Sephora Stands Up: Makeup Classes for Transgender Women

What Does It Take To Be a Brand?

So many people in business can give you their opinion on what it means to create a meaningful brand, but what is it? Sephora seems to have an idea. Is it the logo or the color scheme that creates the lasting impact of a quality beauty business? Perhaps a brand is defined by its mission or the outreach that the company pushes through its marketing techniques. Regardless of what "it" is Sephora has stepped up and shown that it is the beauty retail brand to beat when it comes to crossing gender lines and catering to all members of their potential customer base. Sephora has proved that they are all about inclusion no matter the audience. And in 2018 it seems like the company is again taking another step by welcoming all customers through their recent addition of an in-store makeup class catering to the transgender community. We are here for it!

Sephora Stands

Do you remember the last time you walked by a Sephora and noticed the calendar posted on their front window? You might have keyed in on the list of makeup classes that they offer the everyday customer. It serves as a way to make the store about more than just makeup and reach those of us who may need a little help executing the latest beauty trend. The classes focus on techniques like creating the perfect brow, contouring 101, and mastering the cat eye; and they are brilliant! I have sat in on a few of these quick classes to familiarize myself with new products and get a “girls night out” look together in my head. Well, it looks like Sephora has taken these exclusive in-store experiences and expanded by creating Classes for Confidence through their Sephora Stands initiative. Sephora Stands was designed to help women to make the bold choices in their lives. And the Classes of Confidence portion is a 90-minute hands-on beauty class for women going through a life transition. We can all agree that both the Brave Beauty class and the Workforce class are amazing concepts. Think about it, one on one makeup sessions with someone who knows what they are doing, great idea, right? For gender binary women with traditional features, yes! However, Sephora is also going into uncharted territory by offering a Bold Beauty class that caters towards transgender women. We know what you are thinking because we are thinking it too…BOSS!

Bold Beauty for the Transgender Community

The Bold Beauty classes are taught by a Sephora trained makeup artist who is classified as trans-sensitive. And they may or may not be transgender themselves. A detail like that regarding the instructor selection is a fantastic touch for the program. It enables all customers to feel more comfortable in their tutorial with someone who knows exactly what they are going through because they have been through it too or can empathize. On top of that, the customer is still getting the traditional shopping experience offered to everyone else, and they receive a one on one experience with the product and their desired technique before buying. These Bold Beauty classes include:

• Skincare advice including smoothing tips
• Application Techniques
• Complexion tips including color correction advice

What Went Into Creating the Bold Beauty Class

Sephora has been working on rolling out the Bold Beauty class curriculum for the past two years. The company wanted to make sure that they were sensitive to the needs of both their employees that may have been going through their journey in regards to transitioning AND the journeys of their consumers. Sephora accomplished this by creating a focus group and finding out what their customers wanted to learn. Then they took the next step and put the participating makeup artists in sensitivity training. The Bold Beauty class is being rolled out across 150 predetermined Sephora stores based on their locations and customer base.

Why Is This So Important?

Unfortunately, for transgender women or the gender non-binary with stronger facial features, traditional makeup classes are not useful for them. There are certain things that they are missing and the focus group step allowed for Sephora to address those needs. Moreover, not everyone can benefit from watching a Youtube video. Sometimes you need an in-person tutorial to help you with your everyday slay! To eliminate any feelings of alienation and attract all women to the Sephora makeup counter, Sephora has stepped up via their “Bold Beauty for the Transgender Community” and invited transgender women to come get some beauty advice just like the rest of us.

Sephora Is An All Inclusive Brand

Representation in the LGTBQ community is missing across many industries. Aside from a handful of famous beauty influencers, there are not many transgender women or gender nonbinary people who can aid to assist recently transitioning women on the everyday basis. If you cannot find a Bold Beauty class in the Sephora at your local mall, you are in luck! Sephora will be uploading tutorials featuring their trans-sensitive instructors to their Sephora YouTube channel to reach everyone in need of some Bold Beauty! Drop a comment below if you have been able to attend a Class for Confidence and tell us what you’ve learned.