Sephora Visa® Credit Card Review: Beauty Doesn't Have to Cost Full Price

The cost of beauty and personal care items can get high, so it can't hurt to earn rewards on them. If you're a big Sephora fan, you might consider the Sephora Visa® Credit Card. Cardholders get a high rewards rate on Sephora purchases, plus a one-time discount. But you can only redeem rewards with Sephora, and the sign-up bonus is small. Read our Sephora Visa® Credit Card review for the full scoop.

This credit card is a good fit for: Frequent Sephora shoppers who shop online or at dedicated Sephora locations.

Top perks

The Sephora Visa® Credit Card offers several brand-centric perks.

Earn 4% back on Sephora purchases

The marquee feature of the Sephora Visa® Credit Card is its purchase rewards. You can earn 4% cash back rewards on any Sephora purchases you make. This applies to purchases made in Sephora stores or online at sephora.com.

The purchase bonus doesn't apply to Sephora departments inside third-party locations, such as at a Kohl's Sephora pop-up store. You'll get 1% on purchases that don't fit the bonus category.

The Sephora Visa® Credit Card doesn't earn cash back. Instead, you'll receive your rewards in the form of a Credit Card Reward certificate. These certificates are issued in $5 increments (such as $10, $25, $50, etc), expire after 90 days, and can be used at Sephora locations or on its website.

Get 25% off your first Sephora card purchase

Another potentially valuable perk of the Sephora Visa® Credit Card is the First Purchase Discount. New cardholders can get 25% off their first Sephora Visa® Credit Card purchase at a Sephora location or online at sephora.com.

The First Purchase Discount is a single-use discount, meaning you can only use it once. It can't be applied to previous purchases. The First Purchase Discount expires 30 days from when you're approved for the Sephora Visa® Credit Card.

Pay $0 annual card fee

On top of the rewards, the Sephora Visa® Credit Card has no annual fee. This is standard for retail credit cards, but it's still nice to see since the Sephora Visa® Credit Card doesn't have enough perks to justify a fee. If you don't shop with Sephora for a few months, or even longer, you aren't paying for a card you're not using. It also doesn't cut into the value of your rewards with unnecessary fees.

What could be improved

Like many cobranded retail cards, the Sephora Visa® Credit Card has a few drawbacks.

Meager sign-up bonus requires non-Sephora spending

The Sephora Visa® Credit Card is a Visa card, so it can be used outside of Sephora. To encourage you to do so, the card comes with a very specific type of sign-up bonus. You can earn a $20 Sephora Visa® Credit Card Reward if you spend $500 on your Sephora Visa® Credit Card outside of Sephora in the first 90 days.

Yes, you specifically need to meet the spending requirement on non-Sephora purchases. Since you'll only get 1% back on these purchases -- and that 1% back is only redeemable at Sephora -- you could be missing out on a lot of rewards with another card.

What's more, $20 does not make it a strong sign-up bonus. Even if you include the 25% First Purchase Discount, you're still not likely to have a total welcome bonus valued at more than $50. Many quality rewards credit cards will have a sign-up bonus worth triple that (or more).

Restrictive rewards and limited earning potential

Although a 4% rewards rate seems strong at first glance, you really need to be an avid Sephora shopper to make it work for you. For one thing, you need to accrue $5 in rewards to get a Reward certificate. That's $125 in Sephora spending, or more if you're shopping outside Sephora.

You also don't have long to spend those rewards, as credit card rewards expire after 90 days from the date the certificate is issued. If you don't spend rewards by that date, you'll lose them.

The limits on how you earn those rewards may be hard for some cardholders, too. You only earn the 4% back if you go to a standalone Sephora store or shop the Sephora website. If you'd rather get your Sephora supplies at a third-party location, you're stuck with the 1% rewards base rate.

Want the biggest sign-up bonus? Check out The Ascent's guide to the best sign-up bonus credit cards.

You're most likely to be approved for the Sephora Visa® Credit Card if you have at least fair credit. Using the FICO® Score model, this is a credit score of 600 or higher. However, there are plenty of reports of people being approved with lower credit scores.

Retail credit cards do tend to be easier to get than other types of credit cards. But Comenity Capital Bank (the issuer) will look at your entire credit profile before making a decision.

Learn more: Best Credit Cards for Fair/Average Credit

The Sephora Visa® Credit Card is most suited to people who spend a lot of money in Sephora stores or at sephora.com. You'll only earn bonus rewards in these locations. Like most store cards, the Sephora card's rewards can only be redeemed on Sephora purchases. If you don't normally spend a lot in Sephora stores, or you prefer to buy Sephora products in third-party locations (like Kohl's), then this may not be the best pick.

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.