BEAUTY INSIDER COMMUNITY GUIDELINES (Updated 2/26/2024)

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Welcome to Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community!

At Sephora, diversity is expected, self-expression is honored and all are welcome. Here, beauty lovers from all walks of life can get advice, share recommendations, inspire others, chat about beauty (or anything else), post photos and reviews, and exchange ideas, tips, information, and techniques with fellow Beauty Insider Community members.

To participate in the Beauty Insider Community, all you need to do is be a registered Sephora.com user and Beauty Insider member. It’s totally free and easy, we promise.

When interacting in the Beauty Insider Community, please follow the User Guidelines below, the Sephora Terms of Use, and the Sephora Privacy Policy. (Basically, they just say to play nice.) A heads up: We can modify them at any time without notice, so be sure you keep up-to-date.

What is the Beauty Insider Community and how does it work?

The Beauty Insider Community is an online community -- a safe space for all beauty lovers alike, regardless of background. It is a place for discussion, asking questions, posting photos and reviews, sharing experiences, and connecting with other Beauty Insider Community members.

While anyone can search and read the Beauty Insider Community for information, only registered Beauty Insider members can join Groups, follow other Community members, leave hearts on posts, and post new questions, photos, answers, or comments. Members can track discussions and even receive notifications whenever new posts are made or they have been tagged by other Community members. You must be age 16 years or older and a legal resident of the United States or Canada to be eligible for Community membership. Eligible minors must obtain their parent's or legal guardian's consent prior to participation.

Please keep in mind the following common-sense rules when participating in Beauty Insider Community:

Be respectful. Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community is a safe space for any and all beauty lovers. The Community welcomes participants with a wide range of beliefs and ideas about the subjects they’re discussing and the world, more broadly. We encourage an open dialogue; you do not need to understand or agree with others, but we do require that participants remain courteous and respectful at all times. Please avoid any language that may be considered rude, abusive, or intimidating. This includes having a tone that is consistently critical, derogatory, or otherwise negative toward others. If we see any of the above, we will exercise our right to edit, remove, or block new replies to any post that violates these guidelines. We will also limit or suspend the access of any participant who violates these guidelines. Discriminatory treatment of any user on the basis of age, level/type of education, race, ethnicity, national origin, social class, religious affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical appearance, serious disease, disability, or any other form of discrimination may result in a permanent ban from the Community.

Have good etiquette. When posting in the community, please remember that the people who read your posts sometimes can’t tell what you meant to say or how you intended to say it. Avoid “screaming” your thoughts in ALL CAPITAL letters. And remember that people who do not know you or fully understand your intentions will read your comments. If you think your comments could be misinterpreted, they probably will be. If you think someone has misunderstood you, or has challenged your position, address it calmly in a non-threatening manner. The moderators (with a “Mod” badge) will be able to help, but it’s always best for the participants to work it out. Keep the peace!

Take a breath. While we do not set formal limits on how much you can post or heart, excessive posting—whether in terms of number of posts or their length—or excessive hearting can majorly interfere with Community Home. There's room here for many points of view, so don't feel like you need to have the last word. Please only post in one group when creating a new post. If you publish the same post in multiple groups your duplicate posts will be removed. Additionally, Sephora reserves the right to move posts if they are better suited within another Community group!

We love when you show your support for other members’ posts in Community Home, but please refrain from abusing the heart (kudos) system. This includes asking others for hearts, giving an excessive number of hearts to other Community members in a rapid or short amount of time, and using multiple accounts to give yourself or others multiple hearts. Excessive posting or abuse of hearts may result in deletion of your posts, removal of your kudos, and a permanent ban from Community.

No "trolling." Sephora does not permit trolling, which may include hijacking or taking a thread drastically off-topic, hate speech, rudeness, shaming, personal attacks, bullying, threats or inflammatory posts, impersonating others or creating multiple accounts in order to do any of the actions listed here. If you are trolling, we will take your posts down and your account will be permanently banned. If banned for trolling, you will not be permitted to participate again. Sephora reserves the right to contact law enforcement if we suspect your behavior to be unlawful or dangerous toward others.

Best and worst practices

WE LOVE	WE DON’T LOVE
Using a descriptive title for your posts.	Using vague subject titles like “HELP!”
Reading other responses and searching for similar topics before posting.	Repeating information already provided and posting questions that others have previously asked.
Asking for clarification when necessary.	Making assumptions.
Contributing to the discussion.	Excessively quoting previous messages.
Focusing on your areas of beauty expertise.	Offering advice on unfamiliar topics.
Being as concise as possible.	Overwhelming readers with information.
Trying to use correct spelling and grammar.	Worrying if your spelling isn’t perfect.
Staying on topic.	Getting off topic.
Remaining positive.	Disparaging people.
Trying to understand opposing viewpoints.	Arguing with other posters.
Being friendly!	Using foul language or off-color humor.
Seeing Sephora products on real Sephora shoppers (like you)!	Using heavy filters or tools to dramatically alter your photos or videos. Your fellow shoppers want to see the real you!

See something inappropriate? The participants themselves (all of you!) do the best monitoring of a community, and we appreciate your help keeping Community safe. If you see any offensive, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate content (including posts, pictures and videos), please use a desktop or mobile web browser, click on the ellipses to the bottom right of the post and select “Report Inappropriate Content.” From a private message, click on the ellipses next to the message and select “Report as Inappropriate.”

On a Community Forum post:

In a Community private message: 

All Community members have the ability to Report Inappropriate Content / Report as Inappropriate. Once a post has been reported as inappropriate, please note that the post will not be immediately removed; instead, it will be reviewed by our moderators who will take necessary action, whether that means removing the post altogether or editing the content as needed.

