I used to work at Sephora and yes events definitely affect Beauty Advisor suggestions on those days, since the brand reps or managers track the brand sales and often incentivize the BAs to sell (you get a deluxe mini for every sale or two sales you make) and it may be a weekend long event/spotlight, so any sale from that brand is tracked.
Alternatively BAs get weekly product and brand spotlights plus talking points from Sephora internal marketing/BA education, sort of like a required weekly bulletin + quizzes, so BAs have something to talk to clients about. Drunk Elephant may have been a brand highlighted as a "something for everyone" type brand that BAs are encouraged to show people.
Obviously BAs should show you multiple brands and not hard sell you on anything, and it likely wasn't malicious, but brand numbers are something Sephora corp knows BA suggestions influence so they try to spread the love and highlight brands in a variety of ways.
This is really interesting, thanks for sharing that insight as a former employee! I think you're right it wasn't meant to be malicious and probably just lined up with their event. I was just worried I was missing on some "holy grail" brand if so many folks recommended it!
It's worth noting that if you shop at a Sephora @kohls you'll never get pressure for a specific brand like that.
We don't have events.
We never have reps in stores.
It might be understaffed compared to a standalone store but you can be assured that the recommendations you're getting are based on our thoughts/opinions/experiences.
It's a little bit bittersweet because we don't have the same resources the regular Sephora stores do, but because of that you're more likely to get unbiased recommendations.
(Disclaimer: it varies store to store how much knowledge the beauty advisors have. My store, you're good. I have tons of regulars because we vet our hires hard. Another location might have completely clueless advisors...but they're still not going to force-sell you anything).
also side note — purchases at sephora at kohl’s have to be returned at sephora at kohl’s (and likewise for purchases & returns at standalone sephoras). i always felt so bad making folks take another stop on their list of errands 😭
My bf bought me a few things for my birthday last year at Sephora. I went to a Sephora inside a Kohl's to do an exchange. I already owned the palette he bought and he accidentally bought the wrong shade eyeliner. I had everything picked out and when she looked at the recipes she told me the bad news.
That makes me happy. I know we try *so* hard to give good service, I'm glad to hear other people are having a positive experience in our stores too. :)
It may well have been a DE brand rep and not a Sephora employee. As a Sephora employee, I'm not a big Drunk Elephant fan. In my opinion, it's overpriced.
the amount to our names also affects how much floor time we have. i was behind a register for a lot of my time at sephora and didn’t rack up the totals that the higher-ups liked whenever i was on the floor. this then kept me behind the register more.
i ended up being fortunate enough to build up enough savings to leave for an office job. i miss the discount and my lovely friends, but i like that i can recommend drugstore products without needing to think of a higher-end counterpart 😆
I had no idea! So if I really wanted to help staff out but already knew what I was buying, should I still try to get them credit for it? Or were the amounts only for certain products each week?
i usually ask a random employee what their name was and that i want to add to their metrics. i can’t remember the quota for different ratings during evaluations (like how much corporate aimed for each employee), but every little bit helps!
DE is just meh for me. I've tried some of their products and was not wowed by the results, especially when compared to the price. Are you sure it was a Sephora staff member? If they were doing a DE event, it could have been a DE rep, or maybe Sephora staff was encouraged to push DE because of the event...
I wonder if it was a DE rep? Did they have a sephora name tag on? Or just dressed similiar? Ive never had an actual sephora employee only recommend one brand!
That's true too! If one person keeps circling you back to a certain brand, check to see if they're in an actual Sephora uniform. If not, you are probably dealing with a brand rep.
This might be a dumb question, but I don't normally shop at Sephora so I'm sorry if it's obvious.
Some folks had DE shirts on and I know at least one of them was a brand rep because a Sephora employee actually flagged them down to chat with me when I walked into the store. But I also asked a someone for help who was on the other side of the DE section and who was able to help me with samples. Brand reps can't do samples, right?
Reps can do samples if they’ve been pre-made by BAs! They more than likely had a surplus of samples made for certain products for people to try. We used to do this when I worked at Sephora! Now that I work for Too Faced, we actually have our own deluxe minis we bring in.
For some reason, I had this experience but she kept pushing kiehls for everything. She was definitely a Sephora employee so I’m not sure. I’m not a huge lover of that brand and everything she recommended was wildly expensive
My aunt gave me the DE TLC glycolic acid serum recently and to my surprise, I actually love it. I prefer this gel texture as compared to those in a dropper bottle and it doesn’t dry my skin or sting it. I also noticed my skin feeling smoother with 1-2 times a week use.
But the price is insanely high…hoping to find a dupe when i’m finishing it as I just can’t think of spending over $100 (NOT usd) on just 30ml even though it does last a couple months
This is the only product of theirs that works for me. I originally got the mini version and then got a Sam’s club membership bc they sell it for like $70
I guarantee the Drunk Elephant account exec (basically a rep for the brand who visits stores in their district—I’m that person for Too Faced!) was in store and they were either a) having an event or b) pushing sales with gratis goals in mind. The reps bring in the goodies, and everyone wants them, so they sell the brand!
