I'm a HUGE fan of online shopping. It's the best way to get great deals on stuff you already know you want/need from the comfort of your own home. Shopping for beauty products online can save you time and money, and can get you free stuff.
How To Do It:
- Go to your favorite beauty/department store.
- Check out the products you're interested in.
- Find them online cheaper, or with better free gifts.
Better Deals:
Ulta, Sephora, Drugstore.com/Beauty.com (these sites share a shopping cart, but beauty.com carries the higher-end stuff) offer special online-only deals, free gifts, and clearance items that vary from what's offered in stores. Sign up for e-mails to get full access to ongoing deals. If you're making a large purchase, check sites like http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.buy.com/. That way, you won't have to pay sales tax.
Ulta's "Special Offers" section: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/specialOfferCenter.jsp
Sephora's "Beauty Deals" section: http://www.sephora.com/promo/beautybonuses/index.jhtml?om_mmc=ret-n1-20110212onlysephora---opi-h6pban2b-gwp--om-us-stdfooterfreestuff-fostdh-h-&emtc=20110212onlysephora---opi-h6pban2b-gwp--om-us&ematg=1458425081&dicid=448764:18777604368:32265374
Free Stuff:
Ulta, Sephora, and Beauty.com give you 3 free samples of your choice with online purchase. Some single-brand stores like philosophy.com give out samples too. If you're shopping at Ulta or Sephora, you're going to have to pay sales tax either way, so you'd might as well get some free stuff!
Save More:
Use http://www.retailmenot.com/ to find current coupon codes for discounts, free shipping, etc. Use a site like http://www.ebates.com/ to get cash back on all your purchases. Having/using an ebates account will get you 4% - 12% cash back. (or more: during holidays, some places give double cash back). It may not be a huge amount, but it can help offset sales tax.
Keep in Mind:
There's usually a minimum purchase required to get free shipping - generally, it's $25 or $50. If I've already got $40 worth of stuff in my shopping cart, I search the clearance section to get $10 worth of stuff, or I order Christmas gifts early. I'd rather spend $10 and get stuff I'm going to use than spend $6 on shipping.
Forgot my important, sneaky tip: When shopping in-store to check out your potential online buys: If you encounter a pushy store associate, tell them your birthday is coming up, and your (Mom, sister, boyfriend, whoever) asked you to make a wishlist, so you're in the store to do that. Then they won't expect you to buy anything, and won't think it's weird when you're writing down items and prices. :-)
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