To celebrate recent changes to Sephora’s Beauty Insider rewards program, they are hosting an Appreciation Event/sale. Here’s a look at the Beauty Insider reward program’s changes, details on the 20% off sale, and my shopping wishlist + limitations.
KEY CHANGES TO THE BEAUTY INSIDER PROGRAM
I see a lot of complaints about Sephora’s Beauty Insider program and how you can get way better perks from shopping at Ulta. I’ve been happy with the perks I get from being a Rouge level Beauty Insider, but I’ll admit that Sephora isn’t doing much compared with Ulta. I guess Sephora has listened to the complaints because they have made some changes to their rewards program.
The Beauty Insider points earned per dollar spent has now increased for VIB and Rouge members. VIB earn 1.25 points/$1 and Rouge earn 1.5 points/$1. This means that you can earn points faster which is fine. I have 5000+ points right now because I don’t really care too much for the rewards that they have available. Usually the rewards are just little sample-sized products that other beauty places, like Nordstrom, give you for free. It really bothers me that Sephora wants to charge me points for free samples that you literally get for free when you buy something anywhere else.
You now get to choose between one of the birthday gift options (like usual) or 250 bonus points. It’s my birthday month and I just redeemed for the bite beauty birthday gift before I found out about the bonus point option, but I still would have chosen the gift since I have so many points and haven’t found anything I wanted to redeem for.
Now with the new Beauty Insider program, Rouge can spend those points on a new $100 gift reward. YES! This is the kind of reward that I have been waiting for. But there’s a catch — the $100 Rouge Reward costs 2,500 points and they are only “while supplies last”. So, set your alarms for 9am PST on Tuesday, August 28th (and then every Tuesday/Thursday after that) because I bet they will go quickly. If you are lucky enough to get one of these rare $100 Rouge Rewards, you’ll get an email with the code and have 90 days to use it before it expires and you can’t use it with any other promo codes. It’s a one-time use card, so make sure your cart is more than $100 or else you’ll lose the difference.
There will also be limited quantities of full-sized products that VIB and Rouge can redeem points for. I’m interested to see what options there’ll be and if there will be enough quantities to go around. I’ve noticed that the Rewards Bazaar sells out of a lot of the higher-point but then they just leave them up on the site even though it’s unavailable; kind of a bad shopping experience for me.
APPRECIATION EVENT / SALE DETAILS
To celebrate these new changes to the Beauty Insider program, Sephora is holding a Beauty Insider Appreciation Event. Rouge get 20% off starting Friday, August 24th through September 3rd; VIB get 15% off and Insider get 10% off from Thursday, August 30th through September 3rd.
ONLINE CODES:
- Rouge: YESROUGE
- VIB: YESVIB
- Insider: YESINSIDER
But be aware that you can only use your online code once. So if you prefer online shopping like I do, make sure you get your cart all sorted out before you purchase. You can shop in-store and use the code as many times as you like.
I’m pleased with the changes to the Sephora Beauty Insider program, and I’m really hoping that I can redeem for one of the $100 Rouge Rewards. I think it’s great that we get a 20% off to celebrate these changes, but I wish that they didn’t put a restriction on shopping online. I usually make quite a few online orders during the sales because it’s more convenient than going to the mall, so I’m not too happy about that change.
SEPHORA WISHLIST
Since it’s my birthday month, I already had a few things in my Sephora cart ready to go. Now, with the 20% off, I may add in a few more items instead of waiting for the annual 20%-off November sale (which I hope they’re still doing).
Here’s what I have in my cart now:
- Drunk Elephant – Baby Pekee Bar™ + Juju Bar Travel Duo
- Tatcha – Silken Pore Perfecting Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 35 PA+++
- Tatcha – Luminous Dewy Skin Night Concentrate
- Tatcha – Indigo Soothing Silk Body Butter
- Tatcha – Luminous Dewy Skin Mist
All but the Tatcha Mist are new products to me. I first heard about Tatcha on a trip to Hawaii with my mom where she had a few of their products and she shared her Luminous Dewy Skin Mist with me and then I bought a mini one of my own.
Unfortunately, Sephora also has some restrictions on this 20% off sale that would affect my discount on these items:
“Not valid on purchases of Dyson, customizable sets online or through Sephora’s Customer Service. Clients are limited to three Drunk Elephant-branded items per transaction and three Tatcha-branded items per transaction. Merchandise quantities may be limited, see store for details.“
So, it looks like I would need to split up my purchase into at least two separate orders so that I could get all four of my Tatcha items. But then that would also mean that I would need to go into the store for one of the purchases since the online code will only work once. Mostly just inconvenient but I’m happy for 20% off.
If you are looking for some Sephora recommendations, here are some other products that I love:
- Kora Organics – Rose Quartz Luminizer
- Tarte – Tartelette™ In Bloom Clay Eyeshadow Palette
- Stila – Glitter & Glow Liquid Eye Shadow (Kitten Karma)
- Kora Organics – Noni Glow Face Oil
- Anastasia Beverly Hills – Brow Definer
- Shiseido – Eyelash Curler
Will you be shopping during this 20% off sale? What are your thoughts on Sephora’s Beauty Insider program changes? According to Sephora, this is just the first step in a multi-year journey towards a better rewards program.
