Sephora launches Pinterest inspired Social Shopping Platform called ‘Beauty Board’

Sephora has launched a new online beauty shopping platform called ‘Beauty Board‘ which captures a Pinterest experience combined with Instagram-like pictures to create a new social shopping experience.

On the site users can share their own beauty looks with a photo, offer personal tips and tricks and can tag specific products used to create the look.  Each noted beauty product can be viewed and purchased online at Sephora.com, Sephora’s mobile site and via its iPhone, and Android apps. Pictures can also be shared on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+.

Users can filter content areas based upon interest such as: Photos by Sephora (featuring looks by the staff at different Sephora stores), Makeup, Eyes, Lips, Nails, Skincare, Fragrance, Hairstyles and Hauls (which sounds funny but shows the purchases people make at Sephora). Special beauty influencers on the site providing content include Popsugar.com, Beautyblitz.com, Temptalia.com, Beautyhigh.com and Burdie.com.  Users can also see what is popular among users in real-time and can check out the newest looks.

Social shopping is a big buzzword these days — and a bit of a holy grail — as online retailers try to get consumers to move beyond catalog-style “shop and click” experiences to something more interactive and communal.

The Beauty Board is a direct response to the Social Shopping trend,  a form of e-commerce where friends get involved online in the shopping experience that mimics the offline activity and real world experience of friends gathering together to shop in person at a store or mall. It also captures Instagram and Pinterest experiences where users are already posting their own beauty looks, inspirations and tips.

My favorite feature of the site is the ability to “Love” a photo.  Loving a photo means to save it for later and to look at it again for inspiration.

The Beauty Board is free for all users and is a product of the French company Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH)which acquired Sephora in 1997.