Narcity spoke to a former Sephora Canada employee who shared a number of essential tips and hacks for shopping at the store.
From when to look for sales (and the best sales to hold out for) to whether or not those testers are actually sanitary, here are seven things you'll want to keep in mind when shopping at Sephora.
Always ask for samples
Did you know that you can get a sample of pretty much anything in Sephora?
Besides fragrance, a Sephora beauty advisor can make you a sample of anything you like — be it an expensive face cream or a viral makeup product.
"You can only get three samples in your one visit," the employee says. However, she notes that you can get three free samples every time you go to the store.
You may also want to ask at the counter for any available samples that can be added to your purchase.
"I always recommend people ask when they go up to cash like 'Hey, do you have any samples?' because sometimes the brands send us a bunch and we're more than happy to give those out."
These samples are pre-made, coming directly from the brands themselves, and could be things like fragrance samples, packages of moisturizers, or serums, similar to the samples you'd get when ordering online.
"Anything that you see there is the stuff that we can hand out if a brand provides us with them," says the employee.
Opt for curbside pickup
If you've ever gone into your local Sephora and been faced with a major crowd, you're not alone. Like most retail stores, Sephora can get pretty busy if you're shopping on a weekend or during a sales event.
If you know what you're after and don't want to have to deal with a busy store, the Sephora employee recommends a few things to speed up your shopping experience.
"We still offer pickup in-store, so if you genuinely don't want to shop around and you only have a few seconds, you can just place an order online, then we will fulfill the order in-store and send you an email to let you know when it's ready for pickup," she says.
"We still also offer curbside pickup. So even if you really do not want to go in the store, you can place the order online in the same way you would with 'purchase now pickup in-store.'"
To use curbside pickup, which the employee says is the best option for customers who don't want to deal with a chaotic store, all you have to do is choose your product and select your store from the "Buy Online & Pick Up" option to see if Curbside Pickup is available. Sephora will send you a notification to come pick up your order when it's ready.
Then you can check your order pickup notification for instructions on your store's Curbside Pickup location, including Curbside hours. Upon arrival, you can use the "I'm Here for Curbside" button to get your order.
If you don't want to go out at all, you can also take advantage of Sephora's same-day delivery service, which is available for certain items.
Take advantage of Beauty Insider perks
"I always suggest signing up," the employee says of Sephora's Beauty Insider program.
She says Beauty Insider members will always get invites to Sephora's savings events, and even at the lowest tier of the loyalty program, you can still get a decent 10 percent off each order you make during the sale.
She says there are other perks to be had by joining the program, including personalized sales.
"Based off of your order history, they could offer you additional discounts here and there. Like if they see that you haven't purchased a fragrance in a significant amount of time, they might be like, 'Hey, if you're looking for a fragrance, here's 20 percent off to get your first fragrance.'"
Being a Beauty Insider also gets you a free birthday gift, as well as the ability to earn points on your purchase, which you can later turn into discounts.
"If you get [VIB Rouge status] you can redeem it for the $100 gift card if you save a certain amount of points," says the former employee.
She says the loyalty program is also handy for keeping track of your purchase history.
"Let's say you bought a foundation two years ago and forgot the shade, or you forgot the name. We can actually pull that up for you and go and find it in the store."
Get an MCIQ
If you want to get your skincare and makeup personalized to a T, you may want to consider getting an MCIQ analysis done at your local Sephora.
"Let's say you want to start your own makeup routine or skincare routine," says the former employee. "Definitely take advantage of the beauty advisors, they're really sweet and really willing to help. They can use [an MCIQ device] and you guys can do a skin scan."
The device scans three points on your face and gives a customer a skin health analysis that includes information on skin oiliness, pores, lines and hydration.
"So it can help you narrow down certain foundations in your shade, or it could provide you with recommendations for makeup or skincare," she says.
Take advantage of the return policy
Did you know Sephora has a flexible return policy that allows you to try products and still get your money back?
According to the policy, new or gently used products can be returned for a full refund if brought back within 30 days of purchase, in most cases, and returns made from 31-60 days after purchase are eligible for online credit.
As for what you can return, according to the employee, you can bring back virtually anything to the store.
"You can return, essentially, anything, it just has to still have about 50 percent of product left in it," she says.
This applies to everything from lipsticks to mascaras and even beauty tools, such as the Dyson Airwrap.
When to look for sales
According to the former employee, if you want to score a deal at Sephora, you'll want to look for sales around November and April.
"[November] is when the first big Sephora Savings Event happens. The second one is usually in April, like mid-April."
While Sephora will also have things on sale during sale holidays like Black Friday and Boxing Day, she says the April and November savings events are best if you're looking for discounts on everything in the store.
She also says that twice a year, Sephora will run events where certain brands or product categories (such as skin care or fragrance) will be discounted.
"They might have an event where they're like, 'Hey for this week, these certain brands will be discounted.' And those communications are pretty much online."
Should you use the testers?
If you're wondering if the testers at Sephora are clean, the answer is yes — kind of.
While you shouldn't apply certain products directly to your face (and shouldn't use them if someone else has), there are a few best practices you can follow for using Sephora testers.
"I recommend always speaking with a [beauty advisor] if you're not sure, because we have proper sanitization standards that we can do if you don't feel comfortable just applying it directly to your skin," says the employee.
A beauty advisor can clean the tester for you and help you apply it with the provided store applicators.
She says that Sephora employees are always making sure their testers stay sanitized as well.
"We keep an eye out for whenever a client uses a product and applies it directly to their face," she says.
She says products like mascaras are always thrown out if a customer puts the product directly onto their eyes, for instance.
"Lipsticks we always sanitize. If a client is wanting to put it directly to their lips, we'll cut the lipstick off and sanitize it completely."
She says that the testers are also cleaned every day.
As a best practice, she recommends always reaching out to a beauty advisor if available. If not, you can place the product on the back of your hand and use one of the store's disposable applicators to apply it.
Happy shopping!
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
