WORKWEEK

I have 43 photos that pull up when I search Sephora in my camera roll. That feels excessive. Moving right along! 

Before I get all marketing on you, sharing my exact EXACT ROUTINE. I am aware some of these steps are redundant. I am aware you didn’t ask for this. My acne is gone and I just needed to link you in case helpful (I hope this is good karma and I didn’t just jinx myself and if I wake up with a pimple tomorrow I’m gonna fucking lose it). 

⬇️ reminder, those aren’t affiliate links. Never ever. 

1 note – each of these links is linking out to WHERE I bought each product. This is important for the marketing advice segment LOL.

MORNING

1️⃣. Tata Harper Clarifying Cleanser (Directly on the DTC)

2️⃣. Paula’s Choice BHA (Sephora) 

3️⃣. Sunday Riley B3 Nice (Directly on the DTC)

4️⃣. Sunday Riley Good Genes (Directly on the DTC)

5️⃣. Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster (Sephora) 

6️⃣. Cerave Facial Moisterizing Lotion AM (Amazon)

7️⃣. Lancôme Advanced Génifique Eye Cream (Sephora) 

8️⃣. Dr. Devgan Platinum Long Lash (Revolve) 

EVENING

1️⃣. Caudalie Micellar Water (Sephora) 

2️⃣. Tata Harper Clarifying Cleanser (Same product as morning)

3️⃣. A313 (London Apothecary – I’ll explain but linking so you see what it is) 

4️⃣. Sunday Riley B3 Nice (Same product as morning)

5️⃣. Sunday Riley Good Genes (same product as morning)

5️⃣. Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster (Same product as morning)

7️⃣. OSEA Malibu Collagen Dream Night Cream (Directly on the DTC)

8️⃣. Lancôme Advanced Génifique Eye Cream (Same product as morning)

8️⃣. Dr. Devgan Platinum Long Lash (Same product as morning)

MARKETING

I’m a customer. As evidenced above, I pull trig often and I shop like my face depends on it. 

Why I bought each of these products and where I bought each of these products shows how powerful marketing is – on me. I am a GULLIBLE CONSUMER. It’s humiliating! But ’tis my truth. Okay, here we go.

🧖‍♀️ 🧖‍♀️ 🧖‍♀️ 🧖‍♀️

Tata Harper Clarifying Cleanser: Purchased at Sephora 1st. Recommended to me by the sales associate there, then while I was in store at Sephora, I OPENED THE SEPHORA APP AND READ THE REVIEWS. Then I purchased it.

Then I used the entire bottle and SWITCHED FROM SEPHORA TO THE DTC SITE BECAUSE THE DTC SITE DOES SOMETHING INCREDIBLE. The 1st subscription is 15% off. But, upon your 2nd order, it switches to 20% off. They REWARD YOU FOR NOT CHURNING BY DISCOUNTING MORE. This is genius and something I’ve since copied with a 9 figure CPG brand that I work with. We are literally implementing this global change to their subscription program – because of Tata Harper’s experience. 

Paula’s Choice BHA: My aunt recommended this product to me in 2016. I didn’t buy it. She handed me an extra 1 she had at her house. I used it and took it home and used it up and forgot all about it. Then Ken Eurich (an influencer that I follow and love – but really loved in 2022) posted that it healed her skin. I remember exactly where I was. In San Francisco on a work trip with my husband. I literally watched her TikTok. Got up. Left the hotel. And walked a half mile to Sephora and bought this product. I’ve been buying it ever since. 15 bottles since then, at least. INFLUENCER MARKETING WORKS ON ME MORE THAN FREE SEEDING LOL. I always buy this at Sephora. It’s a habit at this point. I just realized I’m not even subscribed!!! Humiliating. Changing that to save $. 

Sunday Riley B3 Nice: TikTok told me that Niacinamide fights acne scars. So I opened the Sephora app, and this had the best reviews and I tried the brand (Sunday Riley) back in 2022 when I watched that SAME VIDEO BY KEN EURICH! She listed her whole routine, and many of the products were Sunday Riley. I buy this directly because it’s 1 of 3 products I buy from this brand and I qualify for free shipping and used a 15% off code. 

Sunday Riley Good Genes: This is from THE SAME VIDEO BY KEN EURICH! FROM 2022! I 1st bought it at Sephora (on that same Sephora run from San Francisco that I talked about above). That video wasn’t even sponsored! No brand would know the effect that video had on me. It has had a 4 figure impact! $$$$ FML! 

Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster: TikTok told me that this ingredient (Azelaic) helps fight acne scars. I have cleared my acne (miraculously), but still have scars. I actually forgot the word for this ingredient from the TikTok I saw, but then I was shopping on Sephora restocking on eye cream and I remembered there was an acne scar fighting ingredient that starts with A. So I googled acne scar treatment that starts with the letter A. This ingredient popped up and I remembered it. So then I went back to the Sephora app and searched the ingredient and Paula’s choice was 1 of the options and I already trust the brand because of what I wrote above. So, into the cart it went. 

Cerave Facial Moisterizing Lotion AM: I have been using this since high school. A dermatologist recommended it to me. When I used it, I remember my skin was better. I forgot about it, but then a facialist this year told me I needed to use oil-free products. I googled best oil free sunscreen. Elta MD popped up but I was already using that and my skin was fucked. So I switched back to this high school sunscreen of mine and I haven’t looked back. I buy this on Amazon because I remember I wanted to swith urgently (the facialist scared me lol). It was on Prime. 

Lancôme Advanced Génifique Eye Cream: Embarrassingly, I follow @acquiredstyle on TikTok and she does ads for Lancome. She always talks about the face version of this product. I don’t buy that because I’m scared of messing with my face routine because it’s working for me. But, when I ran out of eye cream and hit the Sephora app to look for options, I saw this brand and this collection from the brand and knew it was my chance LOL. So, no brand deal tracking would see that she influenced me to buy this. Zero link clicks. The ads she did were months ago. But, I am sad to tell you it was 100% her and I now have an $82 eye cream. FML!!! Bought on Sephora because it was an impulse buy and that’s where I saw it. I didn’t look for it anywhere else. Lazy, easily influenced, and impulsive – how cute! 

Dr. Devgan Platinum Long Lash: I got botox from Dr. Devgan in NYC in 2023. It was whatever – I won’t lie to you! I wouldn’t go back. I haven’t. However, everyone swears by this eye lash serum. I remember actually avoiding it because I didn’t love my in-person experience. But then Tinx recommended it and I love Tinx and so I bought it on Sephora. I accidentally left my 3rd bottle of this (it works) in LA last week when I went for a work trip. So I went to restock on Sephora and it was sold out! But then I googled it and Revolve had the product and a $20 off coupon! I’ll be hunting for the best deal on this every time I need to restock. BTW, this was my 1st Revolve purchase since 2017!!! I’m back! 

A313: I went to London with my family and my husband and mom both got sick so we went to an apothecary thingy. While they got cough medicine, my little sister and I bought beauty products. She had seen A313 on TikTok. We each bought 2. I haven’t looked back. So TikTok influenced her which then word of mouth influenced me. There was an urgency and scarcity because it’s marketed as a “French Beauty” product. So, because we were in Europe, we each bought 2 – even though we had never tried. Now that I’m home, it’s available everywhere including TikTok shop. Once again, FML. 

Caudalie Micellar Water: 1 of the best rated micellar waters on Sephora. I read all the reviews. Simple as that sometimes. (Not oftentimes as you’ll see by the length of this LOL). 

OSEA Malibu Collagen Dream Night Cream: I did a funnel hacking newsletter on OSEA back in May because I was staying with my friend in Miami and she used all of their body products. Cut to now: I use all of their body products (this and this are my favorites for body) and am DIE-HARD ABOUT THIS night cream. Look at this text message I sent my friend today. In my defense she asked me if I had a night cream I recommended at Sephora and BOY DID I EVER! (It’s not at Sephora but I found it at a retailer near her because that’s who I am LOL). 

My point in this long-winded story: even when unmeasured, so many people, places, moments, and factors played in to each of these buying decisions. 

🧛🏻‍♀️: I didn’t always choose the best deal. 

🧛🏻‍♀️: I didn’t always research with the same rigor (depended on my mood and desperation)

🧛🏻‍♀️: 1 influencer made me buy ~25 bottles of products over the course of 2 years because of 1 video – and there’s no way to attribute my purchases to her. But, it was her. 

🧛🏻‍♀️: I have become an OSEA Malibu uber fan – because I went to Miami to visit a friend. 

THIS IS THE REAL BUYING JOURNEY! It’s sloppy. It’s important to remember how YOU shop when YOU market. Different types of marketing works on different people at different times and so my main point: mix it up.

Seed your product (Sunday Riley). Do influencer deals (Lancome). Make your DTC offer compelling, especially if you’re sold at a major retailer (Sunday Riley, Tata Harper). Prioritize TikTok (Lancome). Run promos (Revolve). Make a product that works so well that people buy it begrudgingly (Dr. Devgan). WORK HARD TO GET A LOT OF REVIEWS (I referenced reviews on every single 1 of these purchases and according to the heat maps I study on a daily basis – most of my customers do the same). 

You get it! So on and so forth!