I know it may not seem with it with the way the weather has been acting (at least here in the Mid-South), but Spring is just around the corner! If you're anything like me, that means you're starting to think about transitioning your daily makeup routine/looks to brighter, lighter, more pastel colors.
Of course, I am a single working mother. I can't just go to Sephora or even Ulta & buy up the various collections of new spring/summer makeup. And that's a little bit of a bummer, cause we all love getting/having/using new products right? But it IS possible to find great deals on beauty products, everything from drugstore to high-end. I thought I'd share with you guys where I find my deals and steals.
First, you have the (for lack of a better word) discount stores:
I've already been pretty vocal on here about my love of T J Maxx. Hopefully y'all saw about my awesome Napoleon Perdis find. That store is one of my favorite places. You have to a) have a little bit of time, b) have a good bit of patience, and c) have the ability to decide quickly if you want something or understand that if you leave it you may never see it again. If you can handle all those things though, you can find some AMAZING steals. I have found everything from Covergirl to Clinique to Sephora brand to Kat Von D and just about anything else you can imagine. They have everything. Hair products, skin care, beauty tools, cosmetics, travel bags, I could go on & on. And that's just in the beauty department! A few things to know about T J Maxx. First, they get stock in up to three times a week, so there is always something new to be found. Second, this isn't just reject stuff. I know many people hear the name or those of their sister stores (Marshalls and Home Goods) or "discount store" and immediately imagine that this is the place irregular, damaged, or six seasons old products go to languish and die. Au contraire, mon frère! While you might find some things that fit those descriptions, they are hardly in the majority. Say for example, that Ralph Lauren made 15,000 pink Polo shirts with the intention of selling them in Macy's stores. Now imagine that Macy's wouldn't or couldn't take that many (for whatever reason); they only wanted 10,000. Those extra 5,000 shirts would likely then be sold to T J Maxx at a discounted price. So T J Maxx keeps costs down, and you find yourself a lovely new shirt at a fraction of what you would at a major department store. Everybody wins! Here's just a few of the deals I've found at T J Maxx in 2015:
Now here's an example of an older product I recently found. I'm pretty sure the Project Runway L'Oreal LE collection came out in 2012. I liked a lot of the products, but only ever got the nail polishes and one eyeshadow product. This blush is super nice, just a soft dusty peach that gives me a natural no-makeup-makeup look. I think T J Maxx is even being conservative on their "compare at" price. I know this blush is still around the $8 mark on ebay, and $10 on Amazon, so I am totally cool with this $3 price tag.
AND here's the flip side! These Too Faced singles of their Exotic Color eye shadows are still available on toofaced.com, so definitely not a very "old" product. Now when I purchased these, toofaced.com had them listed as $16.50 marked down from $18. Today, they are only $6 just like what I paid for them. But I am still super happy with my T J Maxx find since even if I had gotten them that cheap from TooFaced, I still would have had to pay shipping so it would have been a bit more. And really, if the original price was $18 I got all seven of these, plus one more different color I found a different day at a different T J Maxx for a whopping $48, when full priced they would have been $144. STEAL.So far I'm really liking most of them. Let me know in the comments below if you'd like swatches or a full on review of these shadows.
So yeah, T J Maxx has awesome deals on beauty products, and those things will even go on sale for less than that from time to time.
Admittedly, things can be hit or miss, I have absolutely gotten things on clearance at T J Maxx that were absolute rubbish, or were broken, or were the wrong color for me. But you know what? It is a LOT less painful to part with (via trash or destash) something that cost me $5 than if it was $25!
Other similar stores where you can find deals like this would be Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory, Big Lots (all I've found at my local BL is drugstore brands, and usually in older packaging, but they're almost never more than $3.50 and I've found things I have REALLY liked), and sometimes Kohls will have good deals. I'd love to know if there are other stores like this that I maybe don't know about!
Then, you have flash sale sites:
I myself am partial to Hautelook. They have 2-3 beauty sales a day that last for (I think) 3-4 days. When they run out of inventory, or time runs out (whichever comes first), that's it. In the past they have hosted just about any brand you can think of: Pixi, The Balm, LORAC, Illamasqua, Urban Decay...they will even be having at Tarte sale this Friday! One thing I really like about Hautelook, is that if you go to their beauty sales page and scroll ALL the way to the bottom, you can see what sales will be coming up in the next three days. That way you can mark your calendar so you know to check what kind of deals there are if there's a brand you know you like coming up. I got this Lorac Skinny Purples palette last fall, for (I think) $8-10!
Of course, Hautelook isn't the only flash sale game in town. Although the majority of its sales revolve around kids, Zulily also has things just for moms/grown-ups. If you don't want to slog through ALL of their current sales (there's always a ton) they have a drop down menu to see sales by category and one of those categories is Health and Beauty. Zulily is more hit and miss though. They don't make a point to do beauty sales every day like Hautelook does, and when they do there are a few brands that pop up very often. But on occasion some great stuff is to be found there. They did a big Presidents' Day sale last month that had items from BareMinerals, Estee Lauder and Lancome. My favorite thing about Zulily is that they often have sales on small boutique brands, that I might not learn about otherwise.
Some other sites that occasionally have beauty sales include: RueLaLa (I've seen Crown Brush, Laura Mercier, and Clarins on there); Beyond The Rack is another one that it's more rare for beauty, and they definitely have more tools and skin care than cosmetics, but there are good deals to be found; and Gilt that currently has items from Laura Mercier, Deborah Lippman, Cargo, Juice Beauty and more!
Watch for sales at the drugstore, Sephora, Ulta, and Brand Websites:
All these stores have sales, and often drugstores will have store coupons as well, that can usually be combines with manufacturer's coupons if you have them. Just one example: I have been lusting after the new Spring15 Maybelline Color Tattoos since they came out, but even at drugstore prices couldn't really justify getting them. WELL! This month at Walgreens, Maybelline is BOGO 1/2 off, PLUS I had a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off any Maybelline purchase, PLUS if you spend $15 on Maybelline products you get a 3k point reward. At $6.99 each originally, with my coupon and the BOGO sale I was able to get three of them for $16.45 and get 3k points which is a $3 reward on my card to use later.
One resource that I look to (almost daily) is actually another blog, NouveauCheap. She posts reviews and first impressions of drugstore and mid-level products, does swatches, looks for dupes, and best of all, keeps her readers in the loop when it comes to amazing sales.You should all go check her out!
And if you absolutely must pay full price - find a way to use it to your advantage:
I had been wanting the Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black fragrance for QUITE some time. I even put it on my Christmas list, but didn't receive it. When I could take it no longer I forced myself to wait a little more until Sephora did their twice yearly 3x points on fragrance promotion. Because you KNOW if I'm going to spend full price I'd better get something out of it haha. So I got my triple points, I got my three free samples they include in every online order, then I used Retail Me Not to find a code that would get me another GWP that I would like. Happy happy!
So you see! It can be done. You can shop for beauty on a budget; it doesn't have to break the bank. Here's a little triptych that includes my #fotd today using ONLY products I've gotten at discount stores or on sale sites, or with coupons!
Happy Spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment