For a really long time I think I’d have told you that I had no idea what it was about Sephora that made me run like the clappers to it any time I visited a city that had one. LA, New York, Rome, Milan, I have left men standing outside feeling like they’re wasting their holiday time while I colour the back of my hand with expensive lipsticks and eyeshadow swatches in malls around the world.
I’d have said that I couldn’t quite place why the likes of Boots, Selfridges, Debenhams, John Lewis or Harvey Nichols could never scratch the same itch that Sephora does. But now that I’m 37 I think I’m ready to admit it: I am chronically (and I mean CHRONICALLY) influenced by American YouTube beauty girlies. It might be the trait about myself that I’m least proud of.
Now that the worst kept secret is out and Brummies are learning that Sephora is set to open in the Bullring, I’m going to be able to make like a TikTokker and go and do ‘a haul’ in our very own city, swanning around town with one of those stripey paper bags from all the videos. We all are… if we can afford it (more on that, later).
Read more: Sephora confirms new store is coming to Birmingham
Here in 2024, I’m far less likely to spend hundreds there than I might have done had it opened in the height of the online make-up boom of 2016. And that’s because Boots, Superdrug and Selfridges started significantly upping their game to match what the Americans were getting and started to fill the gap that was missing.
Many of the best brands you could find in Sephora – those with excellent shade ranges like Fenty and Huda Beauty – became available to us in the Birmingham years ago. Meanwhile, the ‘drug stores’ (that’s what the beauty YouTube Americans call pharmacies) of Brum were stocking cult favourite brands like ELF, Milani and NYX alongside old stalwarts Maybelline and Rimmel, who also seemed to realise that they could no longer dial it in with sub-par formulas and started elevating their products to be better than ever.
For Birmingham shoppers that just want ‘a nice red lipstick’ or ‘a good neutral eyeshadow palette’, you don’t need Sephora. Everything you need is already there waiting for you in the Bullring, at a range of different price points. We don’t need this store.
But for those beauty lovers that just can’t wait to have the experience of swatching a Makeup By Mario bronzer, a ONE/SIZE powder or a Rare Beauty blush, Sephora cannot be replicated. And you know, even if Selfridges managed to get every single one of those brands, it STILL wouldn’t be Sephora, until all the influencers started doing their hauls from Selfridges-yellow paper bags instead.
It’ll be interesting to see how the store fares in a city going through a cost of living crisis with a bankrupt council. They’ll certainly get people through the doors to get their fingers in the products, but whether that’ll translate to sales given a Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm is £23 and a Haus Labs lip and cheek stick is £3 remains to be seen.
But I do intend on seeing it, though. You’ll find me there, stripey bag over the crook of my elbow, lipstick swatches all over my hands.