How to Save Money on Beauty Products

This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Any aesthetic procedure carries risks and should be considered carefully. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before undergoing any treatments. 

We all need help with the cost of living right now. It is tempting to make our beauty products the luxury we give up so we can afford necessities such as petrol, clothes, and food. Yet, how we look can directly impact our confidence and happiness in the world. Therefore, while we want to save money on our beauty products, we still want to keep these as a part of our daily routine. So, how can you have your products even when money is short? Here we explore some money-saving hints and tips.

Use product recycling schemes

Some beauty lines run schemes that allow you to recycle beauty packaging to receive free goods. The best-known scheme is Back to Mac. Mac will receive back the primary packaging, such as blusher pots and foundation bottles, and offer vouchers for new products in return. Lush offer a scheme incentivising the recycling of their containers with free products. Return five clean black pots to your local Lushstore, and they will give you a free face mask.

Scour shops and magazines for free makeup samples

You don’t have to look too hard to find offers for free makeup samples. Brands are looking for your loyalty, and know getting you hooked with a free sample is a great marketing tool. This means that you can bet your products for free by collecting the vouchers or looking to pick up the samples from your local stores. Beauty counters in large department stores are great places to get your free sample products.

Revive old products

Too often buy more beauty products than we need and allow some of them to dry out or become clotted. Therefore, keeping cosmetics fresh for longer is the sure-fire way of saving money on your beauty products.

You can add a few drops of saline or contact lens solution for drying and clumping mascara and give it a swirl. It will help your mascara last much longer. You can preserve your mascara by stopping the pumping action before applying. By pumping the wand in this way, you create air bubbles in the bottle that leads to it drying out more quickly. Twist the wand in and out of the bottle instead.

Broken eyeshadow can be revived by rubbing in some alcohol and then pressing it back together again. If you don’t have any pure and clear alcohol, you can add the eyeshadow to some clear nail polish and create a new shade for your fingernails.

A broken lipstick can be melted down in a lip balm tin and applied with a brush. Finally, if makeup is at the bottom of the tubes, but you can’t get to it, cut the tube in half and scrape out the remaining product.

Sell unused makeup

Most people buy products on impulse and get home and find that they don’t want them anymore. Returning unopened makeup is possible, though you have to quickly get it back to the store. If this doesn’t work, and you can’t get a refund, try selling it instead. Sites like Depop make it easy to sell your products within minutes. As long as you are honest, you can even sell some products that have been used and sell at a price that reflects this.

Loyalty cards can pay off

Shops like Boots offer a loyalty card scheme to help you buy your luxury items without spending too much dosh. If you consistently buy the essentials and present your loyalty card, you can use the points to get your favourite makeup for free.

Use the dupes instead

One of the undoubted super talents of beauty product buyers is finding a duplicate product at a much lower price. The designer labels and other big named products are great but expensive, and there are copycat producers out there producing the same items but for a fraction of the cost. Your pursuit of these dupes will be a bit hit and miss, as there are times when cheap doesn’t mean good value. However, when you find the products you swear by, and at a reasonable price, you will feel like a genuine winner.

Summary

Why pay more than you need at any time? There might be a cost-of-living crisis that makes buying beauty products feel like a luxury. Yet, you can use these hacks at any time to pay only as much as you need to pay and make the most of the products you already have in your cosmetics bag.