Rhode Has Arrived at Sephora Europe — I Went to Malmö for Launch Day
Rhode has officially arrived at Sephora Europe. I went to Malmö for launch day to see the products in person, check Swedish prices, swatch the collection and find out how the online hype translates into a real Sephora experience.
Nayara Karlsson
9/30/20267 min read
After years of seeing Rhode through a screen, September 30 marked something many beauty lovers across Europe had been waiting for: we could finally walk into Sephora and find the brand on the shelves.
And I wanted to see it for myself.
I travelled to Malmö for Rhode's first day at Sephora Sweden to experience the launch in person, see the products beyond my screen, swatch the shades and finally find out how all that online hype translates into a real-life shopping experience.
There was a professional reason for the trip too. As a beauty and lifestyle creator, I want to follow what's happening in the Scandinavian beauty space more closely — and few recent launches have arrived in Europe with this much anticipation already behind them.
After spending time at Sephora, trying the products and watching the launch unfold both in-store and online, I have some first impressions.
Rhode is finally in Europe
On September 30, 2026, Rhode officially expanded into 19 new European markets through Sephora.
Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal are among them.
It's a significant move for a brand that, until recently, many European consumers experienced mainly through TikTok, Instagram and beauty creators in other markets.
And that's partly what makes this launch so interesting.
Rhode was already recognisable here before it had a major physical retail presence.
We already knew the Peptide Lip Treatment. We'd seen Pocket Blush in countless GRWMs. We recognised the grey packaging, the glazed aesthetic and those minimal campaigns.
The desire came first.
The store came later.
Why I went to Malmö on launch day
I live a few hours away from my nearest Sephora, so following a beauty launch in person requires slightly more planning than simply showing up at the store in the morning.
Still, this was one I wanted to document.
There's a huge difference between knowing a product through content and finally being able to hold it, feel the texture and compare shades on your own skin.
Especially with makeup.
A blush that looks perfect under TikTok lighting can have a completely different undertone in real life. An ultra-glossy lip product might feel comfortable — or not. A bronzer can look beautiful on one skin tone and almost disappear on another.
So more than simply wanting to "see Rhode", I wanted to take some of those products out of my feed and put them into the real world.
What was it like seeing Rhode at Sephora Malmö?
My first impression was actually familiarity.
Which is interesting, because I'd never seen the full collection in person before, yet none of it felt entirely new.
That's probably one of Rhode's biggest branding achievements: you recognise it immediately.
The packaging is minimal, the shapes are simple and there's a very clear visual language connecting the skincare and makeup.
But standing in front of the display also changes the way you look at the products.
On Instagram, everything belongs to the same perfectly curated Rhode universe. In-store, you naturally start asking different questions.
Which shade actually works for me? How does this feel on the skin? Is the size what I expected? Would I still want this if I hadn't already seen it dozens of times online?
Those questions are much more interesting to me than simply knowing which product is currently going viral.
And yes, there was a rush
The demand was obvious from day one.
One of the launch items I had hoped to find was the Baby Bubble Bag in Pretzel, the small pink padded beauty bag released as a limited edition for Rhode's Sephora launch across Europe and the UK.
It wasn't available at the Malmö store I visited, so I tried Sephora online instead.
The online stock was gone in around four minutes.
It was one of those little moments that perfectly captured how much anticipation had built around the launch: people were waiting.
It was also a useful reminder that limited editions and urgency are very much part of the beauty launch machine. Missing one product doesn't mean we immediately need to find something else to put in our basket.
The bag can wait.
Luckily, the products themselves were right in front of me.
Finally getting to try the products
This was the part that really made the trip worthwhile.
Rhode is an extremely photogenic brand, but I was much more interested in seeing how the products felt away from campaign imagery.
Pocket Blush, for example, is exactly the kind of product that benefits from being available in-store. Colour, pigmentation and undertone matter, and comparing the shades side by side is much easier than trying to make a decision based on videos filmed under completely different lighting.
The same goes for Pocket Bronze.
The lip products are probably the easiest entry point into the Rhode universe. Peptide Lip Tint and Peptide Lip Treatment are two of the brand's most recognisable products, and we can finally see and shop them directly here in Sweden.
I also had a chance to look more closely at the skincare, which can sometimes get less attention online when there's a more visually exciting blush or lip launch competing for our attention.
And skincare is exactly where I don't want to rush into conclusions.
Texture can give you a great first impression.
Results need time.
