Sephora UK backs ‘Face Equality Week’ with inclusive retail initiative

Sephora is supporting UK charity partner, Face Equality International (FEI), as part of the global Seen and Served campaign, which aims to promote more inclusive beauty experiences for people with facial differences.

Running from 11-15 May, International Face Equality Week is an annual awareness initiative dedicated to supporting the facial difference community and advocating for equal treatment, dignity and respect in everyday life.

This year’s campaign focuses on the barriers people with facial differences can encounter in hospitality, retail and customer service settings, including experiences such as being overlooked by staff, receiving unsolicited comments or feeling excluded in public spaces.

As part of the partnership, Sephora commissioned FEI to survey members of its UK CRM database to better understand the experiences of customers with facial differences within beauty retail environments.

The findings highlighted the need for increased awareness and inclusive training across the sector, with results showing that:

• People with facial differences are less comfortable shopping for beauty products than other consumers.
• Customers with facial differences can find it more difficult to ask beauty advisers for assistance or feel confident selecting suitable products.
• More than 21% of respondents with a facial difference said they had received unsolicited comments from other customers or passers-by.
• More than 11% reported receiving unwelcome comments or questions from shop staff.
• 90% of respondents believed beauty advisers should receive face equality training.

In response to these findings, Sephora UK and FEI collaborated on a bespoke face equality training programme, developed alongside the Sephora UK Education team. The initiative is designed to help retail staff better understand the experiences of people with facial differences and provide more inclusive customer support.

The training was piloted with newly recruited Beauty Advisors at Sephora UK’s recently opened Bristol Cabot Circus store, with plans to incorporate the programme into onboarding for all new store teams, alongside ongoing learning sessions for existing employees.

The initiative forms part of Sephora UK’s broader commitment to creating an inclusive retail environment where customers feel represented and supported.

Sarah Boyd, Managing Director at Sephora UK, said: "I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing at Sephora UK this International Face Equality Week in support of our charity partner, Face Equality International. This initiative has been a true collaboration across the business, bringing together our education, marketing and trade teams alongside FEI to help drive meaningful action and create more inclusive beauty experiences.

"At Sephora UK, we are always looking for ways to evolve and improve the retail experience for every customer, so we’re excited to continue rolling out our face equality training programme following a successful pilot with cast members at our newly opened Bristol Cabot Circus store.

To coincide with International Face Equality Week, Sephora UK will also donate 15% of full-price sales from Sephora Collection products on 12 May to FEI. The promotion includes products such as Size Up Mascara, Cream Lip Stain and the recently launched Body and Hair Mists.

Phyllida Swift , CEO at Face Equality International, said: "For too long, the facial difference community have felt excluded from beauty spaces and with too many people having had a negative experience when asking for advice.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with Sephora UK to create space for people with facial differences to be seen and served, whether that's through representation in campaigns, or knowing that they can walk into a store and have a positive, celebratory experience. Sephora are doing groundbreaking work to support the face equality movement in so many different ways and we are thrilled to be making change, together."