Community members that are ranked Rising Star I and above have the additional capability to “Mark as Spam.” Once a post has been marked as spam, it will be removed from public view. Content should only be marked as spam if it is truly spam (e.g. advertisements unrelated to Sephora, links to external commercial websites, solicitation of business or personal information, etc). If you’re unsure if the content you’re reporting qualifies as spam, please use the “Report Inappropriate Content” option instead and our moderators will review and take action accordingly. Please note that Community moderators can see who has marked content as spam, so if you abuse the “Mark as Spam” feature, our mods may reach out with a warning.

Sephora.com will not discuss one user’s actions or account with any other user. That means we won’t tell the reported user who filed the report, but it also means we cannot tell the person making the report what action we’ve taken. In addition, any user who reasonably believes they are at risk of imminent physical harm by an aggressor should contact their local law enforcement agency.

What is my role in the Beauty Insider Community (BIC)? 

Everyone is essential in an online community. Without you, there wouldn’t be a BIC. By visiting often (and participating) you not only add to the user-created knowledge base, but you also encourage others to do the same. If you come with your toughest beauty issues, you’ll probably be able to find someone else that has the same problem or can point you in the right direction of a solution. Then if you’re able to find a solution that works for you, you can add your own insight and experience: whether that be posting in the Forum, leaving an honest Rating & Review, responding to Questions & Answers, or posting an unfiltered photo or video in Gallery! Chances are that you may have an answer that someone else has been seeking. You could come in looking for answers and leave with some new friends! Everyone wins.

Topics related to payment/billing, order tracking, or anything else that is Customer Support-related are best left to our Community moderators to respond to, as these Sephora employees have access to information which allows them to assist members in each unique situation.

Remember that online communities should be fun, friendly, informative, and appropriate for everyone. Please leave all judgements at the virtual door.

What does my Beauty Insider Community rank mean?

Learn all about Beauty Insider Community ranks, how they work, and how you might rank up within the BIC by checking out our Community Rank System 101 post, here: Demystifying the Community Rank System 

What is a Sephora Beauty Insider Community Ambassador?

Sephora Beauty Insider Community Ambassadors or Sephora Community Ambassadors are highly engaged Community members across all areas of Community (Forum, Gallery, Reviews, and soon Questions & Answers). These members regularly help other members by sharing their favorite products and beauty routines, posting honest reviews, and uploading looks or “shelfies.” To recognize them, we created the annual Sephora Beauty Insider Community Ambassador program and invited them to participate. Community Ambassadors may receive early access to information and products and may be invited to test new products and brands. All opinions expressed by the Community Ambassadors are theirs alone.   

Community Ambassadors help curate the content that you see within the main feed on the Community forum and they can be identified by their “Community Ambassador” badge. These members are true champions of all things Community!

What does “incentivized” mean?

While browsing on Sephora.com, you may see a review, photo, or video with an “Incentivized” badge. This means that the content creator received something in exchange for this post (free product, payment, sweepstakes entry, etc.).

No solicitation. Please do not use these forums to submit or publish any marketing communication, to survey or study the Community, or to advertise or solicit for any business or enterprise. Direct links to other commercial websites are inappropriate for our Beauty Insider Community. Those postings will be removed and can result in the suspension of your access to these services. Please do not reach out to members directly for any type of solicitation or gratis. If you are interested in sending product to Community members, please reach out to a Community Admin who will have an “Admin” badge.

Please note, Sephora will never use the Community Forum or private messages to ask you for sensitive details such as your password or Social Security number, or to transfer monetary payment to anyone. If you receive a message from a Community member soliciting personal information, please report this using the Report as Inappropriate / Report Inappropriate Content feature (reference “See something inappropriate?” above).

Sephora employees. Sephora has several designated employees who run the Community – you can spot them with “Admin” or “Mod” badges! Other Sephora employees and contractors who are not mods or admins are still allowed to participate in Community but must disclose their relationship with Sephora in their posts. Please refer to Sephora’s Social Media Policy for more information.  

Private Messages. As a registered user of the BIC, you have access to our Private Messenger tool, which allows you to communicate with other users outside of the public message boards. Following other users will make it easier to communicate with them. Please note: Private Messages are subject to the same Guidelines and Terms of Use as the public message boards.

If your access is suspended. Violation of these User Guidelines or Terms of Use may result in the suspension or termination of your access to these services. If your account is suspended, you will not be able to sign in, but will instead receive a message indicating your account status.

Closure of inactive Beauty Insider Community  accounts. Sephora will close Beauty Insider Community accounts that have been inactive (i.e., not been logged into) for three (3) years. There will not be any impact on your existing Beauty Insider loyalty account should your Community account be closed due to inactivity. Posts made by Community accounts prior to closure will remain on the Community Forum and will be shown as authored by “Anonymous.”  This will allow other Community members to refer to previous conversations without losing any context. If your Community account has been closed due to inactivity and you would like to return to posting on the Community Forum, a new Community profile will need to be created. 

Privacy.  The BIC is a public forum widely accessible on the internet. Whenever participating in any online community, always remember that what you post is viewable by the general public. Please do not post any confidential, or potentially embarrassing information about yourself or anyone else. Posting someone else's confidential information will result in the termination of your access to these services. Information that you should never post includes the following:

• Your full name
• Your telephone number
• Your mailing address
• Your email address
• Your credit card number(s)
• Your social security number
• Your Beauty Insider number
• Order numbers
• Other receipt information

Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights

By participating in the BIC, you give Sephora.com the perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free right and license to use this content in this service or in the marketing of this service. Participants do not have the right to copy or redistribute the content of this service outside of the message boards.

Before sharing content to Sephora.com via Community, please make sure this content complies with our Content Submissions Terms of Use. and that you have the rights to post it.

More details are available in the Sephora.com Terms of Use, including guidelines about the content you submit.