Can I shop at Sephora and Ulta?
A look at beauty retailers to find good places to shop.
Oh, the world of beauty. I’m running low on a couple of beauty products and need some nail clippers, so I wanted to dive in to see if the beauty stores were actually bad, or if there were any great options. I shifted my beauty purchasing from Amazon to Ulta at the end of last year, but I never actually looked into whether Ulta was actually decent or not. Time to dig in!
But first - Behavior Exercise
Use Amazon as a shopping directory. Search for whatever you’re looking for on Amazon and once you find the product you want, search the product or brand name in a search engine to find either their direct site to purchase from or another retailer. You can also add it to your cart or wishlist for now and come back later to review your “shopping list.”
I personally find this incredibly helpful. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and forgetfulness is something I struggle with - I have a vast system of post-its and to do lists to keep everything straight. But when I think of something I need, I look it up quickly on Amazon and then add it to my cart so I remember that I need to get it, but can go back later when I have more time to actually figure out where I want to purchase it from, whether in-person or online. For example - I threw out our whisk the other day because I broke it. I added it to my cart on Amazon in the moment so I wouldn’t forget we need a new one, and then a couple weeks later bought directly from Oxo with a compost bin (woo hit the free shipping threshold!).
Added bonus: If you add things to your cart that you think of and then wait a couple days before you come back, you also tend to realize whether or not you REALLY needed that thing. I went through a whole kick of trying to figure out what bird feeder would be best for my apartment and added all sorts of stuff to my Amazon cart. Then, after waiting a few days the immediacy of the idea wore off and I realized it’d be more hassle than I was really looking for and didn’t buy anything. (Don’t worry - there’s a tree outside where I see plenty of birds!)
Category Deep Dive - Beauty Stores
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: If you have a local beauty store that’s an option, definitely shop there! However, I think independent stores are much rarer for this category than others.
Direct: If you already have a brand you love, check out if you can order from them directly versus a retail site.
Free/No Purchase: Beauty is a bit trickier than other categories because a lot of people are uncomfortable (and rightfully so!) with used products. However, a lot of times on Buy Nothing groups people will have lightly/barely used products and for something like lotion (vs. mascara) I feel like there’s less of an ick factor. Check it out if you’re open to it!
Shopping Options: I looked at stores that have a wider range of beauty products like Sephora and Ulta. I left out department stores for now because I can do a separate deep dive on those in the future.
The decent companies
Beautylish: Based out of San Francisco and owned by the cofounders and supported through VC funding, Beautylish was recommended on Reddit as an alternative to Sephora and Ulta. They have a strong 4.5 rating on Trustpilot and supportive customer service.
Ulta Beauty: Publicly traded with the largest percentage of stock ownership in institutional investors like Vanguard and Blackrock. They also remain committed to their DEI initiatives. In terms of political efforts, Ulta as an organization had no major company political contributions in 2024. To be honest, I was scared this was going to be owned by private equity and be a real sh*t show but Ulta seems like a pretty run of the mill large company. Not bad, not great.
Questionable
Bluemercury: Originally started by a husband and wife team, Bluemercury was sold to Macy’s in 2015. Macy’s is publicly traded and the largest percentage of stock ownership is similar to Ulta where it’s mostly institutional investors. Bluemercury remains committed to DEI, but Macy’s has removed DEI language from their most recent shareholder reports, although maintains a clear callout on their corporate website. They only have a 2.0 rating on Trustpilot from 78 reviews, so their customer service may be lacking.
Camera Ready Cosmetics: Founded by Mary Erickson in 2003 and still run by her today. I can’t find anything on how their ownership is set up other than its a private company, so may be wholly owned by her or she may have private investors. They are rated 1.4 on Trustpilot, but there’s only 17 reviews so not sure if it’s representative of most people’s experiences. If you’re looking specifically for makeup and similar items, this might be an option for you.
And….Sephora
Sephora: Owned by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), which is publicly traded in France. Bernard Arnault, the current CEO and who led the merger of Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy back in 1987, maintains control through his family’s holding company (Agache) which owns 49% of LVMH’s capital and 65% of the shareholder voting rights. Arnault is a friend of Trump, attending the inauguration and when he opened a LVMH factory in Texas in 2019, they toured the facility together. This Texas factory is now one of their worst performing across the globe due to production issues, which highlights how we can’t just move manufacturing back to the US overnight. Now, Arnault is blaming EU leadership for the tariffs (and interestingly not Trump), saying they should negotiate better. He is also pushing for a free trade zone between the EU and the US, which Elon Musk supports. Sephora did not have any significant company campaign donations in 2024, only individuals.
So - the owner/leader of LVMH is trying to court Donald Trump and maximize their friendship. But how much does Sephora play into all this? Sephora is part of the “selective retailing” business group, which contributed to 22% of LVMH’s revenue in 2024 and has been called out for “remarkable performance” as luxury sales were down. Sephora has also maintained it’s DEI program, despite many American companies dropping theirs.
My thoughts: While Sephora as a brand is committed to DEI, their corporate leadership trying to court Trump and blame the EU is frustrating. Considering Sephora is their large growth engine, I feel like not shopping there would have an outsized impact to LVMH’s bottom line. If you don’t like the CEO and his family’s relationship with Trump, then shop somewhere else, otherwise if you want to shop there to support their DEI efforts, go ahead! It’s your decision.
What I did:
I’m going to be sticking to Ulta for the things I need right now. I wanted to order from Beautylish to try them out, but they didn’t have a good acne patch selection. I will be giving them a try in the future though if I have something more makeup-oriented that I’m looking for. Regardless, I’m not going to shop at Sephora because I want to stick it to Bernard Arnault 😁
Was this helpful for you? Let me know in the comments and what you’d like me to tackle next. Follow me on TikTok for recap videos, and subscribe to see more category deep dives with behavior exercises every Friday. Thanks for reading <3