Sephora, a makeup company known worldwide for its high-end, trending brands, held its annual event SEPHORiA on Sept 28th. As an event geared toward beauty enthusiasts of all ages, over 50 brands gathered in the convention center to distribute their products, with an exclusive swag bag valued at roughly $700 gifted to each attendee. This year, the event was held in Atlanta—just three hours from Columbia—and I’m giving you an inside look.
SEPHORiA offers general admission tickets for $135 and V.I.P. tickets for $500, which provide attendees with an extra hour of convention access and additional swag bag items. I purchased a general admission ticket in July on the day the tickets dropped and within a week they had sold out. Unless you decide to cross the country to attend, the ticket price is the only money you’ll spend at SEPHORiA.
The convention begins in an extravagant entrance hall, lined with free arcade-style games where participants can win full-sized items. Attendees then walk through a beautifully decorated breezeway with photo opportunities that lead to the main attraction: over 50 booths stocked full of mini and full-size products from the most popular beauty brands on the market. This year’s lineup included Rare Beauty, Glossier, Drunk Elephant, Nars, Urban Decay, Tarte, Tower 28, Natasha Denona, Sol de Janeiro, Supergoop!, Glow Recipe, Kosas, and many more. Attendees walk from booth to booth playing games, collecting goodies, and meeting other beauty enthusiasts.
I narrowed down the products I received during this part of the event to a few favorites, which doesn’t even cover half of my findings. I collected Glow Recipe Watermelon Dew Drops, Makeup By Mario MoistureGlow Plumping Lip Serum, a Little Words Project bracelet, Farmacy Brighten Up toner, four Tarte Maracuja Lip Glosses, Pattern Leave In Conditioner, Nars lipsticks, K-18 hair styling products of all types, Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream, Natasha Denona eyeshadow, an unreleased new Glossier perfume, and Innisfree Daily U.V. Defense Sunscreen.Â
As beauty enthusiasts leave the convention center towing their loot, Sephora employees hand out the coveted “swag bag” full of Sephora’s most trending skincare, haircare, and makeup products. This bag contained almost exclusively full-size products, with few exceptions. Picking my favorites from this bag was hard. Still, I narrowed the list down as much as possible: Rare Beauty Body & Hair Fragrance Mist, Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Serum, Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream, Dermaltogica Daily Microfoliant, Y.S.L. Candy Glaze, Laneige Lip Glowy Balm, Dr. Dennis Gross Creamy Cleansing Oil, Valentino Born in Roma perfume, and Glossier Cloud Paint.
SEPHORiA is for beauty lovers of all ages, and saying it is worth the cost of admission would be a gross understatement. Considering I only spent $135 to attend, this event is of great value and is fun and unique. I would advise anyone with an interest in beauty to keep an eye out for next year’s city reveal and ticket drop.