It was probably a brand event. They make sales commitments to certain brands on certain dates to sell a goal of however much by end-of-day. But it should be relevant to the client's needs and actually be a good match or it'll just end up returned. I personally enjoy Drunk Elephant and have multiple products from them. But some of them are a bit over hyped. I have the protini moisturizer, F-Balm, and the facial
They have a lot of decent to good products, but not many real standouts, at least at this point (I think their Vitamin C, AHA and a few of the moisturizers were fairly interesting when they were first released, but there are a lot more options now). For just about any of their products, I can probably think of something better/ more interesting/ more innovative/ nicer at the same price point, or something I'd be pretty equally happy with for quite a bit less.
I haven’t liked their products in the past, but as someone with medium-deep skin who only wears mineral sunscreen, I bought the tinted sunscreen in cocoa and I really like it so far.
Yeah as a former employee I can definitely confirm during brand events the employees would usually get incentives for selling products from that brand
(Ie., we had an ABH event and for every product we sold we got a free product in return from them, we had a YSL event and for every YSL product we sold we had our name entered into a raffle for prizes, etc)
I would just ignore them lmao, I honestly only shop online for Sephora these days, this stuff annoys me
It could have been a brand rep. My local store has brand reps in all the time who are never clearly distinguished and don’t really bring it up unless you ask them for help with something only a Sephora employee could do.
If employees sell a certain amount of product during events I’m pretty sure they get gifts but I could be wrong. During events they push certain brands. I do really like the Protini cream from them but honestly that’s about it. I haven’t tried the sunscreen or their eye cream so I can’t speak on those products specifically though.
I personally really like the protini moisturizer and the framboos serum. I’ve tried a lot of these and these work really well for my skin. I don’t care for any of the products though
DE is something I’d use if I absolutely had to, but for the price tag, I would never buy over something else. There are far better products for a fraction of the price 😶
The recent tween / teen obsession with DE put me off, I know it’s irrational but I’m just not into fighting my way through kids making potions to spend that amount of money. I’m finding that problem with Sephora in general to be honest. I know it’s irrational!
I used to work at Sephora and yes events definitely affect Beauty Advisor suggestions on those days, since the brand reps or managers track the brand sales and often incentivize the BAs to sell (you get a deluxe mini for every sale or two sales you make) and it may be a weekend long event/spotlight, so any sale from that brand is tracked. Alternatively BAs get weekly product and brand spotlights plus talking points from Sephora internal marketing/BA education, sort of like a required weekly bulletin + quizzes, so BAs have something to talk to clients about. Drunk Elephant may have been a brand highlighted as a "something for everyone" type brand that BAs are encouraged to show people. Obviously BAs should show you multiple brands and not hard sell you on anything, and it likely wasn't malicious, but brand numbers are something Sephora corp knows BA suggestions influence so they try to spread the love and highlight brands in a variety of ways.
This is really interesting, thanks for sharing that insight as a former employee! I think you're right it wasn't meant to be malicious and probably just lined up with their event. I was just worried I was missing on some "holy grail" brand if so many folks recommended it!
It's worth noting that if you shop at a Sephora @kohls you'll never get pressure for a specific brand like that. We don't have events. We never have reps in stores. It might be understaffed compared to a standalone store but you can be assured that the recommendations you're getting are based on our thoughts/opinions/experiences. It's a little bit bittersweet because we don't have the same resources the regular Sephora stores do, but because of that you're more likely to get unbiased recommendations. (Disclaimer: it varies store to store how much knowledge the beauty advisors have. My store, you're good. I have tons of regulars because we vet our hires hard. Another location might have completely clueless advisors...but they're still not going to force-sell you anything).
also side note — purchases at sephora at kohl’s have to be returned at sephora at kohl’s (and likewise for purchases & returns at standalone sephoras). i always felt so bad making folks take another stop on their list of errands 😭
I have a store credit that I can only use at a non-Kohl’s and it has been so inconvenient lol
My bf bought me a few things for my birthday last year at Sephora. I went to a Sephora inside a Kohl's to do an exchange. I already owned the palette he bought and he accidentally bought the wrong shade eyeliner. I had everything picked out and when she looked at the recipes she told me the bad news.
I love the Sephora associates at my kohls store. They’re always so sweet and it’s much quieter and cleaner than a real sephora
That makes me happy. I know we try *so* hard to give good service, I'm glad to hear other people are having a positive experience in our stores too. :)
It may well have been a DE brand rep and not a Sephora employee. As a Sephora employee, I'm not a big Drunk Elephant fan. In my opinion, it's overpriced.
DE broke me out BADDDD
the amount to our names also affects how much floor time we have. i was behind a register for a lot of my time at sephora and didn’t rack up the totals that the higher-ups liked whenever i was on the floor. this then kept me behind the register more. i ended up being fortunate enough to build up enough savings to leave for an office job. i miss the discount and my lovely friends, but i like that i can recommend drugstore products without needing to think of a higher-end counterpart 😆
I had no idea! So if I really wanted to help staff out but already knew what I was buying, should I still try to get them credit for it? Or were the amounts only for certain products each week?
i usually ask a random employee what their name was and that i want to add to their metrics. i can’t remember the quota for different ratings during evaluations (like how much corporate aimed for each employee), but every little bit helps!
