The Sephora Experience: Shopping Simplified

Female Millennials are no strangers to the wonderful world of beauty. Ever since a young age girls have acquired a sense of curiosity for makeup. Growing up, they associate makeup with poise and womanhood.

I remember caking on bright blue eyeshadow and applying Coca-Cola flavored lip gloss with my friends at sleepovers when we were 10 years old.

We would smack our lips with tissue in between to attract any excess gloss and convince ourselves that this was exactly how older women got ready for a night out. I’ve of course matured since then and no longer use such products. In the same sense, makeup shopping has changed. In the past, beauty items were found only at department stores or drug stores.

Enter Sephora.

Sephora is a makeup metropolis, full of every thing females could ever want to keep their appearance looking fresh and gorgeous. I used to hate shopping for makeup because I didn’t have a clue how to choose the right shade of foundation or decide which colors complimented my skin tone.

Buying from Target or CVS was a pain because I couldn’t try out the products before purchasing. Instead I would fumble with packages and take a gamble that what I chose was a good choice. After getting home I usually learned that I made a poor purchase decision. I was then forced to show my face at customer service with the original receipt days later, explaining how I wanted a refund because “it just didn’t work out.”

What sets Sephora apart from other makeup retailers is that upon entering, consumers feel that they have entered a truly inviting shopping environment. Mirrors, cotton swabs and makeup applicators are conveniently displayed at every corner to encourage shoppers to try out whatever products they desire. Instead of dealing with a pushy saleslady at a department store, a Sephora consultant acts more like a private shopping buddy.

Personally, I think the Sephora makeup experts are more approachable than department store beauty consultants. The reason is because department store kiosks offer a limited selection that is segmented by brands.

Each kiosk is competing for your business, and it’s very easy to offend the snooty woman at Estee Lauder when you decide to stop and browse at Bobbi Brown instead. This ultimately dilutes the shopping experience, so what should have been a fun time playing with makeup instead leaves you feeling dissatisfied.

Sephora offers hundreds of brands at various price points so shoppers are guaranteed to find items that suit their budgets. The Sephora consultants I’ve interacted with understand that Millennials are money conscious and will go great lengths to help enhance the shopping experience by testing out various products with their customers to find the best picks. With that being said, beauty products are very personal purchases, and many young women have go-to products that they can’t live without, regardless of price. For me, it’s mineral foundation, a Laura Mercier liquid eyeliner and Smashbox lid primer.

Sephora has become one of my favorite shopping stops because it offers the beauty brands I trust in a setting that’s very inviting to Gen Y. Spend a little time observing people in the store on a given day and you will see other Millennials engaged in the Sephora experience, chatting with consultants, testing products, and filling their baskets with favorite goods.

Photo Credit: loosepunctuation