Rant: Sephora Beauty Insider, VIB, and VIB Rouge "Perks"

It's definitely not a secret that Sephora is just about my favorite place ever. I've always found the employees to be much more educated and engaged than those who work at Ulta. That being said, recently I've felt like being apart of their loyalty program is almost a waste. This past week they had their twice a year sale for those of us apart of said program.

Beauty Insiders used code 'BILOVE' for %10 off.

...wait what...

Yeah, that's right. If you were one of the many people to spend less than $350 dollars you got a whole TEN PERCENT off! WOO! Isn't that amazing???

No.

Then there are those in VIB ($350 a year) and VIB Rouge ($1000 a year) who got I believe either 15 or twenty percent. Either way... not a great deal. To put it in perspective, I needed a BB Cream from Smashbox (they seemed to be the only brand that had the coverage and color I needed) that cost $39 dollars. Which is a lot of money. But my discount definitely didn't encourage me to buy it. Why? Because even with my "amazing" loyalty discount, it still would have been 35 dollars. Even if I had been VIB Rouge it would have been over 30 dollars for this one product. For people who are spending so much in a store, especially when you consider that store really doesn't have sales (not even really for black friday).

So let's talk the structure of Sephora's Beauty Insider program. For every dollar you spend, you get 1 point. Now sometimes you can get 2 or 3 times the points for purchasing whatever their monthly focus is (it's almost always skincare or perfume). When you get to 100 points, you get to choose a deluxe sized sample, at 250 you normally get a perfume, and at 500 there's some sort of kit.

Current Perks:

I'm never impressed with the points perks. The 100 point perks are crazy small considering that means I have spent at least a hundred dollars on makeup. Now I'm not asking for a whole palette or anything, but I feel like maybe the rewards should be worth at least 1/5 of what I just spent. The closest to pleased I've ever been with their 100 point gifts is when I picked up the DS size of the Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara that retails at Macy's for 12 dollars.

The 250 point perk always seemed to be even more sad than the 100 point perk. Let's be honest, those headphone will probably break in a week, and perfume is such a difficult thing to have encompass everyone. You'd be better off getting 2 of the 100 point perks than the alternative.

Halfway to VIB Rouge, you qualify for the 500 point perk, which ALWAYS SUCK. Last year for months all it was was the Formula X polish system, which I have heard so many terrible reviews about. Now this year, I suppose it's slightly better, I mean that Bare Minerals kit almost looks worth it.

Compared to other programs (like from Ulta), the Sephora one kinda sucks. I'll probably continue to shop there for the clearance section, and to keep getting my birthday gift (the only actually awesome perk I've gotten as a Beauty Insider).

Let's face it Sephora, you can talk about your 'BILOVE' all you want, but honestly...