By Adam Jusko, ProudMoney.com, adam@proudmoney.com
Sephora Credit Card Review TL;DR: Beauty megastore Sephora offers a rewards credit card that might be right for Sephora acolytes, but doesn’t measure up as an everyday credit card for the casual fan.
How It Works
When you apply for the Sephora credit card, you are actually agreeing to be considered for one of two cards:
- The Sephora Visa, which can used at Sephora and anywhere else Visa is accepted
- The Sephora Credit Card, which is accepted only at Sephora
You don’t choose which card you’ll get. Instead, Comenity Capital Bank, the bank that actually issues the card, will first consider you for the Sephora Visa. If your credit history is not strong enough to qualify, you’ll then be considered for the store-only Sephora credit card. In our view, this doesn’t matter much because using this card outside Sephora doesn’t make a lot of sense. (More on that in a moment.)
Rewards on Purchases
Let’s start with the card’s basic rewards. You actually earn points in two different ways with the Sephora credit card, which is kind of confusing.
First, the Sephora credit card offers:
- 4% (given as 4 points per dollar) on purchases made with the card inside Sephora stores or at Sephora.com.
- 1% (given as 1 point per dollar) on purchases made with the Sephora Visa outside of Sephora (if you qualify for the Visa)
NOTE: If you are shopping at a Sephora department within another retailer (such as Kohl’s), you will only earn a 1% reward on your purchases when using the Sephora Visa. The Sephora store credit card (non-Visa version) is not accepted at all at Sephora departments within other retailers’ stores.
For every 125 points earned (called Rewards Dollars in the credit card reward program), you’ll automatically be issued a $5 reward certificate that you can use toward a future Sephora purchase.
Second, you’ll earn 2 Beauty Insider points per dollar spent with the card at Sephora. For every 500 Beauty Insider points earned, you get $10 off of a Sephora purchase of $10 or more.
You can combine rewards and redeem both types of points together on the same purchase. For example, if you have a $5 reward certificate from your credit card rewards and 500 points in the Beauty Insider program, you could combine those to get $15 off of a Sephora purchase.
What’s the difference between Sephora credit card reward points and Beauty Insider points? The difference is in how they are issued and when points expire.
Credit card reward certificates are issued whenever you reach $5 in rewards, and the certificates expire 90 days after they are issued. Beauty Insider points do not expire unless you have no activity in your Beauty Insider account for 12 months, meaning you haven’t made a purchase at Sephora or redeemed points for a year.
Other Goodies
- 25% Off First Purchase (if card used immediately): The Sephora credit card offers the possibility of instant approval. If you are approved instantly and use the card for a Sephora purchase on the day of approval, you’ll get 25% off of the purchase. (Or you could use the 25% off on a different purchase made within 30 days of card approval.)
- $20 Rewards Bonus Opportunity: You can earn $20 in Sephora rewards if you are approved for the Sephora Visa and use it to spend at least $500 outside of Sephora within 90 days of getting the card. This equates to a 4% reward on that $500 spent, where the card usually only gives a 1% reward on purchases outside of Sephora.
Important Fine Print
A few important things to understand about the Sephora credit card rewards program:
- Rewards Certificates Expire in 90 Days – As mentioned, when you’ve reach the 125 points required to get a $5 Reward, that Reward will be sent to you automatically. It will expire in 90 days from the date it was issued, a somewhat short “use it or lose it” window.
- Reward Points Below the $5 Threshold Expire in 18 Months – If you earn reward points (again, called Rewards Dollars in the program) but don’t accumulate enough to earn a $5 Reward certificate, those points will expire 18 months after the date of the purchase on which they were earned.
- Reward Certificates are “Stackable” – If you have more than one $5 certificate, you can use them together toward your Sephora purchases, but note that you are limited to using 3 at one time when purchasing on Sephora.com. (There is no limit when redeeming in a Sephora store.)
- Rewards can’t be redeemed at Sephora inside Kohl’s or other stores with Sephora departments – Reward certificates can only be redeemed at Sephora stores or on Sephora.com.
- Interest Rate of 23.24% or 31.99% – The rate you get will depend on your credit history. Either way, you don’t want to be carrying a balance at either of these high rates (or on any credit card, for that matter).
- No Annual Fee
Bottom Line: Should You Get It?
Overall, the Sephora credit card is mostly in line with other retail store credit card reward programs, which means it’s OK for the store’s biggest fans, but should not be anyone’s everyday credit card.
The 4% reward on Sephora purchases is actually a little less than expected; most good retail rewards credit cards give 5% in rewards on purchases made at their stores. Earning 1% in rewards outside of Sephora is measly; the best rewards credit cards give you significantly more.
We’re no fan of credit card programs that dole out rewards certificates and then give you a limited time to actually use them. This card is no exception, though it does give you three months to use your reward, where some retailers only give 60 days.
Should you get it? Only if you think you’ll spend enough at Sephora to earn those $5 rewards certificates on a regular basis.
It takes $125 in purchases at Sephora to get a $5 reward. Are you spending that much regularly? If so, the card makes sense. If not, we’d avoid it. There isn’t much value for the occasional Sephora shopper after you’ve used up the initial discounts and rewards for new cardholders.