makeup to re-sell, customers complained that the only thing the company looked at was whether a given customer had a Chinese surname. Now customers living in the United States whose accounts were closed are filing a class action suit against the company. [More]
Customers Accuse Sephora Of Banning Shoppers With Asian Surnames
By 11.7.14
Would Sephora really ban customers who spend thousands of dollars every year with them? Last year, frequent customers say they had their ability to place online orders taken away for buying too much stuff. This year, frequent customers report having their accounts shut down or their ability to place orders restricted. Funny, thing though: all of these customers have e-mail addresses based in China, or Chinese surnames. [More]
Is Sephora Really Banning Customers Who Spend Thousands Every Year?
By 12.3.13
It was news to us that beauty superstore Sephora recently debuted a new tier to its customer loyalty program. VIB Rouge is for customers who spend at least $1,000 per year at Sephora stores, because some people manage to do that. Some customers report that they were banned from online purchases for placing too many orders. This seems like a bad idea. [More]
Google Helpouts Are Live, And Lots Of “Experts” Are Giving Out Free Advice
By 11.5.13
In August, Google announced the creation of Google Helpouts, a live chat service that lets semi-vetted, self-declared experts in any number of fields make themselves available for help, guidance, and tutorials for a price. The service is finally live, and in some categories, there are plenty of people willing to give their advice away for free, along with a number of retailers hoping you’ll come to them for help. [More]
