The price of beauty doesn’t have to be so high. This post will teach you how to save money on beauty products and how to make the most of your shopping spree.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links (at no extra cost to you). I only promote products I've tried and love. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
If you love makeup, trips to the spa, and quality hair products, this guide will help you make the most of the next good sale. Here are a few easy ways to save money on products that everyone should know.
1. Take Advantage of Student Discounts
Students may want to consider the discounts available to them when shopping for products. Student Beans and UniDays are great places to start. 100% Pure also offers discounts to students to help them afford high quality ingredients. You can’t always find discounts like this on Amazon and usually need to go to the brand site to look for student discounts. These are usually listed at the bottom of the site near the contact information and the about page.
2. Virtual Coupon Clipping
Coupon clipping is smart, and virtual coupon clipping is even more convenient. I have a separate email I use to sign up for subscriptions. When I see a coupon delivered to my email, I flag it so I can easily search for it when I need to shop.
If you want to collect discount codes and coupons, for clean beauty products, you can sign up for my email list to receive discount codes that will help you save money on products.
This has saved me so much time and money. You can keep the coupons in a separate folder, or just search for the brand in your email the next time you shop to check to see if you have any coupons lying around in your email. More often than not, you probably will.
3. Use Makeup Scraper
A makeup scraper is an amazing for reaching the product at the bottom of your bottle without making a mess or breaking a nail (those bottles are strong). You can get the most out of your products by using a spatty.
4. Sign up for Auto-Delivery (Staple Products Only)
Most companies will provide a discount to consumers who sign up for auto-delivery. Auto-delivery allows a company to ship and authorize a payment for beauty products based on a timeline set by a consumer.
If you know you always need to order a product every three months, you can get a discount by allowing a brand to automatically ship the product to you. You can also set the timeline to 3 or 6 months depending on how often you need the product to be delivered.
Tip: If you don't use products consistently or don't use refills, you may spend more from auto delivery than you would save. I only recommend this for staple products that you know you'll use quickly.
5. Earn Cash for Recycling Empty Bottles
Some brands let customers earn rewards for turning in empty bottles. Bare Minerals is a great example of a brand that lets you earn store credit for recycling old containers. Credo Beauty also offers Credo Rewards points for recycling with Terracycle.
If you can't recycle your beauty product empties by turning them into a local store there are still plenty of options such as TerraCycle available. Every brand is different, so you will need to see if the brand you love is partnered with a recycling program.
{Related Post: The Best Beauty Recycling Programs to Try}
6. Sign Up for Rewards Programs
Signing up for loyalty or rewards programs is the easiest way to save money if you are loyal to a brand. If you are going to buy products, you may as well earn points and discounts for shopping.
The trade off here is that you need to provide personal information to the company including your email. Companies may use your information to track consumer behavior trends. Make sure you read the fine print if you don’t want your information to be used for anything other than earning rewards.
7. Buy FSA-Eligible Products When Possible
Although you’d be hard pressed to find lipstick on a list of FSA eligible items, you can buy some beauty products with your FSA. Some moisturizers, sunscreen, and SPF tinted lip balms are covered.
If you have an FSA, this is ideal because you don’t need to pay taxes on that money, and you can use money specifically set aside for health on items that are for both healthcare and beauty.
8. Subscribe to Monthly Beauty Boxes
Signing up for beauty subscription boxes can save you money...if you actually use what’s in the box. Often, you can pay a small subscription fee to try products at a reduced price.
The best beauty subscription box programs will tell you what’s in the box you’re buying. If it’s a mystery box, make sure to research the brand to ensure you will receive products you’ll want to use. One of my favorite brands offers a clean beauty mystery box to try called the 100% Pure Mystery Box.
9. Buy 2-in 1 products
Buying products that serve multiple purposes is wise when it comes to saving money. Examples of this include a moisturizing SPF or a cleansing oil.
However, be careful when buying products that claim to do too much. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Sure in a pinch you can thin out your nail polish by adding alcohol, use lipstick as a color corrector, or fill in your eyebrows with eyeliner, but sometimes it's better not to risk DIY mishaps. You can buy affordable 2-in-1 products instead and put the extra money toward something else.
