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‘We would take a cotton swab with alcohol and pat it down’: Ex Sephora worker claims store resold cracked makeup in viral TikTok

‘Tell me a company secret…’

Photo of Clara Wang

Clara Wang

Ex Sephora employee detailing makeup secrets on TikTok

A former Sephora employee claims that they used to “fix” cracked makeup products by patting them down with alcohol and putting them back on the shelf.

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@astralmami claims she’s a former Sephora employee. The TikToker has more than 2,326 followers, and her stitch with @princessannafit claiming that her store used to resell makeup products that fell on the floor got over 102,900 views and 5,110 likes since posting on Jan. 13.

https://www.tiktok.com/@astralmami/video/7052889220666379526

The video is part of the “Tell me a company secret that you can share because you don’t work there anymore” TikTok trend. Previous company secrets allegedly revealed included Carvana and Walmart.

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“I worked at a makeup store on and off for six years… we’ll call the store ‘Fedora,’” says @astralmami.

Sephora is a French multinational retailer specializing in beauty products that she is likely alluding to, especially given that she posted the TikTok with the tag “#sephora.”

“Whenever we would something fall on the floor or come in broken, we would take a cotton swab with alcohol and pat it down so it could be sold again,” she said.

In a follow-up video posted on Wednesday, she clarified that she worked at two different locations, on and off, from 2015-2021: “I realize not every story is trifling like that. Again, I am sharing my personal experiences… I don’t have a reason to get on this app and lie.”

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In another follow-up video, @astralmami claims that pre-pandemic, “Fedora used a spray brush cleaner.”

“But what are those spray brush cleaners actually cleaning?” says @astralmami. “Because when we would wash the brushes, the amount of caked-up makeup that would come out of those brushes…”

The Daily Dot reached out to @astralmami and Sephora via TikTok message and email, respectively, for comment.


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