photocredit: glamour.com
Sephora, for those of you who live under a rock, is a beauty girl or guys dream. It carries higher-end big-name makeup, skincare, fragrance, hair, and nail products. If you head into Sephora to pick up a couple products it is very easy to walk out with a bill over $100. To get the most makeup for your money I have put together the best Sephora hacks to save you stacks (see what I did there??).
FREE SAMPLES
The first thing you should know before shopping Sephora is that you can get free samples of almost any product in the store. All you have to do is ask an employee to prepare one for you. The sample size they prepare for you should last anywhere from 2-7 days. Sephora also will write the product details on a small bag they place the sample in. This way if you love the product and want to purchase all you have to do is bring the sample bag in and it will take the guess work out of remembering exactly what it was. Anything from skincare to foundation, Sephora’s got your back with samples!
The things I like to sample the most are moisturizers, primers, and foundations. This is because these products are pretty expensive and not everything works on my oily (sometimes temperamental) acne prone skin. I am also able to test foundation shades in different lighting with samples as well.
If you are someone who struggles to find products that work for you, or have sensitive skin, samples at Sephora will save your life. (Okay, not really, but your skin and bank account will thank you).
Also if you shop online but also want free samples, there are still some available to you. Before finishing your purchase there will be an option to select 3 free samples. Take advantage of this! I find these products are fun to try out and are great for travel.
FREE RETURNS
If you happen to purchase a product at Sephora and after using it you realize you don’t like it, not all is lost my friend! Bring in your product with your original receipt and Sephora will refund you in the form of your original payment or store credit (based on your preference), or you can exchange your product for another one.
THE SALE PAGE
The sale page is the place for discounted products and has new items added every month. I recently got my hands on the Marc Jacobs holiday palette and snagged it for $30 off. Right now they have The Becca Light Chaser Highlighter for 50% off and the Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil for 60% off which are two of my personal favorites.
If you have the Sephora app you can find the sales page by clicking “shop” from the top menu, then scrolling down to “SALE“. Once you are on the “SALE” page you can look through all the discounted items site wide, or choose filter in the top right, and browse by brand, color family, price range, or category (skincare, makeup, etc.) .
If you don’t have the Sephora app then you can access the Sale page at sephora.com/sale
SEPHORA FAVORITES SAMPLERS
Often times Sephora will have a Favorites Sampler kit. I have seen them for fragrance, mascaras, and lipsticks. These kits include samples of several different brands of the same products and a voucher inside. The voucher is good to redeem one, full size product of one of the samples that was included in the kit. This is a great value, and makes a great gift.
VALUES AND GIFT SETS
This is where you can find great deals on bundles. Here they have palette collections and brand bundles. If you are looking to buy multiple items from one brand this is the place to begin your search for the best deals because the value will exceed the actual price you pay.
FREE SHIPPING
If you go into Sephora and they don’t have what your looking for in store, they will ship it to you for free! And, if you are a big online shopper be sure to sign up for Sephora FLASH. This is free 2-day shipping for an entire year for a one-time addition of $10 to your purchase.
BEAUTY INSIDER
Beauty Insider is Sephora’s free rewards program where you get a point for every dollar you spend. There are three different tiers to the rewards program. The first is Beauty Insider. Beauty Insider doesn’t require you to spend any money, however the more money you spend the more points you will collect. Sephora puts together different sample sets each month that you can spend the points you’ve collected on. Even better, if you know you have points collected and see a Insider reward you want to spend them on, but don’t want to make another purchase, just walk to the Sephora counter. Ask an associate to pull up your information, chose your reward, and walk away with a free beauty pick-me-up.
The Beauty Insider tier also gets you a free birthday gift, access to the beauty insider community, and free makeup classes.
The second tier is the VIB. A beauty insider would reach VIB by spending $350 in a year. In VIB you get everything that the Beauty Insider gets, but also a free makeover once a year.
The last, and highest rewards tier is Rouge. A beauty insider would reach Rouge by spending $1000 in one year. In addition to earning points, a free birthday gift, access to the insider community and free makeup classes, you also get unlimited makeovers, free flash shipping for the year on all online orders, invitations to exclusive events, and early access and the highest discount for the semi-annual sales.
If you are doing any shopping at Sephora be sure you are taking advantage of rewards you could be gaining off of purchases you would already be making otherwise.
SEMI-ANNUAL SALE
Every April and November Sephora has their Semi-Annual Sale where you can get up to 20% off your entire purchase. The amount you get discounted is dependent on your Insider status. Beauty Insiders get 10% off, VIB members get 15% off, and Rouge members get 20% off. As mentioned before, Rouge members also get first access to the sale, followed by VIB, and lastly Beauty Insiders. Regardless of your insider status, the Semi-Annual sale is an easy way to save money on beauty products, especially those you want to stock up on.
MAKEOVERS
As mentioned above, if you are a VIB or Rouge member, you can get free makeovers. But even if you aren’t a VIB or Rouge member, you can ask for a free 15 minute mini makeover. This could be anything from a smokey eye, to contouring, to eyebrows. If you are wanting to learn new techniques, or try new products, take advantage of this free service.
COUPON CODES
Lastly, I always check online for coupon codes. Often times you can find free things to add to your bag when online shopping with one of these codes, and sometimes discounts as well.
Savvy Notions 