If you had six minutes in Sephora what would you get?
In an exclusive story with PEOPLE a Dallas hubby gave his wife the ultimate suprise gift! If you are a Sephora girlie then you totally get how epic this is.
According to PEOPLE in the middle of a busy Sephora, a Dallas husband raised his voice over the buzz of shoppers and made an announcement that would soon capture hearts across TikTok.
“Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen,” Sir J. Starks announces in the now-viral video, “me and this beautiful woman are celebrating six years of marriage today. She has six minutes starting now to get whatever she wants from the store.”
@rissajay.fitdiary Literally the BEST gift ever!! Thank you babe!! (@Dallas Wedding DJ) & The ladies at Sephora held me dooowwwnn ???? #fyp #anniversary #sephora ♬ original sound – heyrissajay
Maurissa Starks, wide-eyed and stunned, barely has time to process what’s happening before the countdown begins.
“When he started screaming, my heart just kind of started racing,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’m like, what the heck is he doing?”
Just minutes earlier, the couple had pulled into the Dallas Galleria for what Maurissa thought would be a quick stop.
“He’s done stuff to surprise me before, but I’m always surprised because it’s something different,” she says.
Even as they walked inside, Maurissa couldn’t quite figure out what was happening.
“He was like, ‘We’ve got 15 minutes,’ and I’m thinking, are we picking something up?” she recalls. “Then we turned into Sephora, and I really just couldn’t put it together.”
It wasn’t until Sir J. made his announcement that Maurissa realized what was going on, and even then, her mind went blank. “When he said six minutes, I think my brain just glitched,” she laughs.
“There’s no way I can do anything in Sephora in six minutes, but I’m just excited. This is super cool.”
The moment became even more surreal when the Sephora staff leapt into action, cheering her on and offering help at every turn.
“I’ve never experienced just women coming together to help another woman out in this kind of way,” Maurissa says. “It was just so sweet to see and just experience.”
After her spree, Maurissa made sure to hug the staff who had cheered her on.
“I just wish that all women experienced more of that,” she says. “We really are a girl’s girl.”
Sir J. says the idea was inspired by a TikTok he’d seen, but the heart behind it was entirely personal.
“Knowing that our six-year anniversary was coming up and she loves Sephora, I was like, six minutes is better than five,” he tells PEOPLE.
The timing was perfect, with Sephora right along their route to dinner.
“I’m super duper sporadic too, so it was perfect to just go ahead and do that,” he says.
As Maurissa dashed through the aisles, Sir J. says he got as much joy from watching her as she did from grabbing products.
“It was funny because I get a kick out of watching her response to stuff,” he says. “It was equally cool to enjoy the moment for our anniversary just as much as it was fun to watch everybody else respond to her.”
Other shoppers joined in, shouting out suggestions and hyping her up as the staff rallied around her.
“The support staff just converged like the Avengers,” Sir J. says. “It was wild, and then I was yelling out the time every 60 seconds just to mess with her.”
The final total at the register was $425, but Sir J. had mentally prepared for more.
“I’ll just say the amount of money I was prepared to spend was way more than what she actually spent,” he says.
In the rush of the moment, Maurissa says she didn’t even remember everything she wanted.
“I wish I’d grabbed another fragrance,” she says. “I didn’t even think about the fragrances until one of the Sephora employees called it out.”
Even then, she stayed mindful of the price.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have picked that much because I know how expensive fragrances are,” Maurissa says. “I think naturally, I was just being considerate anyway.”
Some viewers suggested Sir J. could’ve just given her a gift card, but Maurissa insists it wouldn’t have been the same.
“It was more fun this way,” she says. “I think it was just perfect for us.”
For Sir J., the stunt wasn’t about going viral. It was about creating something meaningful, grounded in how well he knows his wife.
“I want to make sure that for our anniversary, she knows whatever we’re doing was thought through, it was intentional,” he says. “Because that’s her love language — quality time.”
Maurissa describes her husband as a “gift giver,” and says he’s always been thoughtful when it comes to showing love.
“He likes gifts, and words of affirmation are his second one,” she says. “But he really appreciates thoughtful and creative gifts, just because he’s a thoughtful and creative person.”
Their love story goes back nearly a decade, beginning when Maurissa was a freshman in college and Sir J. was two years older.
“He definitely big bro’d me,” she says, laughing.
They reconnected years later after she launched a Christian clothing line and he offered to help.
“Over time, we developed just a really cool friendship,” Maurissa says. “Then I moved back home to California, and we still kept in contact for several months.”
Eight months after she initially turned him down, he sent her flowers for her CPA exam, a gesture she never forgot.
“He still remembered my CPA exam schedule like eight months later,” she says. “I thought that was super sweet.”
She called to say thank you, and soon after, they went on their first official date.
“We started dating in May 2018, got engaged in October 2018, and got married in May 2019,” Maurissa says.
Looking back, neither has regrets about how the day unfolded.
“As much as I want to be like, I wish I just got a few more things, I don’t think I would,” Maurissa says. “I don’t want to burn his pockets.”
Sir J. agrees, but says he might change one small detail.
“Maybe just tipping the store off to what I was doing,” he says, laughing. “Because I just walked in the store and started yelling.”
As for how they keep the spark alive in marriage, the Starks say it comes down to being intentional and putting faith first.
“Don’t be afraid to do the things that may make you uncomfortable if it’s in the interest of your partner,” Maurissa says. “Just be a little bit more considerate of your spouse and really be in tune with what they need in that season.”
Sir J. adds that every couple should carve their own path.
“Something like the Sephora spree is only a cool experience because of what I know of Rissa, not because it was a trend on TikTok,” he says. “Take the responsibility of knowing your partner first before assuming someone else’s position on marriage.
@rissajay.fitdiary Replying to @majorityrules_ ♬ original sound – heyrissajay
Here is what she got
@rissajay.fitdiary Replying to @tess ♬ original sound – heyrissajay
