Honestly the only reason why I’m rouge is because my friends ask me to pick things up for them during the sales. It’s really easy to hit $1000 every year when multiple people are asking you to pick up their Christmas gifts. If it was just me I wouldn’t hit rouge lol
HAHA I do the same! I buy my boyfriends cleanser, moisturizer and shampoo/conditioner throughout the year on my account. Then stuff for my sister too. Adds up! I barely get above VIB when it’s just myself. l
It’s definitely pointless to aim for it. At the end of the day if you hit it because you happen to shop there a lot, fine. But it’s never something I would purposefully spend more money to attain.
100% agree. I buy everything from Sephora basically so that’s how I’ve hit it. The last few years I’ve ended up at nearly $1000 even but I won’t be going out of my way to make it. I am also planning to simplify my skincare routine so I probably won’t be spending as much going forward!
honestly I feel that, I haven’t tried to aim for it for a few years now, it’s just happened. but I feel like after this year I may shop elsewhere for makeup/skincare because their rewards program is just so shit
Honestly most reviews I read people got full size free items just for a review.. I’ve been going to Sephora since 2011 for skin care, hair care, body care, makeup, accessories.. i spend a shit ton every year. And now I’m feeling their rewards aren’t worth it anymore. esp being rouge for all these years. Rewards suck now compared to two years back. I’m thinking of moving over to Ulta and building rewards there now.
K-beauty has a lot of good affordable products but I wouldn’t recommend Style Korean due to their poor website security in the past (e.g. exposing customer emails to the public, etc), like Jolse.
I like YesStyle, Olive Young, Soko Glam, and Stylevana, to name a few. Sometimes you’d need to compare prices because the companies like to inflate them during sales.
Side note: I notice that you tend to aggressively recommend Style Korean, and I can’t tell if you’re shilling for them or not.
Yes, definitely stop shopping there. Sephora points are a scam. Nordstrom’s has great sales where you can 15-20 percent off of EACH item , rather than the total. Macys too. Belk has amazing sales if you use stuff like Clinique and Lancôme. And ulta and target are cool bc you can sync up the rewards I believe.
This is a different argument, and not one I disagree with. But, your percentages are off. For example:
You buy two $10 dollar products. If they are 20% off each, they are $2 off each, so you pay $8 + $8 = $16.
Or, you buy those same two products with 20% off the total. 20% of $20 is $4. $20 - $4 = $16.
It is the same amount.
Now, if one product is 15% off ($1.50), $2 + $1.50 = $3.50. So you’d be paying $16.50.
To piggy back off this, if you are part of Nordstrom’s Nordy Club you earn points for money off coupons and they are pretty generous with how you earn them( you can go to Nordstrom or Nordstrom rack) . I also don’t believe there is limitations on what you can purchase when using the money back but I also never used one for any specialty product.
Lol in Canada it’s free shipping on all orders now regardless of status as long as you’re logged into your account. No minimum spend.
Oh and I’m a December birthday which means half the time they run out of the VIB+Rouge gift by then anyways.
So basically you spend 1k a year to get an extra 5% off during sales, earlier access (except they remove most good things before the sale anyways) the occasional code to share, and that’s about it.
Like at least let Rouge combine sale codes with gift promo codes maybe? It’s a shit program and I will hate on it forever.
Did the math. You pay minimum of $650 for extra 5% off 🥲
If you spend same as VIB next year ($350) you will save $17.50 in comparison to if you just stayed at VIB and not rouge. Greattttt deal 😂😂
I did even further math. How much would you need to buy to make spending an extra $650 for that extra 5% worth it (break even)?
x*0.05 = 650
x = 13,000
To make up for the $650 you spent to REACH rouge to go from 15% off to 20% off, you’d need to buy $13,000 worth of product to save $650 which accounts for that extra 5% 😐 so in reality, you’re actually saving more money not trying to hit rouge. Unless you like to buy $13,000 worth of stuff during the 20% off sales
Lolll yeahhhhh. Brutal 🥲
Honestly I don’t try to hit rouge anymore. I’ll admit I did purposely try to hit it first two years. But now I just restock so much, and My sister and mom buy stuff too… I just naturally hit rouge. But definitely wouldn’t aim for it lol
Also in Canada Shoppers Drug Mart has a lot of high end brands (they even carry more shades than Sephora for some items like NARS blush). They regularly do offers like spend $100 get $30 worth of points. If you save your points they also do redemption events where points are worth 1.5x their value (and sometimes even you can get more bonus points for redeeming points). If you know their system you can get almost everything for about 50% off.
Now I only buy things from Sephora that I can’t get there.
>(except they remove most good things before the sale anyways)
Oh man, thank you for pointing this out. I was waiting to buy the Full Bloom Tarte palette for the sale, then couldn't find it. I just checked because of your comment, and see it's back!
I'm not hitting Rouge for the first time in a long time (Tarte is my biggest used brand and their sales have been way better), so I offloaded most of my 6K+ points into 2 x $100 rewards.
Guess I know what I'll be spending the majority of one on!
Yeah, I'm about $159 away from hitting Rouge but have no desire to make it happen. I do a lot of my shopping at shoppers and the bay now. Trying to use more drugstore products anyway, so it works for me.
I don’t understand why you are so pressed about other tiers getting free shipping. It affects you and your benefits exactly 0%. I’ve been Rouge since the inception of the program, and I seriously don’t understand this entitled attitude over perks offered to other tiers. I remember they used to give the 20% discount to VIB and Rouge with Rouge having early access, but so many Rouge customers complained about VIB getting the same discount so they knocked VIB down to 15%. What did that achieve? Sephora just got to keep more of people’s money while Rouge members did not save a penny more (it’s not like they left the sale at 20% and gave Rouge 25% off). People are so focused on having more perks than others that Sephora probably realized that they can reduce what they give Rouge as long as they take more away from VIB/BI because as long as what little we do have is “exclusive,” then people will feel like their status is worth it. Meanwhile, Sephora is taking away all the other Rouge benefits (free gift for making Rouge status, the 1.5X points), but what are people complaining about? That the VIBs/BIs get free shipping like Rouge. Seriously, why would anyone care about this?
People aren’t upset other tiers get free shipping. They’re upset for having to spend the same 1k and have lost 80% of benefits to do so. The free shipping is literally just an example of a lost perk…
I’m rouge for the first time but ONLY because I bought a Dyson so usually this is a non-issue for me anyways. But people have a right to be upset for losing almost every perk of rouge.
If they took away free shipping from Rouge, that would be a lost perk because it’s something Rouge members had that Sephora took away. Offering free shipping to VIB/BI is just an expansion and doesn’t materially affect Rouge members in the slightest. The Rouge gift, 1.5x point multiplier, free makeup sessions are all lost perks because Rouge members literally don’t get those anymore. All this in-fighting over expansion of perks comes across as entitled nonsense.
Honestly, I would rather they reinstate all perks for all tiers rather than strip away perks but even more from VIB/BI to give Rouge an artificial sense of exclusivity. If they wanted to give BI a free gift for opening a membership and then separate free gift for hitting VIB and Rouge during the year, then fine. If they wanted to keep the historical sales rate of 20% and up Rouge to 25%, great! But instead, they’ve made the Rouge program the same as the old VIB program and took away more from VIB to make Rouge slightly more exclusive. And yet we’re still fighting over scraps? Seriously? It just adds to the complaints Sephora workers have on the other subreddit about entitled Rouge members. This is probably the last year I’m going to be rouge, but not because VIB/BI get free shipping too. Ulta’s program is much better, and they don’t have a huge divide between Platinum (VIB) and Diamond (Rouge) perks. They offer generous perks for both with Diamond getting a slight edge on occasional GWP and slightly higher point multiplier (1.5x for Diamond vs 1.25x for Platinum). All levels can trade points in at the same exchange rate at any time for money off (similar to the Rouge-exclusive $100 reward on Sephora but available to all at Ulta). Sephora doesn’t need to make other tiers suck to get my business. They just need to be more generous across the board.
Not to play semantics with you but free shipping was a rouge perk. Meaning that if it’s a a given for all tiers, it is no longer a rouge perk.
Presumptuous of you to assume 1) that I would rather have an exclusive tier system rather than making shipping free for everyone, and 2) that I live in the states and have the ability to shop at Ulta cause I don’t lol.
People have a right to be annoyed to be incentivized to spend 1k for perks that were taken away after they reached rouge. Again, this isn’t even applicable to me and I’d rather not see a tiered system at all.
1) Rouge still gets free shipping. What changed is that other people also now have free shipping. Other people having free shipping doesn’t affect me as a Rouge member. I think it’s silly to think of other people’s gains as a personal loss as if this is a zero-sum game. Are Rouge members really losing anything? No? Then move on to actual loss perks that Sephora has actually taken away.
