Differences Between Shopping in Sephora USA vs Sephora Europe

After seven years of living in LA, I’m always astounded to see the differences between Sephoras in LA and Sephoras in my hometown, Madrid. In this post, I’m going to break down how vastly different it is shopping at a Sephora in Europe versus shopping at a Sephora in the US. 

Before I permanently moved to LA in 2015, I visited Paris for a few days. Sephoras are ubiquitous in Paris. There, the Sephora Collection brand takes precedence. After all, Sephora started out as a beauty retail store with its own branded products. In the US, we love brands like Nars, Merit and Rare Beauty. Although Sephora Collection has been killing it lately with their blushes, the brand doesn’t seem to get enough love from Americans. If Taylor Swift is wearing a lipstick by NARS, we’ll buy it – no questions asked. In Europe, people don’t care as much to spend $40 on a lipstick just because their favorite celebrity is wearing it.

Space

It wasn’t until I visited Sephoras in Spain that I realized the important role space plays. In American Sephoras, the space is double the size of most Sephoras you’ll find in Europe – wich of course, affects the size of the display sections.

Aesthetic

Some European Sephoras… dare I say, are less aesthetically pleasing? Walking into a Sephora in LA is like walking into a grocery store for makeup: the lightning, the display sections, the vast amount of space… it’s a whole different beast. 

Sephora’s logo is their distinctive black and white stripes. In Europe, because of the limited space, the black makes the space look more cramped and it’s very reminiscent of a nightclub. In the US, from the Sephoras I’ve been to and the pictures I’ve seen, white takes precedence over the black color, which gives the appearance of a bigger space. You can wander the aisles for hours without being shoulder to shoulder with people. 

American Sephoras:

Here’s a picture of Sephora in Puerta del Sol, which is the busiest and most congested area in Madrid. You can see how much smaller the makeup displays are!

As someone who’s used to seeing the entire shade range when shopping at Sephora in LA, it was shocking to see that most Sephoras in Europe did not carry the entire shade ranges. If you want to find the entire shade range of a brand like Nars, you have to go to El Corte Ingles, which is an upscale department store, or if you’re really good at matching your color shade, online.

An employee said they only receive a very limited amount of shades. When I told him about Sephora in the US, he immediately said, “Of course. It’s so different over there. Here, we just display whatever we get from Sephora. We don’t have any control over the shades we get.”

At another Sephora in Madrid, I asked the girl about a specific Nars shade for medium skin, and she said that I could find the whole range of shades at El Corte Ingles! In the US, if a Sephora employee sent a person of color to find their shade somewhere else, they would face the wrath of cancel culture.

I checked how many shades were available at Sephora online and surprisingly, they carried all shades as in the US. In Sephora France, they carry one less shade than Sephora USA. But interestingly enough, Sephora Italy carries the entire range (36 shades)! 

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside Sephoras in Madrid, but here are some more examples.

Nars foundation:

Number of shades in Sephora Spain: 30

Number of shades in Sephora USA: 36 

Huda Beauty concealer

Number of shades in Sephora Spain: 23 / Number of shades in Sephora France: 24

Number of shades in Sephora USA: 29

One of the very few brands that carried the entire shade range was Fenty Beauty. With Rare Beauty, many foundation shades were missing.  

Rare Beauty shades in Sephora USA: 48

Rare beauty shades in Sephora Spain: 31 

Rare Beauty shades in Sephora Italy and France: 32

In LA, when I go to a Sephora and ask: “What foundation brand sells the most?” I usually get responses like Fenty and Rare Beauty. For example, for blushes, the Rare Beauty liquid blush is the #1 best-selling blush across all Sephoras in LA right now. In Madrid, one Sephora employee said: “There’s no such thing as a best-selling foundation here. We sell depending on the brand releases and what’s popular right now. But there’s not a specific brand that sells the most.”

Regarding the space, another thing that caught my eye was the area where you could get your makeup or a facial done. In the US, these areas have a built-in sink. In Spain, the area is much smaller and there wasn’t a sink either. 

