Do You Have to Know Makeup to Work at Sephora

By Ariel Sullivan

Makeup had always been strange to me. Aside from being likened to a doll in loftier schoolhouse for my porcelain Mac liquid foundation expect, which thinking back doesn't seem like much of a compliment, I didn't know what to do when information technology came to makeup. The one time I attempted to depict in my eyebrows because I'd accidentally shaved half off with a razor, I used blackness pencil eyeliner. I looked similar I belonged in the side by side Hollywood blockbuster…horror film.

In my youth, I just bought drugstore makeup products and didn't even know that your skin type mattered when it came to skincare products. My face moisturizer was the same balm I applied to the rest of my body.

So when I was recruited to piece of work at Sephora from my comfy food service job in the mall, I was confused and extremely anxious. I but went to Sephora to buy my Kat Von D liquid eyeliner and Bare Essentials Bare Minerals starter kit. I wasn't certain what to expect.

I started equally a seasonal cash wrap employee, which is just a fancy word for cashier. Seasonal hires typically work for a few months during the busy holiday months and there are swarms of them. They are temporary, but if the managers like them, they're asked to stay past December. My positive attitude and coordinated Sephora-playlist dance moves led me to piece of work at Sephora for two years.

Here's the inside scoop of what they don't tell you about being a Sephora cast member :

You take a secret language

Well, sort of. At Sephora, the globe is a stage. Literally. The back room is called "off-phase." When you're on the floor, you're "on stage." Employees are called "cast members" and their managers are called "directors." The black and red Star Expedition style required wearable is considered"costume." And each designated function of the store displaying dissimilar kinds of products is called a "world." At that place'southward the Color World, Skincare World, and Fragrance Earth. The vocabulary seems pretty weird, but in one case you are a function of information technology, you lot outset to speak the language, as well.

You get gratis makeup!

Everyone who works at Sephora exists purely for gratis. Gratis means free or costless, and mostly full-sized products are provided by a specific company or brand that Sephora carries. Most brands offering free to the bandage to generate excitement for their products, or, and so cast members can learn more near them. After a few months of working in that location, yous obtain enough makeup to overflowing your bathroom cabinets and drawers.

It's been viii months since I worked at Sephora, and I still have unopened makeup brushes, a back stock of various mascaras, and more than than an adequate amount of lipsticks. It's cool to get the opportunity to endeavor different things that you lot might non ordinarily take tried. Past sampling the products, yous really do become to course more than accurate opinions and selling points almost them. Gratis becomes the best and nearly anticipated function of your month.

Didactics is a huge office of the company

You get through basic trainings at Sephora when y'all first beginning, only your learning never stops. During "touch bases" (which are meetings before your shift to get to know the day'south numbers and any other pertinent information well-nigh your shift), you are sometimes required to watch a video on Sephora University. In that location are hundreds of brand videos, stories, how-to'south, and guides on SU. You also go through separate trainings in Color or Peel, depending on the area in which you want to specialize.

To become a certified makeup artist, you complete an additional grooming, which basically ways you're allowed to give a full makeup consultation or in many cases, apply makeup on clients for special occasions. Sephora loves to develop their cast and a lot of employees started at that place like me: inexperienced. They teach and coach you based on your personal goals within the visitor. There is a huge opportunity for growth at Sephora, you lot just accept to take advantage of it.

You lot're required to wear makeup

Of grade yous are! You have to wear foundation, lipstick, and some level of eye shadow. As Sephora carries many different brands, information technology doesn't matter what brands or products you lot use to become gear up for work. And yes, after a while, it does get kind of tiring achieving a full-face look every day, but it is of import. You are selling makeup and a lot of the clients volition inquire what you used to highlight or where they can find the lipstick y'all are wearing. Some people volition even seek your private help based on how your makeup is practical.

Though you lot accept to habiliment makeup, it doesn't hateful you take to wear a lot. It only means yous can't roll out of bed and skip your foundation routine. There are some days where your store volition pick a await of the day to challenge you and your artistry skills. They're usually fun and artistic, requiring a lilliputian bit of extra work. I've glued sprinkles to my confront, dusted bright colored centre shadows all over my forehead, and intricately bundled fake jewels around my eyes. I've fifty-fifty done looks ranging from mermaid to cheetah print. I've never pushed my makeup limits as much as I did when I worked at Sephora. It allowed me to hone my craft and try new things.

You don't get paid committee

Though the employees at Sephora don't get paid a commission for their sales, there are other benefits. If a customer completes a survey and provides good scores for the person that helped them and the store as a whole, it raises the store'due south percentages and the store might receive a bonus. The store also receives a bonus for their sales being met or surpassed.

You lot do go free and private stores hold contests to further incentivize the cast members. I've received things similar a $100 souvenir card and beginning pick of gratis. During the holidays, Sephora even provides meals for everyone working. Sephora tries to brand the environment fun and I always plant myself as an active participant in their various contests and activities.

Sephora is actually for everyone

A lot of clients who came in to the store felt like they didn't vest in that location. Afterward sitting down and playing effectually with skincare and makeup with them, they would often open up virtually feeling insecure virtually beingness in the shop because they don't habiliment much makeup or know a lot about it. But Sephora is for anybody! For the people who love to effort new trends, for the bold people who wear crazy shades of lipstick, for the ones who just desire to try to wing their liner for the first time, and for the ones who come up in for the aforementioned foundation they've been using for the final v years.

Sephora is a place where people come up together to learn, employees and customers alike. It made me deplorable that people didn't feel welcome, merely no one at that place is actually judging you. Nosotros all know in that location are people with varying degrees of makeup cognition, and fifty-fifty involvement. The Sephora team is non an exclusive lodge, they are all eager and willing to assistance and they are genuinely passionate about teaching.

Sephora makes people feel beautiful

Sephora is the place where I've felt the most love. Cast members go out of their way to compliment each other daily. The Sephora I worked at was full of the most kind, generous, and caring people that I've ever met. They were ever supporting each other and one another's dreams, fifty-fifty if they weren't Sephora-related. Everyone is then lovely and uplifting, and it was the all-time surroundings I've ever worked in.

I truly remember that the attitudes of the cast reflected on everyone who walked in the door. Of course there were rude and upset customers, just for every negative experience, at that place were always more positive ones. There were many clients every day that left feeling a little bit improve about themselves. Every question was answered with patience and care, even if the cast member'southward day was filled with putting eye shadow on twenty ten-twelvemonth-olds on a scavenger hunt.

In my experience, I've had clients who have cried and hugged me after I put makeup on them. I've had people tell me their personal struggles with skin or makeup insecurities. But afterward an hour, they left feeling heard. They left feeling confident, and in a lot of cases, they left feeling beautiful.

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Arielis part of the Contributing Author Network at Xxx On Tap. To use to become a Contributing Writer, click HERE

Photo past Boxed H2o Is Ameliorate on Unsplash

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Source: https://30ontap.com/2016/09/07/what-people-dont-tell-you-about-working-at-sephora/amp/

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