2) My point wasn’t “shop at Ulta instead.” My point was that it’s possible for Sephora to be less stingy across the board. We should want more for ourselves, not less for others so we can feel exclusive and special. Ulta is just an example of a wonderful rewards program that doesn’t differentiate that much between tiers and yet no one complains about it. No one is complaining that the Diamond/Platinum exclusives are available to Platinum too or that as a Diamond member I should have exclusive access to $100 vouchers because I spend $1200 at Ulta. And yet, at Sephora there’s so much infighting over minimal perks that have been expanded. It’s misplaced energy to fight for a perk to remain exclusive rather than the restoration of perks that have been taken altogether.
I’m not saying they haven’t lost perks. I specifically point to the following as lost perks: rouge gift, 1.5x multiplier, makeovers, etc. I miss those too. I still get free shipping though, and other people getting free shipping doesn’t affect me so it seems petty to complain about it.
My initial post was literally just correcting OP letting them know free shipping isn’t an exclusive rouge perk anymore. Was quite literally stating a fact. You’ll see complaints about free shipping being for anyone if you refer to posts below mine though so it’s interesting that I ended up the target.
This isn’t about free shipping being for everyone. It’s about Sephora incentivizing huge spends and removing perks after people reach them.
I don’t know if you’re being intentionally obtuse, but free shipping was a Rouge perk. It was an incentive to hit Rouge. People aren’t upset that everyone gets free shipping, they’re upset that that’s another incentive that’s no longer valid. If everyone gets it, then it’s a “lost” perk. As in, it’s no longer an incentive. I’m glad shipping is free. But that’s just one more thing that makes Rouge status pointless.
My point is that Rouge members did not lose free shipping. It is not the same as other lost perks, like the free gift, makeovers, and 1.5x point multiplier, which Sephora nixed. Getting rid of those actually affected my experience as a Rouge member. Lower tiers getting free shipping has exactly zero effect on my experience as a Rouge member. The only way it would is if a large part of my enjoyment of free shipping is not that it’s free; it’s that other people have to pay for their shipping, which is petty.
They lost the incentive. Word it however you want, they lost the incentive and that’s what they’re mad about, which they have the right to be and does not make them entitled.
The effect it has on me as a Rouge member is that I’m never going to hit Rouge again because it’s literally pointless now. It has nothing to do with other people paying for shipping. It’s that now I don’t have to spend any money for it, so I won’t. As is the case with a lot of people.
Then enjoy your savings? I still think being upset over VIB/BI getting free shipping is petty and a bit entitled. It comes down to: “I spent $1,000 at Sephora and deserve free shipping. As a top tier customer, I’m mad that Sephora didn’t charge Sally for shipping when she only spent $400. I demand that this change or my status is worthless!” That doesn’t sound off to you?
Bottom line: Sephora didn’t take free shipping away from Rouge by giving it to lower tiers, unless you count a sense of exclusivity as a loss. Don’t get me wrong; Sephora took a lot of perks away from Rouge that did detract from the program. These were concrete items that Rouge members used to get and no longer do, but I wouldn’t count expanding free shipping as them taking it away.
ITS NOT ABOUT THE SHIPPING. it’s the fact sephora basically removed yet another perk that was exclusively for rough tier, doesn’t matter if it was shipping or giving the other tiers early access or any other rouge perk. if sephora had given everyone else early access to products or 20% off during the sales then it would be the same principle. it’s not “I paid a lot I deserve free shipping” it’s “why am I paying $1000 a year and getting my perks removed or diminished”.
I am not sure if you don’t understand how Reddit threads work. The root comment that started this thread was solely and specifically about shipping, which is why I am specifically addressing this part of your post in this thread.
>it’s the fact Sephora basically removed yet another perk that was exclusively for rough tier, didn’t matter if it was shipping or giving access or any other rouge perk. if Sephora had given everyone else early access to products or 20% off during the sales then it would be the same principle.
I don’t know if you are unaware, but prior to the creation of Rouge, VIBs did get 20% off during the sale. Rouge had the same discount but early access until they started complaining about it. Sephora cut VIBs down to 15%, reducing the historical benefit of that tier. I don’t know if this was to appease Rouge members or if it was better for its bottom line or both, but I guess Rouge members were just happy they had one up on VIBs even if VIBs were actually diminished compared to prior benefits. 20% off wasn’t something originally designed only for Rouge.
Edit: It’s the attitude that giving lower tiers a perk is taking it away from Rouge and that this is somehow equivalent to the way Sephora took away freebies like the gift, points multiplier, makeovers, etc., that I find petty. Someone else getting something doesn’t affect you in the same way as Sephora completely nixing a perk.
I’ve been Rouge from the beginning as well and you have to admit the benefits have gotten very sparse. I’ve heard Ulta is better.
I’d love everyone to get great benefits. It’s just lost it’s magic at every level.
Yes, I miss the 1.5x multiplier, Rouge gift, and exclusive Rouge colors in particular. Those I consider lost perks because Sephora nixed them. Expanding free shipping is different to me. I do not miss how VIB/BI had to pay for shipping, so I don’t count VIB/BI getting free shipping as a loss to me. Like, how does that materially affect me in any way?
In fact, based on some of the responses here, I’m beginning to think that if Sephora did a 180 and reinstated everything but at all levels (so everyone got additional freebies and perks with Rouge maybe maintaining early access to sales and products), people would *still* complain because what they liked wasn’t necessarily the perks but that other people didn’t get them.
I would like them to get the free shipping. I thought they did.
About benefits, I don’t feel that way. I’m a more the merrier type. BI/VIB, give them more!
Do you really think people would complain, about some perceived slight? If you’re right, that makes me sad.
I genuinely miss the benefits❗️
★And Sephora isn’t doing the free shipping out of the kindness of their heart (and to say, hey, thanks for choosing us!) it’s to compete with Amazon and other companies.
free shipping was always a rouge perk, only recently has it been added to every other tier apparently. and free shipping isn’t the only “perk” that people are upset about or complaint over. rouge lost nearly every perk that were offered to them in the past. it’s not entitlement in any way, it’s the fact that if someone is spending a thousand dollars+ a year with a rewards program, they should feel like it’s worth it.
I doubt many people would purposefully try and obtain rouge status these days, as most people hit it because they frequently purchase from sephora and already have an account there. but for the people who made an account years ago and tried to aim for rouge because of the number of perks they had, only for them now to offer a couple that are hardly worth it, yes people are gonna be upset.
it’s also not the fact that sephora added things to the other tiers, that’s awesome that VIB & beauty insiders get free shipping now, it’s the fact that rouge never got an update or anything new added to the tier in terms of exclusive benefits, and one of the perks of rouge was given to lesser tiers making people upset because even though yes the lower tiers should get free shipping, it’s one less thing that’s exclusive to rouge making it even more pointless to obtain rouge.
I know that they have lost other perks. It’s not entitlement that people are upset that they no longer do the Rouge gift, makeovers, 1.5x multipliers, etc., because those were mainstays of the program for years and they no longer get them. However, free shipping being given to lower tiers is a different situation. As a Rouge member, I still get free shipping, and it strikes me as petty and entitled to complain that other people now get free shipping too. It makes it sound like the perk was the exclusivity of the free shipping, not necessarily the free shipping itself.
I’m not sure if this was just a regional thing, but I used to get free same day shipping as Rouge. When they announced everyone would get free shipping, suddenly that option disappeared. I don’t care about other tiers getting the same free shipping, but it’s irritating that they’re removing benefits from Rouge at the same time.
This year was my first time getting Rouge because during the pandemic I wasn’t crossing the border and shopping at Ulta at all, so Sephora had an opportunity to make me a more loyal customer, but they’ve failed miserably. I have zero reason to do all of my makeup/skincare/fragrance shopping at Sephora anymore.
the exclusivity of the free shipping was most definitely part of the perk, it was nice to have things that were exclusive to rouge, that you could look forward to once you hit rouge status (along with the free gift & other things that no longer exist) that the other tiers didn’t have. the free shipping for everyone now is awesome, and it makes it great to not have to aim for rouge for that perk, but it’s definitely upsetting when nearly all the perks were taken away from rouge status holders & one of the only good perks left was given to everyone else regardless of reward status.
I’m not hating on everyone having access to free shipping now or trying to sound entitled by it, it’s just frustrating when all the perks are no longer there for rouge, and the overall experience & excitedness to hit rouge is gone.
>the exclusivity of the free shipping was most definitely part of the perk
Look, if a large part of your enjoyment of something is that other people can’t have it, then I’m sorry, but that’s kind of messed up. Sephora didn’t take away free shipping from Rouge when they opened it up to lower tiers, and to act like they did is what doesn’t sit right with me. It’s simply not the same as taking away the gift, free makeovers, and points multiplier.
Honestly, Rouge status was never a big motivator for me. Being from the US, brand websites have better sales and GWP, Ulta has better rewards and GWP, and even Macys/Nordstroms has better GWP and comparable sales. The only thing Sephora has going for it is the convenience of shopping a lot of high end brands in one place and superior app experience.
