Sephora will debut on TikTok Shop starting September 19, piloting a new retail format called the “Sephora Drop Shop” that pairs monthly curated product launches with creator content and celebrity-hosted livestreams, the company announced.

The pilot, limited to the United States, will spotlight a different partner brand each month. Each drop begins with teaser content and interactive elements that encourage shoppers to guess which brand is featured, then builds to an official TikTok LIVE where a celebrity host, brand founders and creators unveil the products, take audience questions and sell items in real time through TikTok Shop.

Products in each drop will launch exclusively on Sephora’s TikTok Shop before select items expand to the company’s website, physical stores or other retail partners. Customers can preview the products on Sephora’s site during the exclusive window, though purchasing there is not available until the wider rollout.

“Beauty discovery has always been core to Sephora’s ethos, and the rise of social commerce and digital marketplaces has reinforced the need to evolve how we engage with our beauty lovers,” said Artemis Patrick, President and CEO of Sephora North America. “We already have an incredibly active beauty community on TikTok, so we are excited to take the next step and pilot the Sephora Drop Shop on TikTok Shop.”

Anca Marola, Sephora’s Global Chief Digital Officer, framed the pilot as a data-gathering exercise ahead of a possible broader rollout. “By approaching this launch with a test-and-learn mindset, we are not only scaling our retailtainment model in the U.S., but also gathering critical insights to inform our digital innovation and future rollout across our global network,” she said.

Bianca Sing, TikTok Shop’s Global Head of Strategic Brand Partnerships, called the launch a combination of “Sephora’s leadership in beauty discovery and curation with TikTok Shop’s unique ability to inspire and connect communities through entertainment, creators, culture and commerce.”

Sephora’s entry lands in a category where TikTok already carries outsized weight. Beauty is the platform’s most searched category, generating more than a billion beauty-related searches monthly, according to the announcement. It also arrives roughly a year after Sephora launched “My Sephora Storefront,” a creator affiliate platform built with Motom that lets influencers build shoppable pages and earn year-round commissions, extending programs like Sephora Squad and the Artist List. That existing creator infrastructure gives Sephora a head start over brands entering the platform cold, since TikTok Shop’s algorithm favors storefronts with established sales history and creator activity.

The pilot also comes as retailers weigh how prominently to feature TikTok Shop in their commerce strategy. The platform’s top 1% of sellers account for 60% of total sales, while the bottom half take just 0.1%, and brands new to the channel commonly face a cold-start period before creators and algorithmic traffic materialize.

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