If you’re interested in growing your skincare collection to try out new products or you’re just looking for a few ways to save money, check out this blogpost / continue reading to see some of my tips with purchasing. Listed below are some of the ways to afford beauty - not listed in any particular order.

1-Compilation Kits / Multi-Product Beauty Kits

One thing Sephora has gotten my attention with is their compilation kits. Also known as The Sephora Favorites. These kits are usually themed in a particular area such as “clean beauty, beauty sleep and etc”. What I love is that these kits are usually priced at a reasonable price point, but have a great value. These kits allow you to try multiple brands and products. They often come with freebie items. 

Sephora Favorites are described as exclusive, limited edition sets of top selling products and latest obsessions. Ulta has recently started with these complication kits and they’re great and even more affordable than Sephora. 

Another type of kit to look out for are travel/introductory kits. These kits usually contain mini size products, which is a great way to be introduced to a new brand. When I’m interested in trying out a new brand, I tend to purchase these types of kits first as the price tag is a lot lower. Sometimes I’ll purchase one of these kits if I already like the products as a easy way to have travel sizes of products that I love and would like to travel with.

2 -Sales  

I like purchasing many of my pricer skincare products when there’s a sale. One of my favorite places to shop is Sephora. Over the years I began to take notice when sales would occur at Sephora. These sales usually occur sometime in the early spring (March-April) and at then end fall (November). Ulta seems to have pretty good sales every couple of months.

I’ve also noticed that one of the best time to purchase beauty products is during the weekend of Black Friday to Cyber Monday and later in the Holiday season. This past season I was able to take advantage of some great sales. I published a blog post that highlighted many of the beauty and fashion deals.

3- Point Perks /Redeemable offers 

Sephora and Ulta are great places to shop and earn points. Sephora just revamped their Beauty Rewards for members. I’ve been a VIB Rouge at Sephora for the past 3 or 4 years. I recently accumulated enough points at Sephora (2500 points) to receive a $100 gift reward to spend back at Sephora. Over the years I’ve redeemed so many great point perks at Sephora from brands like Tatcha, Drunk Elephant, Sunday Riley, Kate Somerville and more.

As for Ulta, I just recently started shopping there. At the current time I have 100 points at Ulta, which equates to $3.00 reward bucks that can be used on purchases. Ulta is also known to send out multiple offers and points. For example from 2/17/19-2/24/19 Ulta is giving away 350 Bonus Points with the purchase of $50 or more. That is $11 off of your next purchase.

Example: Sephora Beauty Insider Benefits

Both Sephora and Ulta are known for having great beauty offer deals with a purchase. Many sites will offer a free deluxe size or sample size product after spending a certain amount. On most of these sites the codes are actually listed some where on the site and does not require you searching else where.

4- Subscription Boxes 

I’ve tried so many subscription boxes throughout the years. From Sephora Play, Allure Beauty Box, Ipsy bag and Birchbox. These boxes are great if you’re looking to try out new products every month and need to stick to a budget. The majority of theses boxes range from $10 - $15 per month, offer several deluxe size samples and options to save on future purchases.

If you would like to see my thoughts or comparisons between the boxes, please let me know. I would be happy to do a quick post!

5-Discount Stores

I know many of you know about the great finds that you can discover at discount stores like TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Nordstrom Rack and many others. These stores are great to find discounted sets and discounted high end products. A major tip for these stores is trying to go first thing in the morning when the stores are empty and the product are still neatly arranged.

6- email sign up 

Many sites offer special first time discounts for signing up to their site and email list. These discounts usually range anywhere from 10%-15%. Being on these mailing lists also gives you the first access to many insider deals. I know these emails can be some what of a nuisance, which is why I actually have one email address that I’ve dedicated to such emails.

Along with signing up for email, many sites are now offering trial size or travel size products to try out. The majority of theses sites only require you to pay a small fee for the shipping. If you’re interested in knowing which sites offer this, please let me know. I can compile a quick blogpost with all of the information.

If you’re interested in checking out some of my promo codes, it can be found under the promo codes tab at the top right side of the page.

7- Beauty Swaps

Another way to save money and try out products are beauty swaps. On platforms like instagram and facebook its easier to network with people in the same niche as yourself. This route is a great way to swap and try out gently used products that cant’t be returned.

I hope some of my tips have helped. Please keep in mind that these are the trick that I use to afford beauty products.

If you have any tips that you would like to share, please comment below!