The beauty industry makes billions of dollars a year promoting the latest and greatest fad and betting that men and women everywhere are wanting to improve themselves and pay a lot of money to do it. It’s amazing the amount of money people will spend on self improvement, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
A lot of people also tend to be very loyal to a brand for a specific product once they find something they love to use and I am no different. I’m all for self improvement and taking care of yourself, but why pay more than you have to. It is not cliché and to me its a challenge to get what I want for less and that is for everything from toothpaste to my car and everything in between!
Long ago when I was learning the art of stockpiling, I wish I had figured out that the same method applies to make-up and beauty products. (For those of you who may not know what stockpiling is, it is when you purchase enough of any product in order to have enough of that product to sustain you until the next sales come around.) I had this method down for food, toiletries and paper products and could have saved a lot more earlier on had I implemented the same strategy to other categories of my shopping needs (or wants). Don’t make the same mistake I did and start implementing all of these now!
#1. Know What You Need
Before you can start really honing in on deals, understanding what you use on a regular basis will be the key to finding trends and price points. To be honest, a lot of designer brands don’t go on sale often, so knowing what you need in order to stockpile will be important to elevate your savings.
Not only knowing what you need, but how often you need to replenish is important. For me, this can vary quite a bit. For example, I need my eyeliner about every 6-8 weeks, whereas it takes me probably 6 months to go through all of my blush. That creates a difference in how many items I may need to stockpile until the next sale might be offered.
#2. Price Compare
Another important part of stacking savings is comparison shopping. Retailers have different sales at different times and price comparisons are important.
Knowing where your products are sold will help you get the best deal when you need something new or when you are looking to stockpile. I use Clinique, and I know I can look at the following retailers to get what I need: Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Ulta Beauty, Bloomingdales and Clinique.com.
It really takes only an extra minute to check the websites quickly to see if Clinique is on sale. That extra minute of web surfing, saves me a lot of money and it will do the same for you.
#3. Sign Up For Retailer E-mails
By signing up for retailer e-mails, this is usually the quickest way to find out a good sale is happening. Unless I was looking for something specific at the time, I wouldn’t have known about the sale and likely would have paid full price. If your luck is like mine, when I really need something, it is never on sale!
When a good sale comes through, this is the time to start thinking about buying and stockpiling. Most sales cycles are 3 months, so a good guide is to buy what you will need for the next three months to help ensure you don’t pay full price when you really need something in a pinch.
I don’t know anyone who is perfect at getting all of their needs on sale, but the closer you are to perfect, the fatter your wallet will be!
#4. Wait for Sales or Coupon Offers
The easiest way to save on designer cosmetics (or really anything) is to wait for sales or coupon offers. However, this can be the hardest if you don’t plan ahead and need something immediately (procrastination anyone??) Each retailer has their own version of what a sale looks like. It could be coupon code, a % off, an exact $ off, or free gifts with purchases. It gets really fun when there are multiple ways you can save and stack savings.
In all of the years I have been buying Clinique, very rarely are there multiple retailers that have a sale at the same time on the products I need. There seems to be a trend of rotations between the retailers and they also tend to have different sales.
#5. Use Cash Back Rebate Sites
When you are not shopping in stores, which given the current health pandemic is fewer and farther between for me these days, use cash back rebates sites such as Rakuten and Top Cash Back to stack additional savings. When you click through a cash back site to the retailers site, you will earn an additional % back on your purchase through them.
Price comparison shopping here can be very important as well. There have been times there has been a significant difference between the sites cash back offers. Sometimes up to a 10% difference in cash back. All of that adds up!
Another added benefit of looking through these cash back sites is that they may have a current coupon code or sale listed for that retailer if you didn’t already have one. There have been many times I was able to grab a coupon code or offer that I had no idea was out there by just using the cash back rebate sites.
Using these methods will start to save you a pretty penny on the essentials you may need and doesn’t only apply to saving on designer make-up and products. Use these methods and apply them to all of your purchases.
- Know What You Need
- Price Comparisons
- Sign up for Retailer E-mails
- Wait for Coupons and Sales
- Use Cash Back Rebate Sites
All of these methods really should only take a few extra minutes of your time. As you get used to comparison shopping both with the retailers and cash back sites, it becomes even easier.
Have fun stacking those savings!