Beauty and the Least

How to Save Money on Prestige Brand Makeup


Hi loves! I’m hoping this post will be very helpful for you all as it is true to my core passion and mission of bringing you Beauty for the Least price. I know so many of us dread buying certain products that we might love but have a hefty price tag. I’m here to tell you that you literally NEVER (99% of the time) need to pay full price even for high-end makeup! Here are the many ways you can save:

Ebates + Other Basics:


If you haven’t already read my four basic tips, click here to read these first! If I can emphasize one especially, it is to ALWAYS use Ebates when shopping online. I swear by this website and have saved $640 since I started using it in Sept 2014! Ebates is simple: if I want to shop at Ulta, for instance, I first go to Ebates, type in ‘Ulta’, then click ‘Shop’ and it takes me right to the Ulta site where I do my thing! Click here to join Ebates and earn $10 free!

Brand Websites:


Although I love a good Ulta or Sephora haul just as much as the next person, I can tell you that sometimes you need to think outside the box if you want to save money. (I actually got the idea to write this post since we just had both the Sephora VIB Sale and the Ulta 20% Off Everything sale for Platinum Members. Yes, these may be great times to purchase makeup, but you don’t need to necessarily wait for these special times of the year. Also, sometimes these aren’t even the best deals you can get.) I find that many brand websites are actually the best places to shop for product. Oftentimes, brand websites also have a lower Free Shipping threshold than you’ll find from Ulta or Sephora. Below I’ve listed what I know as far as deals offered when you shop directly on these brands’ websites:

Bare Minerals: 15% off with email sign up (+5% Cash Back with Ebates)
Becca:
20% off with email sign up

Bobbi Brown: 15% off with email sign up (4% Cash Back with Ebates)
ColourPop
$5 off with email sign up

CoverFX: 15% off with email sign up
Giorgio Armani Beauty: 10% off with email sign up (4% Cash Back with Ebates)
It Cosmetics: 10% off with email sign up (3.5% Cash Back with Ebates)
Laura Mercier: 10% off with email sign up
Real Techniques Brushes: 10% off with email sign up
Tarte:
 $10 off with email sign up plus a Free Deluxe Sample w/ every order

TheBalm: 10% off with email sign up
Too Faced: 20% off with email sign up
Smashbox: 15% off with email sign up (4% Cash Back with Ebates)
Stila: 20% off with email sign up (4% Cash Back with Ebates)
Urban Decay: Join their Beauty Junkie program (free) & get Free Shipping on all orders

Ipsy Offers:


If you are a member of Ipsy (click here to learn more/join!) you may have noticed that they offer special promo codes for you on any brand they have featured in Glam Bags! On the Ipsy site/app, go to the “Offers” tab, then click “Brand Offers.” You will see tons of offers like the ones I’ve shown below. Usually these are good for a few weeks-months and offer a pretty good discount! For example, you can see some great ones below are 20% off Tarte.com & 30% off OFRA Cosmetics. Click any offer on the site to reveal the promo code.

Hautelook:


If you’ve never been on Hautelook, it’s a site (owned by Nordstrom) that features different brands every day in sort of a flash sale format. I just logged on today and see that Tarte and Mario Badescu (two of my absolute faves!) are on there today! Usually the deals apply to a wide variety of products and last for a couple days, but if they are really good they will sell out quickly. To give you an example of the savings, this Mario Badescu sale is offering around 20% off each product, while Tarte has items anywhere from 20-62% off! The website notes who it will be featuring that week so you can plan ahead. You can also sign up for daily email notifications of what brands they will be featuring. They actually feature way more than just beauty including clothing, shoes, accessories, men’s, kids, and home items! The site is completely free, so click here to sign up for Hautelook!

Friends & Family Sales / Black Friday:

These are the biggest sales offered by most beauty brand websites and are a great time to stock up on your favorites if you can plan it out accordingly. For example, if I find a concealer I love, I will buy a couple tubes during the F+F sale so that I don’t waste money purchasing at full price when I actually run out of product and am scrambling! Most brands have this sale a couple times per year and will offer anywhere from 20-50% off their site. Black Friday also has some great deals! Get an idea by checking out those I picked out from the 2016 sale here.

I hope these tips were helpful for you beauties, and you never pay full price again! 😉 Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions, need help with anything, or just have some feedback for me about anything! xoxo, Nicole