Cosmetics Business attended Sephora’s beauty festival, Sephoria, in London, UK, this weekend to get the lowdown on what the LVMH-owned retailer’s global experience offered its beauty fans.
Sephoria took place in the UK for the first time ever at event space 180 Studios from 16 to 17 October and claimed to be a “celebration of beauty anchored in the UK culture”.
It combined brand activations, masterclasses, creator appearances and product giveaways under one roof, encompassed in a cityscape concept called ‘Sephoria Beauty Metropolis’, with the retailer creating beauty-themed areas inspired by London's iconic neighbourhoods.
The festival’s UK debut comes as Sephora continues to ramp up its presence in the region, including announcing a new shop-in-shop deal with British supermarket chain M&S.
Team Cosmetics Business was on the ground for Sephoria’s press preview on 15 October, as well as the official opening day on 16 October. This is what the team learned…
A celebratory space for UK beauty consumers, but many of the games took too long
Amanda May, Editor, CosmeticsBusiness.com and Pure Beauty magazine
CB's Amanda May at Sephoria (Image credit: Rebecca Spencer Photography)
“I am a sucker for a beauty event, so when I heard that Sephora’s large-scale festival would be gracing the UK for the first time ever this year, I knew I had to be there.
I attended Sephoria on the first day the event was open to the general public to get a real feel of how it was for the retailer’s loyal consumer base, and there were some really interesting facets to the festival.
I think the biggest would be the overall feel.
You could tell a lot of thought had gone into the design of the space to make it feel truly considered for the UK market, paying homage to some of our most prominent iconography – from Sephora and Sol de Janeiro-themed red telephone boxes and beauty-themed UK street signs, to a ‘read all about it’-style newspaper stand.
A standout part of the design was the Sephora-branded green tube carriage, which turned the London Underground on its head into a form of transport that beauty lovers could get on board with.
All of these little touches made the event feel like it was made for the UK beauty community, and not just a run-of-the-mill aesthetic that is rolled out each year, while also providing one-of-a-kind photo opportunities.
Being able to explore household names such as Hourglass, Fenty Beauty and Haus Labs, alongside indies Aestura and Obart, was also a pro, enabling some true beauty discovery.
Each stand had a game on it for visitors to play, which would enable them to win either samples, miniatures or full-sized products, or exclusive merchandise, which is a great way to encourage customer interaction and deliver a brand memory.
However, many of the games were too complex or took too much time to execute, which meant that large queues would form around stands, causing a backlog of people.
This made the space feel smaller than it actually is.
I think this is a great learning opportunity for Sephora, to streamline the games so that visitors can attend more of the stands and have more brand interactions, as no one wants to play the waiting game.”
Sephoria spotlighted brands big and small, but consumers were left behind in favour of creators
Lollie Hancock, Reporter/Sub Editor, CosmeticsBusiness.com, Pure Beauty magazine and Cosmetics Business magazine
CB's Lollie Hancock at Sephoria (Image credit: Rebecca Spencer Photography)
“Sephoria’s London debut brought product discovery, workshops, trials and testers to the max.
A personal highlight was seeing the retail giant champion smaller emerging brands alongside industry heroes, such as big names Makeup by Mario, Charlotte Tilbury and Marc Jacobs Beauty next to fragrance startup Obart and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered manicure system Umia.
Sephora also took the event as an opportunity to announce the winners of its first-ever prize for European beauty incubation, designed to discover and scale promising beauty brands across the continent.
The winners were announced at the Sephora Prize Awards Ceremony on the evening of 15 October, and given prime positions to meet visitors during the two-day event.
As such, start-ups such as Belgian hair care brand Omad’s, French fragrance house French Cowboy and sun care brand Substance of Light all introduced their products to attendees, and it was exciting to see this kind of support from the retailer.
However, as with any consumer event in 2026, Sephoria did not escape from visitors heading straight to social media to share their honest reviews of the event, many of whom spent £95 on tickets to the event.
While the majority of feedback was positive, some paying visitors highlighted how the gifting from brands felt inconsistent, especially considering the event’s US counterparts saw visitors leave with a $2,000 gift bag.
TikTok user Monni Bongiorni (@fluffypandaaaa) redubbed the event ‘Sampleforia’, while UGC creator @luciousXVIII shared her disappointment was “more so the experience than the products”.
Several raised the issue that, in later sessions across the event, brands had run out of samples and highlighted how influencers promoting the event received vastly different gifts in comparison.
Looking ahead to a potential return to London for a future Sephoria event, brands should ensure fair and even gifting across all sessions – especially when ticket numbers are already confirmed – and shift focus from creators to the consumers supporting their businesses.”
A whirlwind of brand discovery and founder conversations
Jo Allen, Editor, Cosmetics Business Trend Report and Cosmetics Business magazine
CB's Jo Allen at Sephoria (Image credit: Jo Allen)
“Attending Sephoria on a press invite to its exclusive VIP preview evening on 15 October gave me a chance to enter the much-anticipated beauty festival as soon as it opened.
And while it was packed, the queues were undoubtedly smaller, with the organisation remaining effective throughout.
What I loved in particular about the event as a journalist was the opportunity to discover new brands, and even interview their founders.
Fragrance brand Obart – a French start-up that entered Sephora just last month – was showcasing its Fragrance Primer P3, with its skin care-hybrid base that extends the life of a fragrance by more than eight hours.
Obart co-founder Marc-Alexandre Risch told me: “It took us three years to do it, and we said we would only go to see Sephora if it is clinically-proven to make your fragrance last longer.
“We have been able to prove it on eau de toilette as well as eau de parfum, and to work on any fragrance.”
Barrier-strengthening, glow-boosting skin care brand Glowery also debuted in the UK in August.
Another brand to watch, Glowery’s fun Gen Z/Gen Alpha packaging was inspired by the playdough moulds created by the founder’s daughter.
The sense of fun carried through to its activation at Sephoria, where visitors were given a scoop and five seconds to fill a bag from a bucket of full-sized products.
But, I also caught a peek at some of the brands that Sephora is betting on for 2027.
Displays called ‘Next-Gen Routines’, in the Sephoria Trends sections, spotlighted a selection of K-beauty brands from Aestura to Yepoda, as well as Obart’s primer alongside its black cherry and raspberry scent Lady in Rouge.”
Lead image credit: Sephora UK/Fisher Studios.
Related content:
- Sephora is bringing its Sephoria beauty festival to the UK for the first time
- LVMH’s Q3 2026 beauty growth led by Sephora, Parfums Christian Dior and Guerlain
- Sephora to Olive Young: Beauty’s big retailers are partying their way into new markets
- Sephora partners with M&S to launch new UK beauty destination, Sephora at M&S
- Sephora launches prize for European beauty incubation to fill support ‘gap’