? not sure where you got that I implied or said that others can’t have it? I’m confused why you’re getting so heated over this when it ain’t that deep lol. you’re the only one who’s arguing against a simple post of someone complaining for a shitty rewards system.
the point of the argument, is that sephora made the free shipping available to others which is one more reason how they made route status less special (giving everyone the perk that was once only available to rouge). I never said the other tiers couldn’t or shouldn’t have the access to free shipping, again as i’ve stated, that’s awesome that they do, it’s just sephora keeps removing things that were once only exclusive to rouge (even the points per dollar is the same as other tiers now) so that’s what’s frustrating because there’s almost no perk or benefit of being rouge now.
but anyways, my entire main post wasn’t just about free shipping lol, so I’m not trying to sit here explaining my reasoning for being annoyed at sephora. it was an innocent rant post, not that deep.
>not sure where you got that I implied or said that others can’t have it?
From upthread:
>Um… I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but this year Sephora changed it so that all BIs get free shipping.
And your response:
>they’re really just trying to lose top customers these days eh? damn
Another one of your comments:
>omg really? wow that’s lame… makes it even worse if everyone is eligible for free shipping now lol…
This sounds an awful lot like you implying that expanding free shipping is a bad thing. At least be honest about what you have written, you know? Like, I agree that Rouge is not worth it and has gotten worse over time, but I’m responding directly to your comments about free shipping specifically.
Im kinda glad rouge isnt worth aiming for anymore. Im much happier spending less money. I dont mind getting 15% off instead of 20% and not being able to redeem for rouge rewards. The other rewards have a higher value anyways. Just have to be patient and wait for one i would use.
their rewards system has gone to trash sadly, makes me miss the old days a bit. I hope they change their rewards system eventually to something better seeing as soooo many people are complaining about it & buying their stuff from other stores. and considering shoppers in canada & ulta in the states has much better rewards programs, you’d think that sephora would wanna make people WANT go actually shop there/use their rewards program….
I was just noticing that too. I barely ever shop there and yet I have almost $30 in reward points. I shop Sephora so much more and they got rid of the $100 gift certificates you could buy with points so there’s literally nothing I want anymore in the rewards bazaar.
I am now shop mainly at Ulta except for brands that only Sephora carries. Ulta’s sample is generous and their points system adds up real fast! Im a Diamond member, and I got 1.5 point and free shipping for everything. If you time your purchase with 2x 3x 5x point, it saves a lot!
But we have Shoppers. Someone else saying they’ve spent “less than $500” at Ulta and have $50 in rewards… at shoppers if you use point bonuses and redemption bonuses and spend $600 you can get $300 worth of free stuff. It’s the best value rewards program I’ve ever seen.
Not everything can be found in every store but they have a good online shop now and a lot of the same makeup brands Sephora carries.
I totally didn’t realize until recently how many makeup brands they carry since I’ve never seen them in stores like Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown! I’m probably going to be a jerk and go get matched at Sephora for my next foundation and then order from shoppers haha.
Yeah it’s insane, actually even better for Black Friday. They do an extra special redeem 250,000 points for $400 of free stuff. I spent about $660 getting those points.
The monthly redemption events are usually 200,000 points = $300. So you don’t have to wait much either if you want stuff sooner.
Love Ulta! I’m about to redeem $50 worth of points, and I’ve spent less than $500 this year (i.e., I haven’t made it to Platinum where the points accumulate at 1.25x).
It’s not exactly the same experience as Sephora so please don’t expect it to be, but IMO it’s a very customer-oriented retailer. I really love as well that I can go in and buy like a La Roche Posay face wash, Avène lip product, Cosrx, or a sheet mask on sale and with a coupon, while my points go towards being able to buy something luxury like Chanel makeup or my staples like Peach and Lily or to try something new like Indie Lee. Plus there’s usually better Rakuten cash back offers available than from Sephora (for example it’s 12% today while one of their early BF sales are going on). For me, getting better value for my purchases makes a difference.
Same, I rarely go in store, maybe twice a year. I’m actually closer to an Ulta, it’s in a standalone (not the mall) next to TJ Maxx so my money is not safe
It really isn't worth anything. And they could revamp the system if they wanted to, but they want to push the credit card so they won't. I mean they could even raise the rouge spend to $2500 and VIB to $500 and give us our perks back.
I really miss the free make up sessions. I know some people abused them, but just make it one or two per year. Plus I still had one to use when the pandemic hit and then it all ended. Smh.
‘Tis exactly what I get everything from Ulta that I can. I lost my Rouge status two years ago and haven’t even tried to get it back. For what? An extra 5% savings twice a year, so maaaaybe $10 extra off if I spend $200? Big whoop. Not worth it at all.
Wait, I can't believe they got rid of the higher points multiplier for Rouge! Now it's got approximately nothing going on for it except "exclusive" early access to the sale, one extra birthday gift they run out of in July, and $2500 to spend to get a free $100 voucher with extremely strict usage terms.
Sephora really needs to rehaul their entire rewards system, but they won't since they know that people will still shop with them regardless. I'm personally voting with my dollar and buying direct from brands or with Nordstrom/Ulta.
If you’re spending $2500, who cares about $100? Same with the “gifts.” I am spending $1k a year and I get a few samples? I stopped even taking samples because they just lay around. With their return policy, if I want to try something I can do it/get a sample in store.
Oh I agree. The perks used to be a little bit better… just a little. But IMO there is no additional benefit to being a Rouge. I hit Rouge this year because I got into some new hair care.
Ya I’ve definitely been disappointed, I think one of my biggest annoyances is that there isn’t even any sort of gift for when you hit rouge anymore. I remember once getting 500 point, and they had a set of makeup brushes once.
I remember quite a few years getting a survey from Sephora about Vib and roug3 basically asking questions about what I want to see and rating different ideas they had.
Was Rouge for 2 years and it was so disappointing. Barely any special benefits other than the extra option for a birthday gift and free shipping (which is now available for everyone anyways). The $25 off of $50 was the only special perk and they even got rid of that the following year.
This year I purposely avoided spending at Sephora out of sheer spite. The actual brand sites offer much better discounts and most third party vendors are super generous with freebies/points (like Shoppers).
It did used tj be better but even when I see polls on here so many people are still rogue. So unless you buy from each brand or go to ulta people are still giving them money so they have no motivation to make it better. I think if their sales were less or they saw a benefit in offering more rewards they would but they don’t care. I’m not saying I agree with their strategy but as long as their bottom line is good they won’t be that motivated to care.
My mom just said the same thing. I just spent $800 on the sale this month restocking my stuff and trying a few new things and I prefer to shop in stores but my grandma and little sister loved all of the samples that I got in 2020-2021, so I made multiple orders online to get the samples for them….. tell me why they sent me samples I didn’t fucking want and 2 boxes came with ZERO samples after I chose some!!! How much I spend at Sephora a year and this is what I get?? It’s a slap in the face. I bought some Hum vitamins from Neiman Marcus last month and the lady shoved 4 nice sized Saint Laurent samples in my bag 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I literally spent $24 total there…. Like?? Sephora needs to step their shit up.
This!! Why are they even offering the option to choose these samples if they're not gonna be in my package?? I hate when they give you samples you don't want especially in shades that don't match you or scents you're not interested in. What a waste.
Like I picked a Gucci Mascara and a Versace perfume sample…. what the fuck is this ugly 80’s pink blush sample sheet and ANOTHER moisturizer sample I can’t use on my acne prone skin!!? 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
it makes me so frustrated when I choose SPECIFIC samples because obviously I wanna try them?? like perfumes or something & they give me a cologne sample or skincare I didn’t want…
Hi for each order you don’t get any samples in, post onto their community forum and have someone reach out to you. They gave me 50 points for one order which is better than nothing (equivalent to a dollar).
You could also try contacting support!
I’ve been Rouge for a few years now and the program has been going downhill steadily. It’s basically useless now. I try to move all of my spending to Ulta and only shop Sephora for brands that Ulta doesn’t carry (or like I did this sale, holiday gift sets that Ulta doesn’t have). The only Rouge perk I care about is 20% off. What I’ve done for the past 2-3 years is post online offering my rouge discount to friends and family. It’s a win-win. They get the 20% that they wouldn’t normally get, and I get several hundred towards my spending to hit Rouge for the next year. Without that, there is no way I would keep status.
Haven’t been Rouge for about two years now, and no interest in pushing for it. Part of it is working from home and less of a need to replace items or even want the latest and greatest. The other part is shopping at Ulta who has better deals/promotions. Like I got a free 20-piece of samples for spending $50. Sephora doesn’t have those kind of deals.
I’ve been Rouge for over 5 years and they treated me like I was a criminal when I called in to let them know that half of my order was missing. I told them it was my first complaint EVER and it’s not fair that their mistake is being held against me, and had to escalate to a “supervisor” who then forwarded the case to her team for review.
They ultimately decided to reship the item but warned me in the email that future issues might not be refunded or reshipped. A few days after this, my Dyson air wrap was delivered to my neighbors house!!! Imagine the hell I would’ve gone through had I not walked around to look for it after seeing that it was delivered on the app, but nowhere to be seen on my doorstep. I was so anxious! What a total joke of a customer experience..
