A Sephora customer says she recently found out the hard way why you shouldn’t use testing makeup at beauty stores.
Jessica Ebraheim (@jessebs9) says she visited Sephora four weeks ago and tested one of the eyeliner kits. It’s not clear whether she bought the product, but Ebraheim certainly took something home with her: a nasty infection.
She says in the caption of her TikTok video that her infection hasn’t gone away—even after four weeks. While experts make clear that testing makeup can give you herpes or pink eye, Ebraheim says she got a stye.
“What the hell is growing on my eye? This is actually crazy,” she says. “This is your reminder not to use the tester makeup at Sephora.”
Using a makeup store’s testing makeup is a risky bet
According to Yahoo!, test makeup is riddled with bacteria and germs. The outlet spoke with Elizabeth Brooks, a biological sciences professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, who conducted a two-year study on the makeup testers and applicators in department stores, drugstores, and specialty shops in New Jersey.
The results of her test are quite something: Staph, strep, and E. coli bacteria were all found, Brooks told Yahoo!.
“Wherever you see E. coli, you should just think ‘E. coli equals feces,’” she told the outlet. “That means someone went to the bathroom, didn’t wash their hands, and then stuck their fingers in that moisturizer.”
Brooks says that people who want to try on makeup should avoid putting anything near their eyes, nose, or mouth. If you do that, she says, you should be OK.
What happened to the content creator’s eye?
Makeup can contribute to styes by introducing the aforementioned bacteria to the eyelid. As Ebraheim experienced, styes are usually painful and red and occur near the edge of the eyelid. Bad experiences like these at Sephora can discourage people from using testers at makeup stores.
As Brooks told Yahoo!, sharing makeup can spread bacteria from one person to another when distributing tools such as eyeliner, mascara wands, and eyeshadow brushes.
Of course, sharing makeup isn’t the only way styes can form. Old makeup can contain bacteria, so it’s important not to use expired products. In addition, leaving makeup on overnight can clog glands and encourage further bacteria growth.
Thankfully, warm compresses and over-the-counter pain relievers can help styes. You can also visit an optometrist for antibiotic eye drops or creams.
Sephora customers have been burned in the past
In 2018, a California-based Sephora customer sued the store after claiming a Los Angeles-based location gave her oral herpes.
The woman says she used a lipstick sample at the store and later got oral herpes. As a result, she blamed Sephora and sued the store for liability and negligence, among other things.
According to a write-up from Newsweek, the customer says, “The store is at fault because they encourage customers to use lipstick by displaying them out in the open, along with makeup wipes to ‘disinfect’ before each use.”
It’s not clear this case has legs, though. A member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s Public Health Committee told the outlet that the customer might’ve already had herpes without knowing it.
“It’s mostly common sense that you probably shouldn’t put it on your lips,” the member says. “If you do that you’re putting yourself at risk and you should know that.”
@jessebs9 And it’s lowkey still there 4 weeks later #stye ♬ original sound – jessebs9
Viewers don’t have sympathy for Sephora customer
Several commenters had zero empathy for Ebraheim, noting that it’s “common knowledge” to not use makeup stores’ testing products.
“I thought we all knew this,” one viewer says.
“This is YOUR reminder sis,” another wrote.
“Who on earth puts testers on their face at Sephora?” a third person asked.
Meanwhile, some commenters say they weren’t sure whether the bump on Ebraheim’s eye was a stye.
“You should probably go to the doctor to make sure that’s not a STAPH infection,” one woman suggested.
“Could be herpes,” another says.
“Please go to [the] doctor, you need antibiotic eye drops,” a third viewer wrote. “Don’t pop them.”
To this comment, Ebraheim responded: “Yes I did already, it’s better now.”
Thank God for happy endings.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ebraheim via TikTok comment and to Sephora through email.
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