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Sephora is a magical place filled with products that make incredible promises—but knowing a thing or two about the return policy at Sephora will save you money, prevent you from making purchase mistakes, and free you up to experiment and have fun. The mega beauty chain offers lipsticks, eye shadows, and blushes in every color of the rainbow, creams that will transform your life (or at the very least, make you look like you slept seven hours), and every single serum, spray, and cleanser you need to defeat frizz and make your curly, wavy, or pin-straight hair look salon amazing.
But, while all of that experimentation can yield gorgeous results, it’s inevitable: Sephora product mistakes will be made. Perhaps you purchased a glittery black lipstick, assuming it would help you fully realize your inner goth starlet. It looked amazing under the store lights — but is completely washing you out in real time. Are your only options to chuck it or find a way to make black lips work?
Additionally, now that we know testers can be so dangerous–a California woman sued the beauty retailer for $25,000 in court in the fall of 2017, claiming that she contracted herpes from a lipstick tester–it’s a good idea to “try” products at Sephora by actually buying them and returning them. We’re not saying the testers aren’t clean–but you can never be too careful, and trying an unopened product in the safety of your own home is not a bad idea.
So, here are the 4 things you need to know about Sephora’s awesome return policy to make the most of it.
1) You’ll Get A Full Refund If You Return Your Item Within 60 Days
Time is of the essence when it comes to returning your Sephora purchases. If you’ve ordered an item on Sephora.com and found it to be totally wrong for you, you can return it by mail within 60 days of purchase and you’ll get a full refund on your credit or debit card or a full refund to your PayPal account. Unfortunately, if you wait to return your purchase and go over 60 days (61-90 days, to be exact), you’ll receive a full refund in the form of a store credit instead.
2) Sephora.com Purchases Can Be Returned To A Store Location
If you’re like a lot of eager shoppers, you tore into your Sephora package when it arrived at your door and then totally misplaced the pre-paid return shipping label — which you’ll need if you want to return items via mail. No worries: take your purchase to a Sephora store and make sure you bring the Order summary, Return Form, and your credit card or PayPal account information with you. You will only be able to receive a full refund if you return the product within 60 days — a store credit will be issued between 61-90 days and you won’t be eligible for any kind of refund if you wait until after 90 days.
3) Opened Products Are Eligible For Return
It rarely makes sense to be told by a company that opened products are ineligible for returns. After all, how are you to know that peach blush looks like death until you actually sample it? Sephora accepts opened products for returns and exchanges, as long as you have a receipt (there’s a rumor that you can return products using your ID if you’ve misplaced your receipt). Make sure you return it within 60 days for a full refund. Of course, Sephora’s great return policy doesn’t mean employees are going to be super thrilled when you return a bottle of foundation with more than half of it missing.
4) Keep Your Eye Out For Sales
Let’s say you purchased a great eye shadow palette — one that cost you a quarter of your paycheck. A few days after it arrives and you’ve been using it and looking even more stunning, you stumble upon the ultimate betrayal: it’s not on sale at Sephora for $10 less! Great news: if the product goes on sale within two weeks of your purchase, you can actually call the store’s customer service line and (with proof of your purchase) they’ll refund the difference.
READ MORE: Ulta’s Return Policy Is So Amazing, There’s A Lawsuit Over It