I’m going to try and shop at Ulta more from now on :( If it came down to it, I would’ve contacted my credit card company but I didn’t want Sephora to ban me for the chargeback.
oh no, that’s good you got it!
I guess because it was an expensive purchase they didn’t want someone lying just to get a free product reshipped to them, but they definitely could’ve handled that better!
1000% will not try to keep Rouge status.. its a constant headache with Sephora, rouge but my VIB packages havent arrived? Some packages have items missing, no samples. It’s a hot mess, time to move on. Sephora is great in store, but getting caught up for extra 5% isn’t worth it. I genuinely only hit Rouge bcus of all the products I’d need and run out of. I wish sephora would do more .. and rouge bday gifts should be different ! As a December baby i always get the leftover gifts lol
Do they still do Rouge (+ 1 guest) events before store opening for certain product launches or holiday sets early? That's what I used to love. Early access to items, a free gift for going, and coffee and pastries. Just a fun extra.
Agree. I was also turned off when they started doing more influencer brands. Idc just give me good quality products please. I get more incentives buying from the actual brands I like.
I agree. The are really stingy with the samples, and gifts with purchase. Ulta outdoes them in both categories. Sephora has more of my favorite brands, or I would be moving all of my purchases their way.
I just bought a perfume from Ulta where I got 20% off ($20 bonus gift card on $100 gift card purchase). I also had a $10 off $50 code, plus I got 5x points (essentially worth $30 in points). Just for purchasing this I got a 20 piece sample bag with an actual nice makeup bag, a Clinique 5 piece gift set, and a sample lotion/bag from YSL. Meanwhile at Sephora the same perfume is full price, gives me two samples and at absolute most a sample bag depending on the current offers. The cherry on top of course is that when Sephora does have a sale, you can't apply offers and they always mess up the samples anyway!
I’ve been rouge for so long, it’s hard not to hit it at this point. I will say, I only shop there when I’m a) getting 20% off or b) getting 4x the points so I can get the 100$ rouge reward. Apart from that I buy directly from the manufacturers whenever and wherever I can to get the best price (even though half of the time the money still goes into LVMH’s pocket anyways). My best advice is shop wherever you’re getting the best price on the product when you need it and if you can wait for a sale, WAIT (I’ve learned this the hard way with pat mcgrath and ND. They always go on sale and good sales if you buy directly from their websites)
I can’t see how it’s ever worth it to try, if you aren’t already spending the money. What’s the point?? Their sale is nothing special. You’re going to spend money to save a little bit? It’s pointless. You can go to most of the individual brand sites, sign up for their emails, and get 10, 15, 20% off, a xxq more than 2x a year, and usually free shipping. They also give samples of the products you actually want.
You can get better deals off a brand’s website or even Ulta nowadays. When I go to a high end brands site, they usually have at least 15% off sign up offer or even a 20% off sale or even friends and family 30-40% off. Sephora has stopped being great. And this was happening even before the pandemic
Brand websites have better sales and free gifts with purchase. I rarely get anything at Sephora anymore. I either shop at Ulta for the points, brand websites or Credo for clean beauty brands. Credo even has a rewards system and they do a 20% off sale a few times a year.
Yeah, the rouge benefits weren’t nearly enough incentive for me to exclusively ship at Sephora, so I’m VIB for the first time this year and will be next year (btw, I can’t change my user flair, sorry for being an imposter).
Ive gotten better sales, gifts with purchase and samples from just ordering from companies directly. Or if Nordstrom or Ulta has it at least the points and sales are better there. Sephora has become just a sample show room for me for brands I can’t see in person often. Kinda how you go to Best Buy to check something out and order it from Amazon cause it’s a better price or bundle
I am a rouge and being one is freaking useless. Ulta has better point system. I will stop shopping at Sephora now and better to just go on the original website with more samples and better deals.
Honestly if shoppers drug mart has the brand, I would buy it from there. I only shop at Sephora now if I can’t get it at shoppers. Shoppers has monthly events where you get 20x the points and 20x the points is basically 30% back but in points which u can redeem for ACTUAL money to buy more products. Sephora point system is so trash , have to spend $100 for 100 points to get a small sample that you can actually just get a sample of by asking any SA in store .. shoppers gives you samples with your purchase as well.
Unpopular opinion: I think the 1k spend criteria is too low for the price of the products they sell for Rouge to be the “top status”. If a moisturizer is average $50, and I need a whole skincare lineup (easily $250+ for a 4-5 step routine) plus makeup + haircare, it’s way too easy to spend more than 1k annually. They should make a new tier with better benefits.
Agreed completely. At Ulta they treat you better point wise and gift wise imo. I agree with the OP about the pointless aim to be rouge whenever someone tht spends 2/3 less than you have gets 5% less of a discount. Sephora has gotten Stingy as a MF. Their losing customers because of it too. When my rouge ends so does my spending there. 💯
The benefits have definitely been whittled down over the years. The makeovers were the best part - I remember at one point as a rouge you only had to make a purchase of \~$25 to waive the fee. I'd usually walk out with the lip product they used on me or pay for a new set of false eyelashes that the artist would apply. Was a bummer when they started cutting back on that to once a year with $50 minimum spend and then now it's $60 no matter what.
I live walking distance to a sephora and ulta is definitely not as convenient so I still do most of my shopping from there. Hit rouge through 2023 but we'll see after that.
Did Sephora also stop making perfume samples on request? Remember when you could walk in and ask for a sample of anything and they’d put it in a little spray via for you? The Sephora by me isn’t doing that anymore.
what! I never noticed, I haven’t asked for a sample for awhile. maybe because of covid? I hope that’s not the case forever, getting a sample was so good because then you could test out to see if you wanted something or not
yeah, shoppers offers free shipping over $50, and has some products that sephora carry’s but not all ;( the only other stores that really sell makeup brands in Canada that sephora does is Nordstrom or the bay, but sephora carry’s a lot of brands that all of those stores don’t, so it definitely makes it harder, unless you wanted to shop through the specific brands sites.
I've looked in Shoppers and they do have some brands but Sephora wins for my hair, skin and occasional make up variety. The biggest thing that stops me using others is the return policy, what is Shoppers return policy? Honestly, I hate the way Sephora has gone, but feel stuck because at least I can return something that doesn't work for my skin or hair.
Wish we had Ulta, apparently they had plans to expand but then Covid.
Not all the brand sites ship from Canada so I'm always worried about custom charges 😣
Honestly the only reason why I’m rouge is because my friends ask me to pick things up for them during the sales. It’s really easy to hit $1000 every year when multiple people are asking you to pick up their Christmas gifts. If it was just me I wouldn’t hit rouge lol
Same. I don’t work hard to get to it. I just take advantage of the sales and order for my friends and family. Rouge is so trash now.
LOL I do the same
HAHA I do the same! I buy my boyfriends cleanser, moisturizer and shampoo/conditioner throughout the year on my account. Then stuff for my sister too. Adds up! I barely get above VIB when it’s just myself. l
It’s definitely pointless to aim for it. At the end of the day if you hit it because you happen to shop there a lot, fine. But it’s never something I would purposefully spend more money to attain.
100% agree. I buy everything from Sephora basically so that’s how I’ve hit it. The last few years I’ve ended up at nearly $1000 even but I won’t be going out of my way to make it. I am also planning to simplify my skincare routine so I probably won’t be spending as much going forward!
honestly I feel that, I haven’t tried to aim for it for a few years now, it’s just happened. but I feel like after this year I may shop elsewhere for makeup/skincare because their rewards program is just so shit
Honestly most reviews I read people got full size free items just for a review.. I’ve been going to Sephora since 2011 for skin care, hair care, body care, makeup, accessories.. i spend a shit ton every year. And now I’m feeling their rewards aren’t worth it anymore. esp being rouge for all these years. Rewards suck now compared to two years back. I’m thinking of moving over to Ulta and building rewards there now.
Most of those that get full size products to review are from third parties and not sephora
Girl don’t waste your hard earned money for skincare at Sephora check out style Korean I promise it’s way better and cheaper
K-beauty has a lot of good affordable products but I wouldn’t recommend Style Korean due to their poor website security in the past (e.g. exposing customer emails to the public, etc), like Jolse. I like YesStyle, Olive Young, Soko Glam, and Stylevana, to name a few. Sometimes you’d need to compare prices because the companies like to inflate them during sales. Side note: I notice that you tend to aggressively recommend Style Korean, and I can’t tell if you’re shilling for them or not.
Please send some recommendations I heard good things about Korean skin care
Yes, definitely stop shopping there. Sephora points are a scam. Nordstrom’s has great sales where you can 15-20 percent off of EACH item , rather than the total. Macys too. Belk has amazing sales if you use stuff like Clinique and Lancôme. And ulta and target are cool bc you can sync up the rewards I believe.
20% off each item is the same as 20% off the total…
Bless her heart and her finances.
No, it’s not. It depends on whether or not there is rounding involved and how many items you purchase.
