



In between photos of friends you haven’t seen since high school and new photos of nieces and nephews, you may have seen a post claiming that all Ulta Beauty stores are closing their doors after getting bought out by none other than Sephora. But is it true? Turns out, there’s nothing for Ulta fans to be worried about. Here’s what happened.

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According to Snopes, once readers clicked the Facebook link, whether the original post or a secondary source, they were taken to a fake page that had been mocked up to look like a People article, touting the headline “Sephora Just Announced They Are Buying Out Ulta—Here’s How YOU Can Take Advantage” (you can view a copy of the page here). The article claims that Sephora’s supposed buyout would be beneficial for beauty shoppers and wrongly explains the announcement of Sephora’s acquisition, adding that “the mega-retailer will double in size and has already begun the liquidation process of Ulta products.” More so, the article includes specific details on the deal, too: “To date, 18 of the 950 Ulta stores have already closed. The remaining stores will close by the end of the year.”





Image: Snopes

As for the supposed benefits this would bring to shoppers (and the most unbelievable part of the story) the article claims that all Ulta stores will be holding final blowout sales at each location, as well as offering free samples of their skin care products—specifically, a secret product that has, up until now, been reserved only for celebrities and other VIP clientele. “Until recently, Ulta Beauty has always kept an amazing wrinkle secret called Vlamorous Cream reserved for their high paying celebrity clients. They reported that in order to clear the products off the shelves, they needed to give out free samples for everyone to try. As a result, a few weeks ago they shared the simple solution previously only shared with celeb clients to everyone!”

Below the cream’s description is a before-and-after photo that’s so dramatic, you would be foolish not to buy the cream—if it actually existed. The sales page was complete with fake tester reviews, offer information, the whole nine yards. But each link led to another scam, which revealed that the whole Ulta-Sephora story was a hoax, and the story was never actually published by People.

In reality, Ulta is stocking more brands than ever, welcoming names like MAC, Bumble and bumble and NARS just this year. The bottom line: If you see this link on your Facebook feeds, just keep scrolling.