Woman purchases Sephora Mother’s Day gift, only to be majorly disappointed when it arrives. She’s not the only mad one: ‘Looks like it’s from Temu’

As Mother’s Day steadily approaches, people are still scrambling to find the perfect gift for their mother figure. Therefore, there’s no room for errors–unless you order online, then it’s a coin toss. The tote bag a Sephora customer orded was more Temu rather than from the prestigious beauty retailer.

A Disappointing Sephora Arrival 

The text overlay captures NYC TikTok creator Gitti’s (@gittiinthecity) scenario: “Sephora, what the heck is this?”

In the clip, there’s an open cardboard box containing her most recent order from the company. “Sephora, thanks for this gift with purchase for Mother’s Day,” she sarcastically says, referring to the tanned canvas bag inside. 

When she flips it over, there is one problem: the brand’s name is stitched upside down.

“I’m sure my mom’s really gonna love this with the label upside down,” the content creator remarks.

Needless to say, this present is now out the window. “I was gonna put some nice things in here and give it to her,” Gitti says, pointing to it. “But now I can’t because it looks like it’s from Temu.”

“So, thank you. Love that,” she signs off snarkily with a thumbs up.

“Did this happen to anyone else or just me. Sephora where you at ? For Mother’s Day of all days,” she adds in the caption.

Viewers Are Appalled

Gitti’s video garnered over 140,000 views, with many attributing this to Sephora’s decline in quality.

“I’ve cut back on Sephora so much. They are sooooo cheap. I buy directly from the brands website,” one viewer remarked.

“Sephora’s quality has tanked on everything,” another concurred.

As a result, this successfully deterred others from getting their hands on this bag.

“Omg thank god I didn’t order last night. It looked cute on the app but that’s some cheap a.. quality,” one commenter stated.

“Thank you for deinfluencing me on this, I was frantically adding things to my cart to get this,” a second agreed.

“Lmao the way I was adding things to my cart to get this !!! ABSOLUTELY NOT,” a third echoed.

According to the comments section, it seems Sephora remedied the problem. “Called and they said they would send me one,” Gitti said.

Why Do People Believe Sephora Has Gone Downhill?

Gitti is among many who’ve gone viral for their grievances with the beauty brand. In December, one customer noticed that the lackluster designs on an $150 advent calendar allegedly appeared AI-generated. The following month, one woman expressed her disappointment with her 0.13 fl oz Glossier Celebrate You birthday reward.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of quality. In-person experiences have also been less-than-pleasant. During November, one woman received a $90 makeover that left her in tears, and another had flat-out rude employees who made her vow to never return.

Moreover, the complaints didn’t stop there. Five months ago, people vented their annoyances about the company in a r/Sephora subreddit, believing “everything sucks and is worse now,” and “are buying a lot less.”

While there is a perception of the beauty brand’s overall decline, one thing is certain: they did face falling sales last year. Fortune reported that the parent company, LVMH, blamed this on Amazon’s “aggressive” pricing strategy. From there, Sephora would face stagnant revenue for nine months. In a bid to reverse course, they’ve partnered with South Korean competitor Olive Young to appeal to the growing trend of Korean products.

@gittiinthecity Did this happen to anyone else or just me ? Sephora where you at ? For Mother’s Day of all days ? #sephora #mothersday @Sephora Collection ♬ original sound – Noah

The Mary Sue reached out to Gitti via TikTok comment and direct message as well as Sephora via press email.

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