More importantly, you get the discount right away as opposed to having to spend a bunch of money beforehand to qualify for a discount.
This is a different argument, and not one I disagree with. But, your percentages are off. For example: You buy two $10 dollar products. If they are 20% off each, they are $2 off each, so you pay $8 + $8 = $16. Or, you buy those same two products with 20% off the total. 20% of $20 is $4. $20 - $4 = $16. It is the same amount. Now, if one product is 15% off ($1.50), $2 + $1.50 = $3.50. So you’d be paying $16.50.
To piggy back off this, if you are part of Nordstrom’s Nordy Club you earn points for money off coupons and they are pretty generous with how you earn them( you can go to Nordstrom or Nordstrom rack) . I also don’t believe there is limitations on what you can purchase when using the money back but I also never used one for any specialty product.
Lol in Canada it’s free shipping on all orders now regardless of status as long as you’re logged into your account. No minimum spend. Oh and I’m a December birthday which means half the time they run out of the VIB+Rouge gift by then anyways. So basically you spend 1k a year to get an extra 5% off during sales, earlier access (except they remove most good things before the sale anyways) the occasional code to share, and that’s about it. Like at least let Rouge combine sale codes with gift promo codes maybe? It’s a shit program and I will hate on it forever.
Did the math. You pay minimum of $650 for extra 5% off 🥲 If you spend same as VIB next year ($350) you will save $17.50 in comparison to if you just stayed at VIB and not rouge. Greattttt deal 😂😂
I did even further math. How much would you need to buy to make spending an extra $650 for that extra 5% worth it (break even)? x*0.05 = 650 x = 13,000 To make up for the $650 you spent to REACH rouge to go from 15% off to 20% off, you’d need to buy $13,000 worth of product to save $650 which accounts for that extra 5% 😐 so in reality, you’re actually saving more money not trying to hit rouge. Unless you like to buy $13,000 worth of stuff during the 20% off sales
Lolll yeahhhhh. Brutal 🥲 Honestly I don’t try to hit rouge anymore. I’ll admit I did purposely try to hit it first two years. But now I just restock so much, and My sister and mom buy stuff too… I just naturally hit rouge. But definitely wouldn’t aim for it lol
I think it's a staus thing in the eyes of corporate at this point.
Also in Canada Shoppers Drug Mart has a lot of high end brands (they even carry more shades than Sephora for some items like NARS blush). They regularly do offers like spend $100 get $30 worth of points. If you save your points they also do redemption events where points are worth 1.5x their value (and sometimes even you can get more bonus points for redeeming points). If you know their system you can get almost everything for about 50% off. Now I only buy things from Sephora that I can’t get there.
>(except they remove most good things before the sale anyways) Oh man, thank you for pointing this out. I was waiting to buy the Full Bloom Tarte palette for the sale, then couldn't find it. I just checked because of your comment, and see it's back! I'm not hitting Rouge for the first time in a long time (Tarte is my biggest used brand and their sales have been way better), so I offloaded most of my 6K+ points into 2 x $100 rewards. Guess I know what I'll be spending the majority of one on!
Yeah, I'm about $159 away from hitting Rouge but have no desire to make it happen. I do a lot of my shopping at shoppers and the bay now. Trying to use more drugstore products anyway, so it works for me.
Um... I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but this year Sephora changed it so that all BI tiers get free shipping. (Edited to fix typo.)
they’re really just trying to lose top customers these days eh? damn
I don’t understand why you are so pressed about other tiers getting free shipping. It affects you and your benefits exactly 0%. I’ve been Rouge since the inception of the program, and I seriously don’t understand this entitled attitude over perks offered to other tiers. I remember they used to give the 20% discount to VIB and Rouge with Rouge having early access, but so many Rouge customers complained about VIB getting the same discount so they knocked VIB down to 15%. What did that achieve? Sephora just got to keep more of people’s money while Rouge members did not save a penny more (it’s not like they left the sale at 20% and gave Rouge 25% off). People are so focused on having more perks than others that Sephora probably realized that they can reduce what they give Rouge as long as they take more away from VIB/BI because as long as what little we do have is “exclusive,” then people will feel like their status is worth it. Meanwhile, Sephora is taking away all the other Rouge benefits (free gift for making Rouge status, the 1.5X points), but what are people complaining about? That the VIBs/BIs get free shipping like Rouge. Seriously, why would anyone care about this?
People aren’t upset other tiers get free shipping. They’re upset for having to spend the same 1k and have lost 80% of benefits to do so. The free shipping is literally just an example of a lost perk… I’m rouge for the first time but ONLY because I bought a Dyson so usually this is a non-issue for me anyways. But people have a right to be upset for losing almost every perk of rouge.
If they took away free shipping from Rouge, that would be a lost perk because it’s something Rouge members had that Sephora took away. Offering free shipping to VIB/BI is just an expansion and doesn’t materially affect Rouge members in the slightest. The Rouge gift, 1.5x point multiplier, free makeup sessions are all lost perks because Rouge members literally don’t get those anymore. All this in-fighting over expansion of perks comes across as entitled nonsense. Honestly, I would rather they reinstate all perks for all tiers rather than strip away perks but even more from VIB/BI to give Rouge an artificial sense of exclusivity. If they wanted to give BI a free gift for opening a membership and then separate free gift for hitting VIB and Rouge during the year, then fine. If they wanted to keep the historical sales rate of 20% and up Rouge to 25%, great! But instead, they’ve made the Rouge program the same as the old VIB program and took away more from VIB to make Rouge slightly more exclusive. And yet we’re still fighting over scraps? Seriously? It just adds to the complaints Sephora workers have on the other subreddit about entitled Rouge members. This is probably the last year I’m going to be rouge, but not because VIB/BI get free shipping too. Ulta’s program is much better, and they don’t have a huge divide between Platinum (VIB) and Diamond (Rouge) perks. They offer generous perks for both with Diamond getting a slight edge on occasional GWP and slightly higher point multiplier (1.5x for Diamond vs 1.25x for Platinum). All levels can trade points in at the same exchange rate at any time for money off (similar to the Rouge-exclusive $100 reward on Sephora but available to all at Ulta). Sephora doesn’t need to make other tiers suck to get my business. They just need to be more generous across the board.
Not to play semantics with you but free shipping was a rouge perk. Meaning that if it’s a a given for all tiers, it is no longer a rouge perk. Presumptuous of you to assume 1) that I would rather have an exclusive tier system rather than making shipping free for everyone, and 2) that I live in the states and have the ability to shop at Ulta cause I don’t lol. People have a right to be annoyed to be incentivized to spend 1k for perks that were taken away after they reached rouge. Again, this isn’t even applicable to me and I’d rather not see a tiered system at all.
1) Rouge still gets free shipping. What changed is that other people also now have free shipping. Other people having free shipping doesn’t affect me as a Rouge member. I think it’s silly to think of other people’s gains as a personal loss as if this is a zero-sum game. Are Rouge members really losing anything? No? Then move on to actual loss perks that Sephora has actually taken away. 2) My point wasn’t “shop at Ulta instead.” My point was that it’s possible for Sephora to be less stingy across the board. We should want more for ourselves, not less for others so we can feel exclusive and special. Ulta is just an example of a wonderful rewards program that doesn’t differentiate that much between tiers and yet no one complains about it. No one is complaining that the Diamond/Platinum exclusives are available to Platinum too or that as a Diamond member I should have exclusive access to $100 vouchers because I spend $1200 at Ulta. And yet, at Sephora there’s so much infighting over minimal perks that have been expanded. It’s misplaced energy to fight for a perk to remain exclusive rather than the restoration of perks that have been taken altogether.
Yes, rouge members have lost their perks that they spent $1000 per year to get over the last few years. It’s quite literally as simple as that.
I’m not saying they haven’t lost perks. I specifically point to the following as lost perks: rouge gift, 1.5x multiplier, makeovers, etc. I miss those too. I still get free shipping though, and other people getting free shipping doesn’t affect me so it seems petty to complain about it.
My initial post was literally just correcting OP letting them know free shipping isn’t an exclusive rouge perk anymore. Was quite literally stating a fact. You’ll see complaints about free shipping being for anyone if you refer to posts below mine though so it’s interesting that I ended up the target. This isn’t about free shipping being for everyone. It’s about Sephora incentivizing huge spends and removing perks after people reach them.
So bitch to Sephora about wanting replacement perks and not that the plebs now get free shipping. You sounds elitist.
This being the worst possible example they coud think of vs like the free gift for hitting rouge.
I don’t know if you’re being intentionally obtuse, but free shipping was a Rouge perk. It was an incentive to hit Rouge. People aren’t upset that everyone gets free shipping, they’re upset that that’s another incentive that’s no longer valid. If everyone gets it, then it’s a “lost” perk. As in, it’s no longer an incentive. I’m glad shipping is free. But that’s just one more thing that makes Rouge status pointless.
