Demystifying the Community Rank System (Updated 3/10/2025)

[TeamBIC]

UPDATE 10/19: We're excited to announce that these rank updates here in the Beauty Insider Community are officially LIVE! 😊🎉 Please join us in the celebration by hitting "Reply" and sharing your rank. Whether you're rocking a brand new rank icon badge, or parading the same rank icon badge with pride, all are welcome to the rank party. 🥳

*** 

In the coming months, we’ll be making some further tweaks to our Community, including expanding and evolving the Community rank system. With more changes on the horizon, now seemed like an excellent opportunity to answer some common questions we’ve seen in the Forum.

What is a Community rank?

A rank is a visual representation of your level in the Community, earned through your Community contributions. The more you’ve been involved in helping others and engaging in Community, the higher your rank is likely to be (more on this in a second).

Your rank is visible in two places – on your profile in the form of a rank badge and next to your nickname in the Community Forum and Gallery.

Is my Community rank the same as my Beauty Insider Loyalty status?

Community ranks are specific to your Community contributions. Your Loyalty status is not connected to your Community rank. For example, you may be a Boss III in the Beauty Insider Community and a VIB Loyalty member. Or a Rising Star I in the Community and a Rouge Loyalty member.

What changes can I expect?

When the Beauty Insider Community started, we could only guess at how we’d grow. With over a decade since our first launch as Beauty Talk, and more than five years since the Beauty Insider Community relaunch, now it’s time to rework and expand the available ranks to match the growth of our community.

In an effort to make sure that everyone is recognized for their contributions, the rank system will be expanded from 12 ranks across 4 categories to 40 ranks across 8 categories. We want the community as a whole – from the community newbies to our community leaders – to be included and rewarded.

How do I move up the ranks?

The short answer is by helping and inspiring other members of the community. Do what you would normally do – share, connect, and appreciate others – and the rank ups will follow. Naturally, we can’t share the secret sauce, but we can offer some guiding principles:

• Post content with our BIC guidelines in mind. Reactions to your contributions are really important. So post the good stuff – threads and replies that are helpful, funny, fabulous, and inspire your fellow Community members to engage.

• React to others’ great contributions. If you see a post you like, be sure to give it a heart and tell your fellow members how much you appreciate it. Everyone loves a little love. This helps to bubble up the best posts and makes Community a really welcoming place to be.

• Show up in all your glory. Who are you? We’d all love to know who is behind all those awesome posts. Make sure you’ve completed your profile. This is an easy way to get started in Community and connect with fellow enthusiasts. It’s never too late to complete your profile for a little boost if you haven’t already.

• Contribute good photos and reviews. Not everyone is born to be an author in the Forum – we love photos and reviews too. Show us what you’ve got! Thoughtful reviews and great photos (either as part of your review or on our Gallery) can be really helpful to other members. Photos don’t need to be of your face if you’re feeling camera shy. We love seeing swatches, hauls, shelfies, and routines as well.

• Ask for advice and dole some out. This community is the best place to ask your burning questions, get recommendations and opinions, and share your own. You can feel secure knowing you’re surrounded by fellow beauty enthusiasts. Ask for advice or opinions in both the Forum and on the Questions & Answers area on product pages. 

• Operate with integrity. The backbone of our community is trust – without trust, it doesn’t work. Trying to game the system and move up the ranks will be noticed by the community admins and moderators. If you have questions, our community guidelines (linked here) are clear about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior.

What about the Community Ambassadors? Is that a rank?

Update: As of 3/10/2025, the Community Ambassador program has concluded. Thank you to our former Ambassadors! 💖

In short, “Community Ambassador” is a designation as part of an official recognition program. It’s not specifically tied to rank but those individuals with a higher rank are more likely to be considered.

Sephora Beauty Insider Community Ambassadors (or Sephora Community Ambassadors) are highly engaged Community members across all areas of Community (Forum, Gallery, Reviews, and 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. 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.

Edited 7/28/2022

Will my rank reset once the changes are made? 

No! 😊 Your rank will not reset, and no one is starting over. All the contributions you’ve made since the 2017 relaunch of the Beauty Insider Community will contribute to your new rank. 

We hope this helps to answer any questions you have had about the Beauty Insider Community rank system. Stay tuned for when the changes are planned to go into effect! 🤩💖🙏🏻✨🦙

[heartsmyface]

@WickedGenius   We’ve had different versions of this same program since the very beginning of BT (what this forum used to be called) It’s simply evolved as it’s become larger.  No new information is being asked if you.  This is simply clarifying to everyone how the ranking system works now that the titles have changed again, and how you can move up in the ranking system.  What you choose to share is completely up to you.:)

[missjeanie]

@WickedGenius  What personal data have you been asked to provide? I haven’t been asked for anything beyond the info attached to my beauty insider status. Which at the time I believe was a birthday (for a birthday gift) and maybe a phone number or email address? The same info any reward system asks for. The only time BIC has asked for my info was to send me a gratis gift to my mailing address, which I had the opportunity to decline. 
if you don’t want to participate in the forum discussing beauty related topics and beyond, no one is forcing anyone. 

