Set an alarm for 6am, refresh a booking page, and hope for the best, all for a seat at a Paris bistro run by Hailey Bieber's skincare brand. That's the challenge for fans this week: a five-day Rhode Café pop-up tied to the Sephora Europe launch.
There is a catch: the café isn't where you collect the skincare sample. Diners leave with a Rhode metro card, and the sample appears only after that card reaches a Sephora store and a purchase is made. The pop-up turns a café booking into a route towards the Sephora till.
What To Expect at Rhode Café Paris
The café sits at Le Bonaparte, 42 Rue Bonaparte, in Paris' 6th arrondissement, and is open from Wednesday, 30 September, to Sunday, 4 October. Rhode describes it as a classic French bistro experience, and the chalkboard menu, hand-lettered in white script and finished with a Sephora logo, plays the part beautifully.
Salty pretzels, lemon madeleines, pain au chocolat, raspberry-jelly croissants or pocket profiteroles are on offer for anyone feeling indulgent. To drink, there is a Café Rhode latte with vanilla and cinnamon or a shaken espresso over ice.
No Rhode products are sold on site, but diners can leave with custom Rhode postcards and a Rhode Metro card.
The pastries are the treat, but the card is the point. It is designed to turn a café booking into a Sephora purchase. Take it to a participating Sephora store and it earns a skincare sample with any Rhode purchase made by 5 October, while stocks last.
Why a Paris Pop-up Café Makes Strategic Sense
The café is the shop window, and Sephora is the till. From 30 September, Rhode is available through Sephora online and in more than 500 stores across 19 new European markets, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.
Until now, European customers could only buy the brand through rhodeskin.com, so the rollout gives Rhode its first physical retail presence across continental Europe.
The brand has been warming up the crowd for a while. It staged a beach club in Mallorca last year and took its summer station tour to Amalfi and Copenhagen this year, after launching with Sephora in the US, Canada and the UK in 2025.
Paris is the first activation to connect that experiential approach directly to Sephora's European retail network.
The wider Sephora launch includes more than the café. Sephora's Champs-Élysées flagship has received an oversized Rhode takeover, while Pocket Bronze and Highlight Milk join the core range in stores. Sephora locations in Europe and the UK also have early access to the Pretzel Peptide Lip Tint, which is joining Rhode's permanent range.
The Guest List Everyone Wants On
Getting in is the hard part. The pop-up runs for five days in one city, with bookings released at set times each morning. The pop-up has already drawn beauty influencers, fashion editors, and celebrities. Among those spotted are Hailey Bieber herself, Uche Natori, Amalie Bladt, Carla Ginola, Chloe Lecareux, Flora Coquerel and Mara Lafontan.
FOMO is real for many who can't get a booking, and Rhode's social media posts offer the closest look at the experience. For those who do secure a booking, they set expectations: the café is a short-lived Paris moment, and the skincare sample comes later, with a qualifying Sephora purchase.
Rhode has named Sephora Paris Rivoli, Opéra and Forum des Halles as participating stores, so anyone planning a visit should have a shopping trip lined up as well as a table.
