The Luxury Beauty Store is essentially the Fifth Avenue of Amazon’s existing beauty store. This is where you head when you’re in the market for high-end skincare, makeup, fragrance, hair care, men’s grooming and “on trend” products. The new store, which is almost modern and elegant compared to the rest of Amazon.com, flaunts top brands like Burberry, Butter London, Deborah Lippmann, and Nars, among others.
In keeping with Amazon’s commitment to the personal shopping experience, the Luxury Beauty Store has features like the “” and “” similar to what you would find in your favorite magazine or blog. And its curators (who knew Amazon had beauty editors?) keep you updated on the latest trends with the “Shop by Trend” menu— for example, “” and “” are in this Fall.
But the Luxury Beauty Store doesn’t come without competition. Amazon is up against the well-established Sephora, which we’ve already been in love with for years, and most recently Net-A-Porter. You won’t find the sleek black box adorned with tissue paper and ribbon on your doorstep when you order from Amazon as you would from Net-A-Porter. And Sephora? It’s hard to top this innovative company, which recently launched its VIB Rouge program (a god-send for beauty gurus with fat wallets—see my post on it here). And while the Luxury Beauty Store is poised to do well and more brands are expected to sign on, popular brands like Laura Mercier, Chanel, and Estee Lauder have yet to make an appearance on Amazon—even though some of those companies already sell through its competing online retailers.
So what sets Amazon apart from its high-end online counterparts? For those of you who have Amazon Prime accounts, the new Luxury Beauty Store may quickly replace Sephora and the like because of it’s streamlined (and potentially cheaper) shopping experience. Who wouldn’t want to order Cards Against Humanity, the new Kindle Fire, your college textbooks and luxury beauty products all in one click?
While Amazon may have some catching up to do, the Luxury Beauty Store seems well received, and its launch couldn’t have come at a better time. After all, the holiday shopping season is upon us (, anyone?) and, personally, I’d pick a one-and-done shopping experience over the overcrowded Sephora in Georgetown any day.
What do you think? Will you try out Amazon’s new Luxury Beauty Store, or are you sticking with Sephora and Net-A-Porter?
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