Luxury cosmetics are hugely important to fashionistas. If you can’t afford the Dior handbags, there’s always the eye shadow pallet or lip-gloss. Those little gems will set you back a fraction of what the clothes will, but still satisfies the impulse to indulge a little.

Though those relatively cheaper indulgences may be practical moves for some, splurge shopping at luxury cosmetics counters and at stores like Sephora are still an extravagance for most women. Not only are they still far more expensive than their drug store-counterparts, but also it’s also simply not practical to waste time trekking into the city to hunt down Stila or Nars products.

But that last argument might not be the case for long. In what seems to be the latest installment an especially lively trend of bringing high-end labels and fashion sense down to a mass produced, and more accessible level, Sephora will be teaming up with J.C. Penney, the suburban emporium of bed linens and ultra-uncool back-to-school basics.

An article from one of last week’s additions of Women’s Wear Daily reported that,

“The LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Sephora and J.C. Penney announced Tuesday that they are forming a joint initiative that will entail installing Sephora-branded store-in-store departments in Penney’s units, taking Penney’s back into beauty after a three-year absence.”

The Sephora locations in Penney’s will be smaller operations than actual Sephora stores, but will offer many of the most popular brands that, up until now, were not available to those not living in major urban markets, where luxury stores like Sephora are thriving.

The article quoted one department store executive as describing the move as an “up-market for Penney’s, down-market for Sephora and substantially down-market for the quality of the brands.”

This is an interesting point that I also thought of when reading the article. I’m not sure about what other former mallrats think, but I have a die-hard association of J.C. Penney’s as the last resort for cool clothes, let alone a good selection cool make up.

As I’ve noted in blogs past, I’m all for making the formerly inaccessible available to all, but this just seems like a poor match.