How I Get The BEST Sephora Samples and Rebates
My free hack for getting more Sephora samples and online rebates
Hey everyone! Helen here. I got an amazing BAG of samples from Sephora Canada with the two items I purchased (NARS Foundation and Clinique Even Better Dark Spot serum), so I thought I’d share my tips right here. Please do share this with your friends and on social media!
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Best Sephora Samples
Updated July 24, 2023: I’ve got another best Sephora sample hack to add on: Sign up for the texts from Sephora and you’ll be notified when amazing sets like this one are in stock and you’ll also get 10% off your order if you haven’t signed up for them before. The sample sets go fast, so it might be worth the tradeoff to get texts from Sephora. At the bottom of this article I’ve got a new and updated YouTube video showing you what I got as part of a July Hair Care Set—totally free of course!
How To Get Amazing Samples From Sephora
First off, the best samples come from shopping Sephora online, not in person. Second, I’m in Canada and where you live the situation online or in-person may be different.
Please let me know if the Sephora samples situation is substantially different where you live and I’ll update the article or add it in the comments.
Sephora’s in-store sample program is not that good. There’s much more sample variety when you buy online, every purchase comes with two samples. In person, you don’t typically get totally free samples, though sometimes you do, especially if it’s your birthday month.
My second big tip, and this is important, is that you need to sign up for Rakuten to really unlock all the EXTRA sample codes, and rebates too! If you’re in Canada, use my referral link to sign up Rakuten.ca.
Sephora’s website has a Rewards Bazaar on its site (here’s the link) but I always find not everything is listed there, and my Rakuten widget shows me way more sample codes in addition to the two samples I already get.
Is Rakuten a Scam?
Rakuten is not a scam. It’s a well-established Japanese rebate company with a big global presence. It also makes Kobo, the e-reader. You can sign up with confidence that you do actually get cash back, e-bates, rebates or whatever you want to call it. Where I live I can hook it up to my bank account or my PayPal account. In fact, on this Sephora order I got some cash back. Rakuten is entirely free. I get small deposits regularly from Rakuten.
Install the Rakuten browser plug-in
After you’ve signed up for a Rakuten account, install the plug in extension. Here are the instructions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Is this a pain? Not really, it’s worth it if you love Sephora. Gap and Old Navy and other popular retailers also often have good cashback (aka rebate) offers.
This strategy is for computers and laptops, FYI, it’s not for shopping with your phone BUT you could grab the codes and still use them on your phone if you have the bandwidth to do so.
The web browser plug-in recognizes when you’re shopping on an affiliated cashback site and also searches the best coupon codes for you. Sort of like Honey, if you recall when all the YouTube influencers were plugging that.
When you’re ready to purchase on Sephora and you have the Rakuten plug-in extension, before you buy it will run through all the coupons and offers for you to find “the best” one. However, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t know which one I’ll like best.
So what I do is I preview the promo (sample) codes before I buy. Simply click the R in your browser and it will open up with a little side window full of codes.
Look for the code you like best, but I’ve noticed the BEST ones are hidden at the bottom. I don’t know why they pop up toward the bottom, but they do! This is also true of the Honey browser plug in.
Bags full of perfume samples, foundation samples and concealer samples are among the ones I’ve got in the last six months.
Today, I got an amazing sample bag for Chinese New Year with a $90 purchase, the code is YEAROFRABBIT if you want to try it.
Here are some other codes (in Canada) I spotted today:
Honey, the coupon code browser plug-in also works for Sephora promo codes
If you want to go with Honey, by all means, but I prefer Rakuten because the cash back situation is better where I live. Honey is more for coupon codes, Rakuten is more for cash rebates in theory, but they seem to give access to the same coupon codes.
Let’s Sum it Up: Rakuten and Sephora
If you want Sephora cash rebates and promo codes for bags full of samples, use Rakuten.
Rakuten is a rebate site from Japan. It’s not a scam. Here’s where to sign up if you’re in Canada. It’s free.
Install Rakuten on your browser. Here’s how. I’ve had Grammarly, Honey and Rakuten installed on my Firefox browser for years and they are all legit. There’s nothing scammy about them.
That’s it, hope you enjoyed this!
Warmly,
Helen
P.S. Here’s my latest update on YouTube on the best sample package I ever got from Sephora! (Going live on July 30th, 2023)
This is such a great post. I think you talked about this in one of your vlogs a while back but I’d forgotten and I need to place a Sephora order soon. I actually already have Rakuten so it’s even easier. Thank you for the shout out in your community post—I can’t tell you how much your content resonates for me, right down to the link to the recipe for slow cooker Cincinnati chili! Look forward to seeing what you come up with in 2023.