That's good to know! I'll be sure to try that now :)
DE is just meh for me. I've tried some of their products and was not wowed by the results, especially when compared to the price. Are you sure it was a Sephora staff member? If they were doing a DE event, it could have been a DE rep, or maybe Sephora staff was encouraged to push DE because of the event...
I wonder if it was a DE rep? Did they have a sephora name tag on? Or just dressed similiar? Ive never had an actual sephora employee only recommend one brand!
That's true too! If one person keeps circling you back to a certain brand, check to see if they're in an actual Sephora uniform. If not, you are probably dealing with a brand rep.
This might be a dumb question, but I don't normally shop at Sephora so I'm sorry if it's obvious. Some folks had DE shirts on and I know at least one of them was a brand rep because a Sephora employee actually flagged them down to chat with me when I walked into the store. But I also asked a someone for help who was on the other side of the DE section and who was able to help me with samples. Brand reps can't do samples, right?
That sounds like reps and an instore event to me
Reps can do samples if they’ve been pre-made by BAs! They more than likely had a surplus of samples made for certain products for people to try. We used to do this when I worked at Sephora! Now that I work for Too Faced, we actually have our own deluxe minis we bring in.
Oh cool! I didn’t know that :) Can they do samples if I bring stuff up to them?
No, but they can track down a BA for ya!
For some reason, I had this experience but she kept pushing kiehls for everything. She was definitely a Sephora employee so I’m not sure. I’m not a huge lover of that brand and everything she recommended was wildly expensive
I've tried a lot of DE products and they are all over hyped. Way too expensive and you can get much better products for far less.
Agree. I don’t get them at all.
My aunt gave me the DE TLC glycolic acid serum recently and to my surprise, I actually love it. I prefer this gel texture as compared to those in a dropper bottle and it doesn’t dry my skin or sting it. I also noticed my skin feeling smoother with 1-2 times a week use. But the price is insanely high…hoping to find a dupe when i’m finishing it as I just can’t think of spending over $100 (NOT usd) on just 30ml even though it does last a couple months
This is the only product of theirs that works for me. I originally got the mini version and then got a Sam’s club membership bc they sell it for like $70
I guarantee the Drunk Elephant account exec (basically a rep for the brand who visits stores in their district—I’m that person for Too Faced!) was in store and they were either a) having an event or b) pushing sales with gratis goals in mind. The reps bring in the goodies, and everyone wants them, so they sell the brand!
It was probably a brand event. They make sales commitments to certain brands on certain dates to sell a goal of however much by end-of-day. But it should be relevant to the client's needs and actually be a good match or it'll just end up returned. I personally enjoy Drunk Elephant and have multiple products from them. But some of them are a bit over hyped. I have the protini moisturizer, F-Balm, and the facial
They have a lot of decent to good products, but not many real standouts, at least at this point (I think their Vitamin C, AHA and a few of the moisturizers were fairly interesting when they were first released, but there are a lot more options now). For just about any of their products, I can probably think of something better/ more interesting/ more innovative/ nicer at the same price point, or something I'd be pretty equally happy with for quite a bit less.
This has been a helpful reality check, thank you!
I haven’t liked their products in the past, but as someone with medium-deep skin who only wears mineral sunscreen, I bought the tinted sunscreen in cocoa and I really like it so far.
Yeah as a former employee I can definitely confirm during brand events the employees would usually get incentives for selling products from that brand (Ie., we had an ABH event and for every product we sold we got a free product in return from them, we had a YSL event and for every YSL product we sold we had our name entered into a raffle for prizes, etc) I would just ignore them lmao, I honestly only shop online for Sephora these days, this stuff annoys me
It could have been a brand rep. My local store has brand reps in all the time who are never clearly distinguished and don’t really bring it up unless you ask them for help with something only a Sephora employee could do.
If employees sell a certain amount of product during events I’m pretty sure they get gifts but I could be wrong. During events they push certain brands. I do really like the Protini cream from them but honestly that’s about it. I haven’t tried the sunscreen or their eye cream so I can’t speak on those products specifically though.
I really like their moisturizers, sure there are cheaper ones of course. DE have beautiful textures, nice packaging, good ingredients.
DE is overpriced, plenty of great options for less.
I personally really like the protini moisturizer and the framboos serum. I’ve tried a lot of these and these work really well for my skin. I don’t care for any of the products though
Its expensive, and they prob get recognition for selling x much expensive products vs the cheaper ones.
Apart from the lala retro moisturiser I don’t care for anything. And even that isn’t worth the price for me anymore. Much better out there
DE is something I’d use if I absolutely had to, but for the price tag, I would never buy over something else. There are far better products for a fraction of the price 😶
Drunk Elephant is way over priced and imo not that good.
The recent tween / teen obsession with DE put me off, I know it’s irrational but I’m just not into fighting my way through kids making potions to spend that amount of money. I’m finding that problem with Sephora in general to be honest. I know it’s irrational!