Demographics

In Sephora Madrid, when I browsed the display sections, there were maybe 3 foundations for medium and dark skin tones. You could say that they’re considered an afterthought. Could you imagine the outrage if American Sephoras did this? When I saw the lack of medium and darker shades, I was livid. Then I realized that it didn’t make sense for a Sephora in Madrid, a place that is mostly frequented by Caucasian people, to carry the darker shades. Not only would these not sell as much, but they’d take up a lot of space in their inventory room, which I didn’t see but I can guess it’s also a fraction of the size of its American counterpart. 

Beauty retailers

In the US, besides Ulta Beauty and high-end department stores, Sephora is one of the very few physical beauty retailers. It’s pretty much the go-to place for most people that want to buy makeup. 

In Madrid and the rest of Europe, there’s a much wider selection of retailers to buy your makeup from. French brands are also best-sellers when it comes to complexion products and perfumes. 

If you go to Madrid, there’s a store called Primor that carries high-end makeup brands, perfume and low-cost beauty and skincare products. They’re huge! Every time I walked into one of them, it was full to the brim with teenagers and middle-aged women. In Sephora, it was more common to see people in their 30s shopping there. A very different sight from Sephoras in LA, which are frequented by all demographics. 

Fragrances in Europe reign supreme

Europeans have always been known for their minimal makeup, but they don’t shy away from wearing lots of perfume. I did some research on Google and indeed, Europe has a very strong fragrance culture, whereas Americans have less proclivity toward buying perfumes.

In Spain and the rest of Europe, fragrance ads are ubiquitous. If you walk into any beauty store in Madrid like Druni and Primor, you’ll find a large assortment of perfumes. They’re pretty much the go-to gifts, especially during the holiday season. In European Sephoras, perfume shelves take up half of the store, whereas in the US, they only take up a small amount. I found this fascinating!

Employees

In LA, most Sephora employees are within the 20-40 age range, and a lot of them are aspiring makeup artists, after all it’s LA, aka makeup mecca. In Spain, it was very common to see employees in their late 40s and 50s. 

Makeup

In Sephora USA, most girls have beat faces and killer eyeliners, and if they don’t, their makeup is still very noticeable. In Spain, most employees were wearing extremely subtle, à la French girl makeup. In case you’re wondering, all Sephora employees are required to wear makeup. 

Customer service

In Sephoras in LA, there is always one designated person at the front door greeting everyone. In Sephora Spain, there might be one, but don’t expect them to greet you like you’re their long lost cousin. The level of interaction is more basic. In Spain, employees left me alone to shop in peace and weren’t too invasive as I sometimes experience in LA. Like, “Can I help you with anything?” over 4 times by different employees.  

Tradition

Whenever I meet my friends in Spain, it’s very common for them to tell me that the setting powder they’re wearing, blush, or any other makeup product was passed down from their mothers. After all, Europeans don’t tend to buy a lot of makeup, whereas America thrives on consumerism.

Brands

Shopping at Sephora in Europe is French brands galore! Nuxe, Chanel Beauty, Sisley, Clarins… French brands dominate the makeup and skincare section. In American Sephoras, you can find brands like Dior and Lancome, but interestingly enough, Chanel isn’t available. On my last trip to Europe, I was shocked to find Ariana Grande’s brand, R.E.M, in Sephora! In the US, Ariana’s brand hasn’t been doing so well and I usually find it in the far end of the store at Ulta Beauty. To have your beauty brand available in Sephora US, there’s a very regimented process to go through, and if your brand isn’t bringing in sales, it’ll get pulled out. In Europe, the process is more lax.

Hangout spot

For me, a Sephora in Los Angeles (or any other major US city) is a place for bonding, where girls of all demographics and employees bond over makeup and skincare. Sometimes, I spend an entire hour there, swatching eyeshadows and making small talk with the employees about certain products. On a Friday afternoon, it’s very common to see high schoolers hovering over the Rare Beauty display, taking up the whole aisle, eager to grab the latest makeup release from Selena Gomez. The music is loud and the guys that walk in, either fathers, boyfriends or husbands, marvel at the hustle and bustle of the store. Sephoras in Los Angeles are always located in shopping malls — and you’ll know there’s a Sephora nearby because the black and white paper bag is ubiquitous.

Here concludes my post! It’s fascinating to see the consumer behavior in beauty in different countries!