shopping Archives » Beauty Skeptic

Please enjoy this post from the archives – it’s still definitely accurate today!

What I NEVER buy at Sephora I’m generally comfortable with investing in quality products, and there are some things I am glad to splurge on. In spite of just locking in VIB for another year, though, there are some things I NEVER buy at Sephora. This is just a list of things I won’t buy for myself; I may buy them as gifts if I know the recipient would love it. This is also not a list intended to criticize people’s shopping choices (except maybe the Louboutin nail polish), just to point out what I choose not to buy.

Manicure Products

Sephora just isn’t the place to go for manicure offerings. I know some people love Deborah Lippmann, but I just haven’t been ensorceled by her products. I’ve shared my thoughts on freaking Louboutin making lacquer, on not liking FormulaX, and how unbelievably ridiculous Nails Inc is with their NAILKALE. If I’m shelling out $15-30 dollars on polish, you can bet it’s going to be UV/LED cured and a massive, pro-sized bottle, at that.

There are more brands, but the best bang for your buck when it comes to manicure supplies is simply NOT there at Sephora.

Mascara

Although my favorite mascara to date is prestige, I never buy at Sephora and pay prestige prices for mascara. This drugstore option gets me results nearly the same – and for the $12/tube savings, I’m fine with a potential and slight drop in quality.

Lighting in Sephora

Over the weekend, I went to get matched to foundation. As usual, ColorIQ was neat but ultimately useless. I was looking to try the new Makeup Forever Ultra HD; we tried 117, 118, and a third I can’t recall. 117 seemed to be the best in the (fluorescent!) lighting in Sephora.

The sales associate eagerly asked if she could, “go grab one of those off the shelf for (me) today.”

~~Girl~~Woman, please. You work here. You should know better than anyone that the lighting in Sephora is god awful for getting an accurate shade match.

I know it isn’t her fault; she can’t control the lighting. The store has metrics to meet. I get it. But it’s worse for the bottom line for a customer to buy a foundation, have it be wrong, return it and then take a hit on the loss.