Very Important Beauty Insider, VIB Review

There was a VIB (Very Important Beauty Insider) event at Sephora this weekend where all members (plus one friend) gets 20% off any purchase in the store. I was invited by a kind friend and together, we visited this cosmetics of a "candy" store on Thursday. The invitation came at a great time as I've been eyeing the Clarisonic Mia for some time and thanks to its purchase, I became a VIB too.

I'll keep my experiences at the VIB event seperate from this post, because I was quite disappointed with the service at my local store, considering everything, it is one of their more anticipated annual exclusive events...But for those interested in becoming a VIB or curious about the perks, I am going to talk about Beauty Insider and VIB membership info here.

Beauty Insider

The Beauty Insider member is a basic membership that's free to join any time and every dollar you spend equals to one point. When you reach a certain amount of points, you can exchange "point perk" items at an online or local store checkout. The items change every so often and come in points of 100 or 500. The 500 point perk items are usually a decent sample pack consisting of 4-5 popular items from a sought-after cosmetic brand. You also receive a free birthday gift from Sephora that can be collected at a local store or online when you are checking out. I've been a Beauty Insider for 4 years and have never collected my gift. lol I really need to get on this next year! From what I've heard, the gifts are usually quite good too!

Essentially, being a Beauty Insider is Sephora's way of getting your information making target marketing easier and more efficient for them.

VIB 

When you are already a Beauty Insider and spend $350 in one calendar, you automatically qualify as a VIB.  If you qualify via an online purchase, you should receive an email or some sort of notice at checkout that you've become a VIB. If not, be sure to contact them and get this sorted out. If you qualify from buying at a local store, they give you a VIB package with one-time use welcome perks and a VIB card. You should then receive an email a few days later saying you've become a VIB. Your online information on Sephora when you are logged in should also reflect your status change.

If you are not a Beauty Insider and happen to make a one-time purchase of $350, you should be able to become a VIB. If it's not offered to you, be sure to ask for it. I don't see why they can't give it to you on the spot. This won't work however if you make more than one purchase in the year that add up to $350, but is not a Beauty Insider. There is no way for them to attach these purchases to you since you are not on their system to begin with. If you have your receipts from all the purchases, you might be able to ask for membership.

 VIB package.

 [from left to right]: The VIB card is a metallic silver color. The item on the right as shown in the right hand side photo is a mirror where one side reflects normally and the opposite side magnifies.

 [from left to right]: A one-time 45 minute makeup session with an "expert beauty advisor". The card pays for the session. The photo on the right shows your one-time 10% off on a purchase. Both offers expire within 90 days from when you become a VIB.

These are the initial perks of becoming a VIB. They're not bad. I do hope to be able to experience the other perks advertised on the website in the upcoming year. I'll make a checklist and let's see how many of these are checked off throughout the year!

Additional Perks as Advertised on Sephora's Website

Special Gifts:

1. Complimentary gift sets
2.  Makeovers on us
3.  One-of-a-kind products
4.  Seasonal discount

 First Access:

"Get first access to highly anticipated launches, special sales, and other exciting offers."

The VIB Life:

"Coming soon"

Private Events:

"Attend private shopping nights and parties hosted by celebrities, founders, and top beauty experts."

Exclusive Rewards:

"Be rewarded with exciting beauty, shipping on us, double point purchases and more."

Beauty Concierge:

"Get answers and advice, and recommendations from dedicated consultants at 1-xxx-VIB-xxxx."


I don't think the telephone number is a super secret, but just in case, I've concealed it. x.x I'm excited to see what private shopping nights will take place at the local sephora store here as well as these complimentary gifts sets (on top of the birthday gift?) and free shipping perks. Keep all of you beautifuls updated as events happen (or don't happen) in future posts.

And finally, I feel the initial perks of becoming a VIB alone are not attractive enough to have people power buy products for unlike Starbuck's Gold Membership pre-perk changes. I think a lot pf people become a VIB through purchasing their regular stuff there. Sephora does carry a ton of products making it easy for us to one-stop shop there. You'll also find them to be constantly adding new products that have shown promise in the market, but have yet to be widely distributed which often makes them the only local store to be selling certain items.