{Related Post: 26 Must-Have Beauty Product Staples}
10. Avoid Payment Plans with Hidden Fees
Although payment plans such as Affirm, Afterpay, and PayPal credit are convenient ways to avoid spending a lot of money on products upfront, sometimes payment plans come with hidden fees.
Always remember to manually calculate the payment offer for payment plans. You may save more money in the long run by paying up front.
11. Try Samples
Most brands offer samples you can try before buying a product. Although these samples are a great marketing technique, they also help you make informed decisions as a consumer.
You never know when you will find a sample that will become a staple product in your beauty cabinet. Often you can choose which samples you want to have when you check out.
12. Buy the Bigger Bottle
More often than not, buying a larger bottle of product is more economical. As bottles get smaller, the price per ounce usually increases. This isn’t the case for every brand, but it’s worth paying attention to.
13. Plan for Holiday Sales
Planning to buy products you know you need around the holidays when they will be discounted is a smart budget move.
If you plan correctly, you can take advantage of Memorial Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, and Back to School Discounts are great opportunities to save money. I've included a list of sales to look out for below.
14. Buy Quality Ingredients
Yes, quality products can be more expensive, but the quality ingredients will create fewer problems. Harsh ingredients can create problems that require more products...and more money. Buying one high quality item instead of several low quality items will save you money in the long run.
15. Follow Beauty Blogs
Reading beauty blogs is the best way to find out about new products. The job of a beauty blogger is to make information available to readers. Save time and instead of trying to figure it out by yourself, sign up for a few beauty blogs to stay up to date on new product releases.
16. Try Makeup Dupes
Makeup dupes are an amazing way to save money on pricy products. There are often lower priced alternatives to expensive products, but you will need to look at the ingredients to ensure the dupe is still high quality despite the reduces price.
Temptalia, a makeup blog, offers a dupe list that can be found here.
17. Save on Shipping Costs
If you buy your products in bulk, you can save on shipping after you meet a price threshold for most brands. If you know a brand that offers a discount for buying in bulk, planning ahead will help you take advantage of the shipping discount.
18. Try Shade Matching Products
It's important to buy the correct shade of makeup that matches your undertone so you don't need to buy another tone. It's usually the best to buy a summer and winter shade (you can mix these when needed for spring and summer). Some brands like RMS Beauty concealer also adjust to your skin tone so you don't need to buy as many products or worry about your makeup matching your skin tone.
19. Stay Organized: Don't Lose Your Products
The last, and most important item on this list is to stay organized while traveling. Losing your products is one of the fastest ways to throw money down the drain. Avoid replacing your products by investing in an organizer and travel makeup bag. Staying organized is an amazing way to save money on beauty products.
Essential Beauty Budget Tips for Product Junkies
If you really struggle with keeping track of your beauty product shopping or with impulse buys, try some of the tools below to save money and keep track.
If you are looking to overhaul your beauty budget, and consider yourself as more of a beauty product junkie, don't forget to consider the following:
- Your average cost of personal care per month
- Average monthly spending on beauty products
- How much do you spend on beauty per month?
- How much do you spend on beauty per year?
According to Byrdie, the average woman spends $131 per month on appearances. It's important to budget and determine your beauty cabinet staples so you can prioritize your purchases.
"the amount of money we spend on our appearance could pay for four years of college tuition."
-kaitlyn mclintock, Byrdie
Budget tools to try include popular finance tracking platforms such as Mint, Quicken or Personal Capital. If you like to balance your expenses by hand Quicken is the perfect tool. If you prefer a hands-off approach to keep a tab of your expenses and categorize them without recording your transactions by hand, then Mint and Personal Capital are the best options.
You can also use Trello, a free project management platform that allows you to keep notes about which products you want to buy. I absolutely love Trello for keeping track of things on a wish list.
Spring sales
- Spring Break
- First Day of Spring Sales
- Mothers Day Sale
Summer
- Memorial Day
- Back to School Sales
- Clearance Deals (to make room for fall and winter products)
Fall
- Thanksgiving
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
Winter
- Valentine's Day
- Winter Themed Beauty Subscription Boxes
- Christmas
- New Year
