topic Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent? in Beauty Confidential

Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sat, 18 May 2024 22:00:00 GMT

I got to thinking about shopping for beauty items in the days before Sephora was so ever-present. Where did you go? What was it like? What did you buy?

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sat, 18 May 2024 22:04:38 GMT

I would go to Macy's for foundation samples (I think Estee Lauder or Lacome gave them out freely), and look at the Clinique counter when my mom bought stuff. I remember back then touching testers was frowned upon. When I got my own money, BBW had a line I liked. I also liked Origins. Drug store Maybelline mascara was a must.

It was so frustrating back then, because stores discouraged returns, GWP were rare, and your primary source for tips was magazines.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

Samtian — Sat, 18 May 2024 22:53:15 GMT

I was never into the beauty world much before I started at Sephora. I would grab a few eyeshadow quads from Wal-Mart like Covergirl and Maybelline but that was it.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

CorgiMommy — Sun, 19 May 2024 00:46:40 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 I brought my makeup at Macy's or A&S or after I moved to Seattle Nordstrom's. I loved lancome as they would have quarterly GWP.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

CynthieLu — Sun, 19 May 2024 00:59:24 GMT

Thank you for this trip down memory lane. @greeneyedgirl107 😉💜

I remember in the "Before Sephora' times I went to the beauty section in Shoppers Drug Mart, or The Hudson's Bay. And waaaaay back when I was a teen there was makeup at The Body Shop. I recall these brightly colored Hair Mascara Wands and sparkly icey blue eyeshadows from there, me and youth of my generation were wearing all over the place. 😆

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

CynthieLu — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:02:27 GMT

Thank you for sharing that @greeneyedgirl107

Aaah yes Magazines had all the trends in the before internet times. 😆 And so many quizzes!

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

faeriegirl — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:08:50 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 Before Sephora I got most of my skincare and makeup from Walmart. Mostly neutrogena, covergirl, maybelline, and Revlon. Then in my early 20’s I discovered Ulta and slowly branched into more expensive products like NARS, Urban Decay, and Redken. I found Sephora around 2012 and i think I’ve been rouge every year since they added the tier in 2013.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

faeriegirl — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:10:54 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 I used to have so many magazine subscriptions! They were my only source for tips and inspiration.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:54:29 GMT

@CynthieLu I used to love the quizzes!

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:55:14 GMT

@faeriegirl what ones did you have subscriptions to? I had YM on and off.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:56:47 GMT

@CorgiMommy my grandmother had an A&S credit card that was so old it wasn't even that laminated plastic.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:58:44 GMT

@CynthieLu I haven't been to The Body Shop for years...not even sure they have stores anymore. Several years ago I saw some very intriguing lipsticks there, but I was at the airport (D.C. or Philadelphia) and didn't have much time.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

greeneyedgirl107 — Sun, 19 May 2024 01:59:54 GMT

@faeriegirl yeah, I remember when Ulta was a rarity as well!

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

CorgiMommy — Sun, 19 May 2024 02:19:15 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 that is great, A&S was my favorite store. Their junior department had the coolest clothes.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

faeriegirl — Sun, 19 May 2024 02:52:14 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 As a teen I had YM and 17. Then as an adult off and on I had Glamour, Allure, Elle, In Style, and Comso.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

SportyGirly125 — Sun, 19 May 2024 09:10:30 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 Before Sephora I went to Macy's or a beauty counter at the mall (my Mom used to shop at Merle Norman), Target, and Ulta

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

WinglessOne — Sun, 19 May 2024 12:40:08 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 Thinking about different periods of my life…

High school (1980s): mostly drugstores, specifically for Revlon lipstick & nail polish and Wet ‘n’ Wild lipstick & black eyeliner. We didn’t have readily available black lipstick back then, so black eyeliner (occasionally melted with a lighter to soften it up) was lipstick, creative eyeliner, smokey eyeshadow, and beauty mark maker. And I had a small Avon eyeshadow palette, courtesy of a friend of my mother’s (or maybe one of my friends’ mothers) who sold Avon.

College (1990s): department stores and other clothing/specialty stores. In Michigan, that was primarily Hudson’s. In Chicago, it was Marshall Fields, Henri Bendel, Lord & Taylor, and Carson Pirie Scott for dept. stores. I used to buy Urban Decay lipsticks at Urban Outfitters stores. And I started shopping at Ulta in the mid ‘90s; back then, they were called Ulta3 and were mostly drugstore with a large fragrance selection and a hair salon. It’s been fun to watch Ulta evolve and grow.

2000s & most of the 2010s: this is when I started ordering direct from brands and visiting their standalone shops here in town. I also still shopped at department stores, especially Nordstrom once they opened here. Also Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and my old favorite bargain hunting ground, Filene’s Basement. (I will forever mourn the loss of Filene’s in Chicago.) 2002 is when I opened my online account at Ulta; too bad I couldn’t grandfather points from all my ‘90s-‘01 purchases. 😅

I didn’t start shopping much at Sephora til the mid or late 2010s. I definitely didn’t join the rewards program until 2018.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

CynthieLu — Sun, 19 May 2024 12:44:41 GMT

Right? I have so many memories of taking the quizzes and doing them with friends at school. Definitely YM was a popular choice. 😉 @greeneyedgirl107

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

WinglessOne — Sun, 19 May 2024 12:50:37 GMT

@greeneyedgirl107 The Body Shop recently declared bankruptcy in the US and (I believe) Canada, and they’re now in liquidation. Kind of a bummer because I used to shop there in the… gosh, I wanna say 2000s but maybe also early-mid 2010s. They had a cedar shower/bath milk that smelled amazing, and I loved a few other things they made.

Re: Where did you buy your beauty items BEFORE Sephora was prevalent?

Loretta55 — Sun, 19 May 2024 15:47:27 GMT

I remember purchasing a lot of makeup from my local hair salon @greeneyedgirl107. They sold their own private label products. I can’t remember the pricing but I felt it was reasonable. I remember purchasing my skincare from the salon that my esthetician worked at . It was a brand that was exclusively sold in salons. I also purchased makeup from Bambergers (now Macys), Gimbels, CVS, Bradlees, and Caldors. Forgot to mention that I also purchased beauty products from my coworkers who sold Mary Kay and Avon.