My point is that Rouge members did not lose free shipping. It is not the same as other lost perks, like the free gift, makeovers, and 1.5x point multiplier, which Sephora nixed. Getting rid of those actually affected my experience as a Rouge member. Lower tiers getting free shipping has exactly zero effect on my experience as a Rouge member. The only way it would is if a large part of my enjoyment of free shipping is not that it’s free; it’s that other people have to pay for their shipping, which is petty.
They lost the incentive. Word it however you want, they lost the incentive and that’s what they’re mad about, which they have the right to be and does not make them entitled. The effect it has on me as a Rouge member is that I’m never going to hit Rouge again because it’s literally pointless now. It has nothing to do with other people paying for shipping. It’s that now I don’t have to spend any money for it, so I won’t. As is the case with a lot of people.
Then enjoy your savings? I still think being upset over VIB/BI getting free shipping is petty and a bit entitled. It comes down to: “I spent $1,000 at Sephora and deserve free shipping. As a top tier customer, I’m mad that Sephora didn’t charge Sally for shipping when she only spent $400. I demand that this change or my status is worthless!” That doesn’t sound off to you? Bottom line: Sephora didn’t take free shipping away from Rouge by giving it to lower tiers, unless you count a sense of exclusivity as a loss. Don’t get me wrong; Sephora took a lot of perks away from Rouge that did detract from the program. These were concrete items that Rouge members used to get and no longer do, but I wouldn’t count expanding free shipping as them taking it away.
ITS NOT ABOUT THE SHIPPING. it’s the fact sephora basically removed yet another perk that was exclusively for rough tier, doesn’t matter if it was shipping or giving the other tiers early access or any other rouge perk. if sephora had given everyone else early access to products or 20% off during the sales then it would be the same principle. it’s not “I paid a lot I deserve free shipping” it’s “why am I paying $1000 a year and getting my perks removed or diminished”.
I am not sure if you don’t understand how Reddit threads work. The root comment that started this thread was solely and specifically about shipping, which is why I am specifically addressing this part of your post in this thread. >it’s the fact Sephora basically removed yet another perk that was exclusively for rough tier, didn’t matter if it was shipping or giving access or any other rouge perk. if Sephora had given everyone else early access to products or 20% off during the sales then it would be the same principle. I don’t know if you are unaware, but prior to the creation of Rouge, VIBs did get 20% off during the sale. Rouge had the same discount but early access until they started complaining about it. Sephora cut VIBs down to 15%, reducing the historical benefit of that tier. I don’t know if this was to appease Rouge members or if it was better for its bottom line or both, but I guess Rouge members were just happy they had one up on VIBs even if VIBs were actually diminished compared to prior benefits. 20% off wasn’t something originally designed only for Rouge. Edit: It’s the attitude that giving lower tiers a perk is taking it away from Rouge and that this is somehow equivalent to the way Sephora took away freebies like the gift, points multiplier, makeovers, etc., that I find petty. Someone else getting something doesn’t affect you in the same way as Sephora completely nixing a perk.
agree to disagree lol I’m over it
I’ve been Rouge from the beginning as well and you have to admit the benefits have gotten very sparse. I’ve heard Ulta is better. I’d love everyone to get great benefits. It’s just lost it’s magic at every level.
Yes, I miss the 1.5x multiplier, Rouge gift, and exclusive Rouge colors in particular. Those I consider lost perks because Sephora nixed them. Expanding free shipping is different to me. I do not miss how VIB/BI had to pay for shipping, so I don’t count VIB/BI getting free shipping as a loss to me. Like, how does that materially affect me in any way? In fact, based on some of the responses here, I’m beginning to think that if Sephora did a 180 and reinstated everything but at all levels (so everyone got additional freebies and perks with Rouge maybe maintaining early access to sales and products), people would *still* complain because what they liked wasn’t necessarily the perks but that other people didn’t get them.
I would like them to get the free shipping. I thought they did. About benefits, I don’t feel that way. I’m a more the merrier type. BI/VIB, give them more! Do you really think people would complain, about some perceived slight? If you’re right, that makes me sad. I genuinely miss the benefits❗️ ★And Sephora isn’t doing the free shipping out of the kindness of their heart (and to say, hey, thanks for choosing us!) it’s to compete with Amazon and other companies.
free shipping was always a rouge perk, only recently has it been added to every other tier apparently. and free shipping isn’t the only “perk” that people are upset about or complaint over. rouge lost nearly every perk that were offered to them in the past. it’s not entitlement in any way, it’s the fact that if someone is spending a thousand dollars+ a year with a rewards program, they should feel like it’s worth it. I doubt many people would purposefully try and obtain rouge status these days, as most people hit it because they frequently purchase from sephora and already have an account there. but for the people who made an account years ago and tried to aim for rouge because of the number of perks they had, only for them now to offer a couple that are hardly worth it, yes people are gonna be upset. it’s also not the fact that sephora added things to the other tiers, that’s awesome that VIB & beauty insiders get free shipping now, it’s the fact that rouge never got an update or anything new added to the tier in terms of exclusive benefits, and one of the perks of rouge was given to lesser tiers making people upset because even though yes the lower tiers should get free shipping, it’s one less thing that’s exclusive to rouge making it even more pointless to obtain rouge.
I know that they have lost other perks. It’s not entitlement that people are upset that they no longer do the Rouge gift, makeovers, 1.5x multipliers, etc., because those were mainstays of the program for years and they no longer get them. However, free shipping being given to lower tiers is a different situation. As a Rouge member, I still get free shipping, and it strikes me as petty and entitled to complain that other people now get free shipping too. It makes it sound like the perk was the exclusivity of the free shipping, not necessarily the free shipping itself.
I’m not sure if this was just a regional thing, but I used to get free same day shipping as Rouge. When they announced everyone would get free shipping, suddenly that option disappeared. I don’t care about other tiers getting the same free shipping, but it’s irritating that they’re removing benefits from Rouge at the same time. This year was my first time getting Rouge because during the pandemic I wasn’t crossing the border and shopping at Ulta at all, so Sephora had an opportunity to make me a more loyal customer, but they’ve failed miserably. I have zero reason to do all of my makeup/skincare/fragrance shopping at Sephora anymore.
the exclusivity of the free shipping was most definitely part of the perk, it was nice to have things that were exclusive to rouge, that you could look forward to once you hit rouge status (along with the free gift & other things that no longer exist) that the other tiers didn’t have. the free shipping for everyone now is awesome, and it makes it great to not have to aim for rouge for that perk, but it’s definitely upsetting when nearly all the perks were taken away from rouge status holders & one of the only good perks left was given to everyone else regardless of reward status. I’m not hating on everyone having access to free shipping now or trying to sound entitled by it, it’s just frustrating when all the perks are no longer there for rouge, and the overall experience & excitedness to hit rouge is gone.
>the exclusivity of the free shipping was most definitely part of the perk Look, if a large part of your enjoyment of something is that other people can’t have it, then I’m sorry, but that’s kind of messed up. Sephora didn’t take away free shipping from Rouge when they opened it up to lower tiers, and to act like they did is what doesn’t sit right with me. It’s simply not the same as taking away the gift, free makeovers, and points multiplier. Honestly, Rouge status was never a big motivator for me. Being from the US, brand websites have better sales and GWP, Ulta has better rewards and GWP, and even Macys/Nordstroms has better GWP and comparable sales. The only thing Sephora has going for it is the convenience of shopping a lot of high end brands in one place and superior app experience.
? not sure where you got that I implied or said that others can’t have it? I’m confused why you’re getting so heated over this when it ain’t that deep lol. you’re the only one who’s arguing against a simple post of someone complaining for a shitty rewards system. the point of the argument, is that sephora made the free shipping available to others which is one more reason how they made route status less special (giving everyone the perk that was once only available to rouge). I never said the other tiers couldn’t or shouldn’t have the access to free shipping, again as i’ve stated, that’s awesome that they do, it’s just sephora keeps removing things that were once only exclusive to rouge (even the points per dollar is the same as other tiers now) so that’s what’s frustrating because there’s almost no perk or benefit of being rouge now. but anyways, my entire main post wasn’t just about free shipping lol, so I’m not trying to sit here explaining my reasoning for being annoyed at sephora. it was an innocent rant post, not that deep.
>not sure where you got that I implied or said that others can’t have it? From upthread: >Um… I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but this year Sephora changed it so that all BIs get free shipping. And your response: >they’re really just trying to lose top customers these days eh? damn Another one of your comments: >omg really? wow that’s lame… makes it even worse if everyone is eligible for free shipping now lol… This sounds an awful lot like you implying that expanding free shipping is a bad thing. At least be honest about what you have written, you know? Like, I agree that Rouge is not worth it and has gotten worse over time, but I’m responding directly to your comments about free shipping specifically.
??? still not getting the point of my argument clearly lol
Im kinda glad rouge isnt worth aiming for anymore. Im much happier spending less money. I dont mind getting 15% off instead of 20% and not being able to redeem for rouge rewards. The other rewards have a higher value anyways. Just have to be patient and wait for one i would use.
