Sephora Beauty Insider is the name of Sephora’s rewards program. Upon signing (you can do this at the store or online), you receive your own Sephora Beauty Insider card, which is just a card and not a credit card.

Each time you make purchases at Sephora, you just show the sales person your card so you can receive 1 point per dollar spent. Here are the reasons why I love this program.

Joining Beauty Insider is free and doesn’t involve a credit card of any sort. You can use 100 points to redeem fun samples. These samples are always displayed in a plastic case right by the register. They typically have 3 samples displayed at any given time, and those samples are changed quite frequently. If you happen to spend $350 or more in one year, they’ll upgrade you to V.I.B. status (Very Important Beauty Insider). When you’re a VIB, you get invited to shop at a discount (they recently had a weeklong 15% discount for all VIBs). VIBs also get invited to special store events. I’ve never actually been able to make it to one, but I hope to soon, because I think they give out special bags and goodies there. If you earn 500 points, you can redeem those points for their big, big gift, which is also displayed by the register. I currently have way over 500 points, but I never redeem them for anything. Why? Because I’m holding out. They switch out their 500 points reward less frequently, but I’m waiting for something that really makes my eyes light up (they once had a huge Sephora makeup palette with like 15 eye shadows and more!). And my favorite reason for joining Beauty Insider? Regardless of status, every Beauty Insider receives a free birthday gift from Sephora each year.

Last year’s birthday gift was a Sephora-branded lip gloss trio. This year’s birthday gift is AWESOME. It’s a very generous bottle of Philosophy’s Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath in Vanilla Birthday Cake. Not only is the bottle large, but it’s even custom designed to wish you a happy birthday!

Here’s a pic my sister took upon receiving her free birthday gift. She didn’t even know about this Beauty Insider benefit, so when she found this in her Sephora bag the other day, she was SO excited!