Gratis doesn’t pay my bills, Sephora. - Lead Sephora Employee Review

2.0
Dec 1, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fast paced environment, always on the move, newness constantly coming in, so you never get bored. Training gratis is good, you learn a lot working here, and not just about one item or brand. Meeting new people all the time, good place to network. No working on commission which helps with morale (for the most part).

Cons

Forced celebrations of cast, EXTREMELY low pay compared to competitors, exhausting workload with payroll cutting being the first priority, competing expectations from people you work with in store vs people who work at FSC or in the field. You pretty much get pulled in every direction imaginable and are expected to ignore favoritism (nepotism is alive and well here at Sephora) and just keep your head down and worry about servicing multiple clients at a time with a forced smile on your face even though you’re frustrated and exhausted. Understaffing is a regular and real thing at Sephora, but they will try to fix it in every way other than what they should do: give the stores more payroll and pay your employees with actual money and not depend on the brand trainers to give us gratis to shut us up. Moisturizers and eyeshadow palettes don’t pay my bills, Sephora. Maybe it’s time to stop parading around the executives in training videos talking about how much they appreciate us and actually pay us fairly for doing our jobs.

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5.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Support, Benefits, Growth, Community, & Skillfulness

Cons

Pay, Customers, Hours, Uniforms, & Management at times

3.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

fun getting gratis and hosting in-store events, meeting brand ambassadors/managers, socializing with clients

Cons

manager created a weird environment -- coaching moments were sometimes extremely aggressive for a retail environment; strict on not applying makeup to clients unless they purchase a service. once made me move from a disabled client quickly because I was "spending too much time with them" and to further boost the store sales. felt extremely unethical.

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