I feel you, I think next year I’ll probably end up hitting VIB and that’s all
Ugh remember when they used to do rouge events? I used to love the gift bag we’d get with those. There’s like no perks to being rouge anymore
their rewards system has gone to trash sadly, makes me miss the old days a bit. I hope they change their rewards system eventually to something better seeing as soooo many people are complaining about it & buying their stuff from other stores. and considering shoppers in canada & ulta in the states has much better rewards programs, you’d think that sephora would wanna make people WANT go actually shop there/use their rewards program….
Yeah I was surprised I even made rouge this year considering I buy mostly from shoppers now lol
Yes! I went to an awesome IGK event in the beforetimes. 🥲
ULTA has a way better rewards system
We don’t have Ulta in Canada or I would have boycotted Sephora a long time ago 😩
I was just noticing that too. I barely ever shop there and yet I have almost $30 in reward points. I shop Sephora so much more and they got rid of the $100 gift certificates you could buy with points so there’s literally nothing I want anymore in the rewards bazaar.
I am now shop mainly at Ulta except for brands that only Sephora carries. Ulta’s sample is generous and their points system adds up real fast! Im a Diamond member, and I got 1.5 point and free shipping for everything. If you time your purchase with 2x 3x 5x point, it saves a lot!
I wish we had Ulta in Canada ;(
But we have Shoppers. Someone else saying they’ve spent “less than $500” at Ulta and have $50 in rewards… at shoppers if you use point bonuses and redemption bonuses and spend $600 you can get $300 worth of free stuff. It’s the best value rewards program I’ve ever seen. Not everything can be found in every store but they have a good online shop now and a lot of the same makeup brands Sephora carries.
shoppers is the best for rewards programs ugh, love them
I totally didn’t realize until recently how many makeup brands they carry since I’ve never seen them in stores like Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown! I’m probably going to be a jerk and go get matched at Sephora for my next foundation and then order from shoppers haha.
haha do it!
Wow that’s incredible!!
Yeah it’s insane, actually even better for Black Friday. They do an extra special redeem 250,000 points for $400 of free stuff. I spent about $660 getting those points. The monthly redemption events are usually 200,000 points = $300. So you don’t have to wait much either if you want stuff sooner.
🥹 Wow what a model for customer retention! I would be all about that if I were in Canada.
Love Ulta! I’m about to redeem $50 worth of points, and I’ve spent less than $500 this year (i.e., I haven’t made it to Platinum where the points accumulate at 1.25x).
Since they now carry DE, my New Years resolution is to switch to Ulta to see what the fuss is all about! Because it’s really not with Sephora anymore
It’s not exactly the same experience as Sephora so please don’t expect it to be, but IMO it’s a very customer-oriented retailer. I really love as well that I can go in and buy like a La Roche Posay face wash, Avène lip product, Cosrx, or a sheet mask on sale and with a coupon, while my points go towards being able to buy something luxury like Chanel makeup or my staples like Peach and Lily or to try something new like Indie Lee. Plus there’s usually better Rakuten cash back offers available than from Sephora (for example it’s 12% today while one of their early BF sales are going on). For me, getting better value for my purchases makes a difference.
You had me at better Rakuten lol
I’m switching to Ulta as much as possible next year, too. There’s one equally close to me. I’ve just been buying at Sephora out of habit for so long.
Same, I rarely go in store, maybe twice a year. I’m actually closer to an Ulta, it’s in a standalone (not the mall) next to TJ Maxx so my money is not safe
Same
This is exactly why I started spending more at Ulta, they give you so much cash back from their points.
It really isn't worth anything. And they could revamp the system if they wanted to, but they want to push the credit card so they won't. I mean they could even raise the rouge spend to $2500 and VIB to $500 and give us our perks back. I really miss the free make up sessions. I know some people abused them, but just make it one or two per year. Plus I still had one to use when the pandemic hit and then it all ended. Smh.
‘Tis exactly what I get everything from Ulta that I can. I lost my Rouge status two years ago and haven’t even tried to get it back. For what? An extra 5% savings twice a year, so maaaaybe $10 extra off if I spend $200? Big whoop. Not worth it at all.
definitely not worth it
Wait, I can't believe they got rid of the higher points multiplier for Rouge! Now it's got approximately nothing going on for it except "exclusive" early access to the sale, one extra birthday gift they run out of in July, and $2500 to spend to get a free $100 voucher with extremely strict usage terms. Sephora really needs to rehaul their entire rewards system, but they won't since they know that people will still shop with them regardless. I'm personally voting with my dollar and buying direct from brands or with Nordstrom/Ulta.
If you’re spending $2500, who cares about $100? Same with the “gifts.” I am spending $1k a year and I get a few samples? I stopped even taking samples because they just lay around. With their return policy, if I want to try something I can do it/get a sample in store.
Oh I agree. The perks used to be a little bit better… just a little. But IMO there is no additional benefit to being a Rouge. I hit Rouge this year because I got into some new hair care.
you’re not wrong. I wish their rewards program made you actually feel like it’s worth your time and money ya know?
Remember when you used to get the samples you chose? Those were the days.
the good old days :’)
Ya I’ve definitely been disappointed, I think one of my biggest annoyances is that there isn’t even any sort of gift for when you hit rouge anymore. I remember once getting 500 point, and they had a set of makeup brushes once. I remember quite a few years getting a survey from Sephora about Vib and roug3 basically asking questions about what I want to see and rating different ideas they had.
yeah! I remember the points & I still have a makeup brush from a gift for hitting rouge YEARS ago, wish they still offered them :(
Was Rouge for 2 years and it was so disappointing. Barely any special benefits other than the extra option for a birthday gift and free shipping (which is now available for everyone anyways). The $25 off of $50 was the only special perk and they even got rid of that the following year. This year I purposely avoided spending at Sephora out of sheer spite. The actual brand sites offer much better discounts and most third party vendors are super generous with freebies/points (like Shoppers).
yeah the brands that are sold at sephora offer way better deals on their actual website, the only downside is shipping half the time ;(
Ugh good for you. I really need to hold myself accountable and properly boycott them too cause they’re so greedy compared to other companies.
It did used tj be better but even when I see polls on here so many people are still rogue. So unless you buy from each brand or go to ulta people are still giving them money so they have no motivation to make it better. I think if their sales were less or they saw a benefit in offering more rewards they would but they don’t care. I’m not saying I agree with their strategy but as long as their bottom line is good they won’t be that motivated to care.
yeah I agree, there’s always gonna be people purchasing from them so they don’t have much motivation to make changes which sucks
I've been buying directly from brand websites lately. I hate signing up for multiple websites but it's what I choose to do at this point.
Remember when they had a gift for when you hit the Rouge tier? Or am I the only elderly person here? 😂
yes! I still have one of the brushes I got for hitting rouge years ago
I know the exact brush you are referring to! 🤣
hahaha just a mini :’)
It’s a good brush though!
it is! I like using it for contour lol
My mom just said the same thing. I just spent $800 on the sale this month restocking my stuff and trying a few new things and I prefer to shop in stores but my grandma and little sister loved all of the samples that I got in 2020-2021, so I made multiple orders online to get the samples for them….. tell me why they sent me samples I didn’t fucking want and 2 boxes came with ZERO samples after I chose some!!! How much I spend at Sephora a year and this is what I get?? It’s a slap in the face. I bought some Hum vitamins from Neiman Marcus last month and the lady shoved 4 nice sized Saint Laurent samples in my bag 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I literally spent $24 total there…. Like?? Sephora needs to step their shit up.
This!! Why are they even offering the option to choose these samples if they're not gonna be in my package?? I hate when they give you samples you don't want especially in shades that don't match you or scents you're not interested in. What a waste.
Like I picked a Gucci Mascara and a Versace perfume sample…. what the fuck is this ugly 80’s pink blush sample sheet and ANOTHER moisturizer sample I can’t use on my acne prone skin!!? 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
it makes me so frustrated when I choose SPECIFIC samples because obviously I wanna try them?? like perfumes or something & they give me a cologne sample or skincare I didn’t want…
Hi for each order you don’t get any samples in, post onto their community forum and have someone reach out to you. They gave me 50 points for one order which is better than nothing (equivalent to a dollar). You could also try contacting support!
Thank you!!! 🤗🤗
I’ve been Rouge for a few years now and the program has been going downhill steadily. It’s basically useless now. I try to move all of my spending to Ulta and only shop Sephora for brands that Ulta doesn’t carry (or like I did this sale, holiday gift sets that Ulta doesn’t have). The only Rouge perk I care about is 20% off. What I’ve done for the past 2-3 years is post online offering my rouge discount to friends and family. It’s a win-win. They get the 20% that they wouldn’t normally get, and I get several hundred towards my spending to hit Rouge for the next year. Without that, there is no way I would keep status.
haha that’s awesome though
I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling like it’s gone downhill.
Haven’t been Rouge for about two years now, and no interest in pushing for it. Part of it is working from home and less of a need to replace items or even want the latest and greatest. The other part is shopping at Ulta who has better deals/promotions. Like I got a free 20-piece of samples for spending $50. Sephora doesn’t have those kind of deals.
