5 Brilliant Reasons To Love The New Sephora

1.It’s More Visited Than The Tour Eiffel

Last night we attended the most effervescent beauty party in Switzerland: the opening of the new Sephora shop in Manor, Geneva. Do you know what that means? Swiss shopping mall Manor has 10 millions visitors a year: more than the Tour Eiffel, as Bertrand Jungo, Manor CEO, told us during an interesting (and fun!) chat before the official shop opening. Teaming up with such a popular venue – both online and in real shops  – means, for Sephora, reaching an incredibly wide audience that is not only limited to the luxury segment: Manor is popular with men, women, bloggers, students, bankers and elegant ladies alike. Sephora people had been looking at Switzerland for a while but never found the right business model, and Manor wanted to boost its already successful beauty department while offering a new online service too. A win-win cooperation that is a pleasure for the senses and the eyes! We saw an international and enthusiastic crowd and we loved the atmosphere.

2. Here You Can Play, Feel, Try, Experience

Geri and I also had the chance to spend some time with Stephan Borchert, President of  Sephora Europe and Middle East, and we told him that our dream is to go to a shop where we can try everything without feeling obliged to buy, and the whole experience is easy and fun: after all, we go shopping to enjoy ourselves and we don’t always plan to spend money. He told us that the whole Sephora concept is designed to invite people to try, touch, even play with make-up and products, and that young people are more and more used to that (and maybe to buy online later on, once they know exactly what they want). Stephan told us that the whole project of opening in Switzerland only started 10 months ago, and is going very fast: next year there will be 7 new shops in the country.

3. People Queue Up To Buy

I thought this happens only in the US for the latest telephone, or for the Balmain’s collection for H&M, but hey…the  Swiss crowd did queue up for a long time, just to have the chance to go and buy the new make-up and beauty products in Sephora. We were allowed to visit the shop two hours before the curtains were raised, and the excitement was already high. Bloggers, press, general public simply loved to be able to touch everything, try everything, and even clap their hands following the music. It was an impromptu disco party!

4. We Talked With A Naked Model

One of the demonstrations of how to apply make-up skilfully was body painting. A make-up artist showed us the tricks and techniques of the procedure, and we asked the naked (and painted) model how she felt. We had a lovely conversation and a good laugh, and I realised that body painting makes your skin so flawless, that I am now considering to try it at home…

5. It Is A Glam Event

The Sephora event was fun, but also glamorous. Press, CEOs, artists and audience mixed up and shared some drinks and good vibes. We – Swiss bloggers – ended up eating sushi and teppanyaki, enjoying the best goodie bag we ever received in our whole life, and going back to our hotel room in the happiest mood ever!

For those who don’t live in Geneva or simply prefer to shop online, Sephora’s products are already available all around Switzerland thanks to the Click&Collect service on www.manor.ch.