A young woman who says she has used makeup testers at Sephora on at least one occasion to get herself ready for the day has viewers questioning her choices.
In a now-deleted video shared to TikTok by lifestyle content creator @ally.renee1 that has drawn over 635,000 views as of Saturday, the poster says she always tries free samples in Sephora, from hair products to lipgloss.
“One thing about me y’all, if it says ‘try me,’ baby I’m going to try it,” she says in the video. “Tonight’s wash day, and I would love to try a new leave-in cream and a new lipgloss. I’m in Sephora like, getting ready right now.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @ally.renee1 as well as to Sephora directly via email regarding the video.
Before the video was removed, some commenters shared how they could not get over the fact that she was supposedly using testers on her face instead of swatching them on her hand.
“Okay but trying the lip gloss is crazy,” one commenter wrote.
“Girl there’s so many germs on those testers,” another user said.
“I’ll test some of the hair stuff and perfume but not anything for the face,” one viewer echoed.
It is generally not recommended to use testers on the face, as some customers have claimed to be affected by the bacteria living on them. Samples of testers available on makeup store floors have been shown to contain a wide variety of potentially harmful bacteria, and in 2015, a California woman sued Sephora alleging that she had developed cold sores after using a tester lipstick.
However, some viewers shared that they regularly utilize product testers in stores like Ulta and Sephora.
“I be coming out of Sephora with a full face,” one commenter wrote.
“Nahhh worddd I be getting a whole facial [in] Ulta,” another user shared.
“I’m like that and my daughter gets upset at me all the times haha,” a viewer agreed.