How much does Rhode cost in Sweden?
The Sephora launch also answered one of the biggest questions for anyone who had been waiting for Rhode to arrive here: how much would the products actually cost in Sweden?
Some of the main prices at launch are:
Peptide Lip Tint — 329 SEK
Peptide Lip Treatment — 329 SEK
Peptide Lip Shape — 399 SEK
Pocket Blush — 419 SEK
Pocket Bronze — 419 SEK
Highlight Milk — 459 SEK
For skincare:
Pineapple Refresh — 479 SEK
Glazing Mist — 479 SEK
Glazing Milk — 509 SEK
Peptide Glazing Fluid — 509 SEK
Barrier Restore Cream — 509 SEK
Barrier Butter — 569 SEK
Caffeine Reset — 609 SEK
There are also minis and sets if you'd rather try the routine before committing to the full sizes.
Looking at those prices, Rhode isn't exactly entering Sweden as an impulse-buy beauty brand — particularly if you're thinking about building a full skincare routine.
A lip product at 329 SEK can still feel like an easy first introduction to the brand. But once you start putting together a skincare routine with individual products around the 500–600 SEK mark, the total changes pretty quickly.
Which makes being able to test everything in person even more useful.
So, what do I think about the prices?
I think this deserves a little more nuance than simply calling Rhode "expensive" or "affordable".
The brand arrives at Sephora with an aspirational price point while still sitting below much of the traditional luxury beauty space you'll find elsewhere in the store.
At the same time, there's clearly a premium attached to the brand itself.
You're not only buying a formula. Rhode has created an incredibly desirable world around its products, and that experience is inevitably part of what you're paying for.
For me, the more interesting question is:
Which products deliver enough to justify the price once we take the hype out of the equation?
That's something I only want to answer after actually using them.
The in-store launch was different from what I expected
Before travelling to Malmö, I was curious to see whether there would be a major activation around Rhode's European debut.
At the Sephora store I visited, there wasn't a huge event or elaborate launch experience. The focus was much more straightforward: the products and Rhode's new presence inside the store.
And that created an interesting contrast.
Online, the launch felt huge — countdowns, content, anticipation, limited editions and products moving quickly.
In person, it was much simpler.
You walked into Sephora and Rhode was finally there.
That may sound less spectacular, but it also gave me a chance to experience the brand in the way people in Sweden will encounter it from now on: not as something distant that exists mainly online, but as another beauty brand we can actually swatch, compare and decide whether we want to take home.
From an Instagram brand to the Sephora shelf
This is probably the part of the launch I find most interesting professionally.
Rhode launched in 2022 and built a huge amount of recognition through a visual language made for the internet.
The products are instantly identifiable. The campaigns create shareable imagery. New launches become conversations. The products fit naturally into GRWMs and everyday beauty content.
Even accessories like the Lip Case have managed to become content in their own right.
In 2025, e.l.f. Beauty announced its acquisition of Rhode in a deal valued at up to $1 billion.
Now, just over four years after launching, the brand that many of us first discovered through our screens has a physical presence across hundreds of Sephora stores in Europe.
It's a fascinating example of how community, visual identity, product and social media can build demand long before physical expansion happens.
And getting to watch that transition in person was probably the most interesting part of my day in Malmö.
So, is Rhode worth the hype?
That answer is for the next chapter.
I have first impressions. Some products interested me more than others. And after finally being able to swatch everything in person, my wishlist definitely isn't exactly the same as it was before I walked into Sephora.
But I don't want to turn a few hours in a store into a review.
Especially when skincare is involved.
Now I want to use the products in everyday life, wear the makeup under different lighting, pay attention to longevity, texture and finish, and see which ones I still reach for once the excitement of launch day has worn off.
Because that's the difference between a great launch and a great product.
Rhode has already proved it knows how to create the first.
Now I want to find out which products deliver the second.
Rhode at Sephora Sweden: the quick details
Launch date: September 30, 2026
Where: Sephora online and participating stores
Peptide Lip Tint: 329 SEK
Peptide Lip Treatment: 329 SEK
Pocket Blush: 419 SEK
Pocket Bronze: 419 SEK
Highlight Milk: 459 SEK
Glazing Milk: 509 SEK
Barrier Restore Cream: 509 SEK
Barrier Butter: 569 SEK
[SHOP RHODE AT SEPHORA SWEDEN →]
Prices and availability checked on September 30, 2026 and may change.
Escreva aqui o conteúdo do post