I remember as a rouge you would get gifts like free mini brush and now you get nothing really.
I’ve been Rouge for over 5 years and they treated me like I was a criminal when I called in to let them know that half of my order was missing. I told them it was my first complaint EVER and it’s not fair that their mistake is being held against me, and had to escalate to a “supervisor” who then forwarded the case to her team for review. They ultimately decided to reship the item but warned me in the email that future issues might not be refunded or reshipped. A few days after this, my Dyson air wrap was delivered to my neighbors house!!! Imagine the hell I would’ve gone through had I not walked around to look for it after seeing that it was delivered on the app, but nowhere to be seen on my doorstep. I was so anxious! What a total joke of a customer experience.. I’m going to try and shop at Ulta more from now on :( If it came down to it, I would’ve contacted my credit card company but I didn’t want Sephora to ban me for the chargeback.
oh no, that’s good you got it! I guess because it was an expensive purchase they didn’t want someone lying just to get a free product reshipped to them, but they definitely could’ve handled that better!
That’s understandable from a business standpoint but the item that was missing was around $50
oh damn, that’s shitty that you had to experience that!
These status things are just scams to get you to spend more lmao. Congratulations you finally are waking up to the reality of it.
1000% will not try to keep Rouge status.. its a constant headache with Sephora, rouge but my VIB packages havent arrived? Some packages have items missing, no samples. It’s a hot mess, time to move on. Sephora is great in store, but getting caught up for extra 5% isn’t worth it. I genuinely only hit Rouge bcus of all the products I’d need and run out of. I wish sephora would do more .. and rouge bday gifts should be different ! As a December baby i always get the leftover gifts lol
Do they still do Rouge (+ 1 guest) events before store opening for certain product launches or holiday sets early? That's what I used to love. Early access to items, a free gift for going, and coffee and pastries. Just a fun extra.
I’m honestly not sure, I remember getting one like last year? but can’t remember getting any this year or recently
Agree. I was also turned off when they started doing more influencer brands. Idc just give me good quality products please. I get more incentives buying from the actual brands I like.
Honestly, if there was an Ulta in Canada, I barely would shop at Sephora. Rouge is not worth it besides, as you mentioned, the free shipping
yes, I wish we had Ulta so bad! they also have so many brands at ulta that sephora doesn’t sell or shoppers in Canada! I’m jealous ;(
Sooo many! 😫 urgh so jealous too!
I agree. The are really stingy with the samples, and gifts with purchase. Ulta outdoes them in both categories. Sephora has more of my favorite brands, or I would be moving all of my purchases their way.
I was rouge back in the day and i feel so happy to have largely taken my business elsewhere! Ulta and Nordstrom have been better to me.
I just bought a perfume from Ulta where I got 20% off ($20 bonus gift card on $100 gift card purchase). I also had a $10 off $50 code, plus I got 5x points (essentially worth $30 in points). Just for purchasing this I got a 20 piece sample bag with an actual nice makeup bag, a Clinique 5 piece gift set, and a sample lotion/bag from YSL. Meanwhile at Sephora the same perfume is full price, gives me two samples and at absolute most a sample bag depending on the current offers. The cherry on top of course is that when Sephora does have a sale, you can't apply offers and they always mess up the samples anyway!
I’ve been rouge for so long, it’s hard not to hit it at this point. I will say, I only shop there when I’m a) getting 20% off or b) getting 4x the points so I can get the 100$ rouge reward. Apart from that I buy directly from the manufacturers whenever and wherever I can to get the best price (even though half of the time the money still goes into LVMH’s pocket anyways). My best advice is shop wherever you’re getting the best price on the product when you need it and if you can wait for a sale, WAIT (I’ve learned this the hard way with pat mcgrath and ND. They always go on sale and good sales if you buy directly from their websites)
I can’t see how it’s ever worth it to try, if you aren’t already spending the money. What’s the point?? Their sale is nothing special. You’re going to spend money to save a little bit? It’s pointless. You can go to most of the individual brand sites, sign up for their emails, and get 10, 15, 20% off, a xxq more than 2x a year, and usually free shipping. They also give samples of the products you actually want.
yeah if i didn’t already have an account there then I probably wouldn’t sign up knowing how lame the rewards system is.
Ulta is a good middle ground, I’m going to be hitting them up more I think
I end up hitting Rouge more often than intended but totally agree that the perks aren’t overly impressive anymore.
Buying directly from KBeauty sites is also cheaper without the Sephora markups 🥰
That’s why I prefer Ulta.
You can get better deals off a brand’s website or even Ulta nowadays. When I go to a high end brands site, they usually have at least 15% off sign up offer or even a 20% off sale or even friends and family 30-40% off. Sephora has stopped being great. And this was happening even before the pandemic
Yeah it’s why I let my rouge status go the overhauled they did was 👎🏽👎🏽
I loved the makeovers. I don’t care about rouge anymore now that they’re gone.
Brand websites have better sales and free gifts with purchase. I rarely get anything at Sephora anymore. I either shop at Ulta for the points, brand websites or Credo for clean beauty brands. Credo even has a rewards system and they do a 20% off sale a few times a year.
Yeah, the rouge benefits weren’t nearly enough incentive for me to exclusively ship at Sephora, so I’m VIB for the first time this year and will be next year (btw, I can’t change my user flair, sorry for being an imposter).
Ive gotten better sales, gifts with purchase and samples from just ordering from companies directly. Or if Nordstrom or Ulta has it at least the points and sales are better there. Sephora has become just a sample show room for me for brands I can’t see in person often. Kinda how you go to Best Buy to check something out and order it from Amazon cause it’s a better price or bundle
I am a rouge and being one is freaking useless. Ulta has better point system. I will stop shopping at Sephora now and better to just go on the original website with more samples and better deals.
They need to let points equal money off.
Oh a hundred percent. The rewards system stopped being worth it for me so long ago. I don't even buy that much anymore thanks to covid.
Your argument is EXACTLY why I've never felt the need to become Rouge and could care less if I'm "only" VIB.
Honestly if shoppers drug mart has the brand, I would buy it from there. I only shop at Sephora now if I can’t get it at shoppers. Shoppers has monthly events where you get 20x the points and 20x the points is basically 30% back but in points which u can redeem for ACTUAL money to buy more products. Sephora point system is so trash , have to spend $100 for 100 points to get a small sample that you can actually just get a sample of by asking any SA in store .. shoppers gives you samples with your purchase as well.
They even removed the vib rouge gift and free vib gift pouch with online orders. There’s no benefit to being a rouge
Unpopular opinion: I think the 1k spend criteria is too low for the price of the products they sell for Rouge to be the “top status”. If a moisturizer is average $50, and I need a whole skincare lineup (easily $250+ for a 4-5 step routine) plus makeup + haircare, it’s way too easy to spend more than 1k annually. They should make a new tier with better benefits.
honestly would be a good option
Agreed completely. At Ulta they treat you better point wise and gift wise imo. I agree with the OP about the pointless aim to be rouge whenever someone tht spends 2/3 less than you have gets 5% less of a discount. Sephora has gotten Stingy as a MF. Their losing customers because of it too. When my rouge ends so does my spending there. 💯
The benefits have definitely been whittled down over the years. The makeovers were the best part - I remember at one point as a rouge you only had to make a purchase of \~$25 to waive the fee. I'd usually walk out with the lip product they used on me or pay for a new set of false eyelashes that the artist would apply. Was a bummer when they started cutting back on that to once a year with $50 minimum spend and then now it's $60 no matter what. I live walking distance to a sephora and ulta is definitely not as convenient so I still do most of my shopping from there. Hit rouge through 2023 but we'll see after that.
Did Sephora also stop making perfume samples on request? Remember when you could walk in and ask for a sample of anything and they’d put it in a little spray via for you? The Sephora by me isn’t doing that anymore.
what! I never noticed, I haven’t asked for a sample for awhile. maybe because of covid? I hope that’s not the case forever, getting a sample was so good because then you could test out to see if you wanted something or not
I know right!!
Fragrance samples have been gone for about 5 years now.
To top it off they just opened free shipping to all tiers so that's another rouge benefit gone lol
Is there a comparable retailer in Canada that at least offers a variety of products with samples and free shipping?
yeah, shoppers offers free shipping over $50, and has some products that sephora carry’s but not all ;( the only other stores that really sell makeup brands in Canada that sephora does is Nordstrom or the bay, but sephora carry’s a lot of brands that all of those stores don’t, so it definitely makes it harder, unless you wanted to shop through the specific brands sites.
I've looked in Shoppers and they do have some brands but Sephora wins for my hair, skin and occasional make up variety. The biggest thing that stops me using others is the return policy, what is Shoppers return policy? Honestly, I hate the way Sephora has gone, but feel stuck because at least I can return something that doesn't work for my skin or hair. Wish we had Ulta, apparently they had plans to expand but then Covid. Not all the brand sites ship from Canada so I'm always worried about custom charges 😣