[missjeanie]

@lovelytriton There are a lot of people on BIC who are no where near influancer status. A lot of the higher tiered members have been on the forum for a decade and log in weekly or daily to chat about beauty. There’s a lot more to bring active in the community than just doing reviews. Check out some of the makeup challenges, new release threads, there are also great off topic threads if you’d rather chat about non beauty related topics. I know lots of active BIC members who rarely shop at Sephora and come for the community. I hope to see you around some of the threads! 

[lovelytriton]

@missjeanie thank you for your reply and for providing other options to participate. Reading the comments, I feel many people already feel puzzled with this new system, and potentially alienated because of the reasons I expressed in my previous post. I just wish reviews were unbiased. I always run away when I see incentivized products... who doesn't love a freebie? That definitely skews your opinion. I hope Sephora puts in place the due safeguards to keep the community honest, however I predict this will be a mosh pit for points and rewards. However I appreciate the company's efforts to reward people besides spend. 

[heartsmyface]

@lovelytriton   When I sift through reviews (when I read them and am not asking community members) I find it faster and more helpful to read the bad reviews first and then decide if the information pertains to me and my needs.  Fors the reviewer have sensitive skin while I don’t?  Does the review discuss texture, fragrance and results or is it simply a ‘I didn’t like it’ with no information?   The bad reviews tend to be more descriptive so I find them more useful.  I’ve bought so many products I love using bad reviews as a guide. 
That may help.  

[SportyGirly125]

@lovelytriton You can always filter out the incentivized reviews and filter to verified purchases. 

[missjeanie]

@lovelytriton Oh I get it for sure! I think a lot of people are equating their BIC (forum) ranking with their Sephora beauty insider (Rouge/Vib) ranking. It’s a bit confusing, especially if you’re not on the forum all the time. 
For reviews, the ones that show up on the item page of the website have a filter now for verified purchases which is nice, like you I think reviews can be easily skewed by freebies and I know that not everyone states that they got it for free. If you happen to be on the forum in a thread it’s a lot harder to know who’s gotten things for free or not. I do find that the forum rankings help me here a bit as I’m more inclined to trust a review from someone who’s on the forums more often. Not that any of the newer people would be lying… but there are often people who’ll come on for an influanster review and leave it here rather than the product page. that said, I haven’t noticed many promotions offering points or freebies for reviews. Most gratis products I’ve seen given out from time to time through BIC have gone to a wide variety of people with different rankings and different spend levels with Sephora. 

[michimichi33]

I guess they'd rather take the risk and insult/alientate loyal customers for algorithms. I've spent tens of thousands at Sephora over the years, and am a "newbie".

[heartsmyface]

@michimichi33   You get recognition for that with your Beauty Insider badge which says Rouge:).  These rankings are for contributions to the Sephora online community:) 

[SportyGirly125]

@michimichi33 @The new badge names are not based on how much you spent or how long you have been a Sephora customer but how active you are on here. 

[CynthieLu]

@michimichi33 the status here does not reflect what you spend in stores. The ranking system has to do with spending time engaging in the online community. If you dive in and have fun with it, you'll eventually see those rankings go up.  There is a break down about all of this as the main message for this thread were on right now. 

I hope this helps clarify things! 🌈🌸💖

[missjeanie]

@michimichi33  I believe that the ranking is only with regards to participation on the community forum. It doesn’t reflect your insider status for spend in the stores or length of customer status. 

[missjeanie]

@michimichi33  I believe that the ranking is only with regards to participation on the community forum. It doesn’t reflect your insider status for spend in the stores or length of customer status. 

[DonnaMacK]

NEWCOMER III

[pupy]

Newcomer III

[suciamartinez]

So. Apparently I am ranked as a "Newcomer" or "newbie" or whatever. Can Sephora please stop insulting me? I have been shopping at Sephora since 1999.  I may not drop a couple hundred dollars at a time anymore because the magic I used to feel when entering a store is long gone. But Newbie? please.

[Muneca836]

So if you read the guidelines it has nothing to do with how long you have shopped at Sephora. Although we appreciate your loyalty it has to do with how you interact here on the website. Writing reviews, posting pics etc. Since you shop so much with us it should be a breeze for you to move up the ranks. I work at Sephora for like 15 years, literally, and I'm still a newbie! Don't sweat the title 

[pandy17]

I agree! I'm not a newcomer. I was always a VIB and Rouge, I was Rouge from day one! until I got so frustrated and disappointed in Sephora and the whole Rouge program!  This is an insult after the $1000+ dollars I have spent with SEPHORA!!!

[missjeanie]

Hey @pandy17 ! Your rouge status is still showing next to your community rank. More time spent interacting in the community and forums will increase your rank. Hope you find a great thread to participate in. There are a lot of fun ones active right now! Maybe something in the rouge section? 

[LismelyG]

Newcomer |||| 😊

[Dancermum]

Newcomer!!