Hello everyone! I’m honestly surprised with the amount of followers I’ve made already, and I want to let you all know that I have big ideas for my blog that I’m waiting to implement sometime next week. I want to thank everyone for reading my posts and I’m looking forward to being able to post regularly for everyone. I just moved to another state and I have my personal possessions in two different storage units, one in California, and on in Missouri. Yikes.. I’m waiting on my things from California to arrive before I drive to Missouri to pick up the rest myself. I really look forward to giving my followers a great source of information, so I’m going to start off with this guide that I’m hoping will provide some new information about shopping online!
Last updated: 11/13/15
Most of the time when I tell my friends I shop online, they ask me why. Plain and simple, I get better deals and I don’t have to fit any extra trips into my already busy schedule. I like shopping online because I can choose from a wide variety, research the products on the computer, and then make a purchase online without sitting in the store for 30 minutes or being pressured by employees. Buying online is great when I accidentally run out of a product I use everyday and would feel awkward going into a makeup store without it. When I was a young teenager, I would also feel embarrassed to go into makeup stores because I had no idea what I was really getting into. Basically, I find it easier to compare deals between suppliers and I feel like it’s safer shopping during busy holidays, especially if you have kids!
Before we start talking about actually buying makeup, I’m going to share some places where you can get some really good reviews and decide if the product is worth buying or not. Besides going on official store websites and reading reviews, I like to check out Temptalia and then Youtube.
Temptalia.com is a fantastic website to view product photos, extensive reviews, swatches, and user reviews. I find that the reviews are very honest and to my best knowledge, have been very similar to my own opinions. My favorite thing about the blog is that she keeps her blog updated and reports on limited edition pallets. Her swatches are fantastic because her website shows dupes and gives the reader ways to save money. I like not having to sit through a 10-30 minute review and just get the information I’m looking for on one page.
After I decide that I am interested in a product, I go on Youtube to learn how to apply it or get ideas for possible makeup looks with the product. This step is important because no one wants to buy a product they don’t know how to use. Usually if you step into a Sephora, they will tell you how to apply it. However, if you don’t have a Sephora store close to you, the internet is the next best thing. There are a lot of really great makeup artists on Youtube that have amazing reviews where you can see the product in action.
When you are set on buying a product, it’s important to do some research on online sales going on. Whenever I purchase, I always use Ebates if I can. I installed their toolbar so the little icon flashes when I can activate Ebates. So far I have only received 7 dollars back, but as long as it’s something extra I can do to save money, I do it. You should also sign up for any rewards program before you buy anything so you can start earning towards free rewards for continued business.
Similar to Ebates, I have heard of Studentrate.com but I have personally never tried them. I plan on trying them and Ebates, possibly to see if they work at the same time, next time I make an order online.
Ulta carries a few popular brand names, but not nearly as many as Sephora. Ulta also has some lines that are exclusive to their store, like It Cosmetics. Shopping at Ulta’s website has a lot of advantages over shopping at their store. For one example, online deals always include more than their store deals. The only item I pick up exclusively at their store is my free birthday gift. The great thing about Ulta is their gifts with purchases, and you can’t always get every GWP available if you shop at their store.
I LOVE Ulta’s Reward system. The only downside is that their reward points expire each month unless you go platinum. Going platinum isn’t very expensive, all you have to do is spend 400 dollars within the year to get platinum for the rest of the year. When you go platinum, you get exclusive deals that the normal shopper won’t receive and you also get higher point multipliers whenever Ulta has an event going on. When you go platinum, you can also get free GWPs with any purchase amount as well, but those deals are only online. They also send out 5x points on specific brands and 1-day only sales up to 50% off single items. When I went platinum, my 3x point e-mails turned into 5x point e-mails. Points turn directly into money back which you can spend however you want. The store also carries drugstore items that may not be at the drugstore, so you can buy in bulk without having to go up and down the isles looking for the exact product you want.
The downside to shopping at Ulta.com is the wait time, their shipping takes a little longer than a week and it’s expensive to upgrade. I don’t really like waiting a long time, but buying in advance is key to enjoying ordering products online.
I have shopped at Sephora since I was a teenager and I have spent a lot of money here, but unfortunately I never made a Beauty Insider account so I ended up missing out on a lot of points so don’t forget to make an account before you checkout! So far, I can say that the rewards program is just “okay”. The points you save up don’t expire, which is fantastic, but you can’t trade your points in for money. Instead, you have a select few gift or full size items to choose from. I didn’t like that aspect as much as the money back aspect because you don’t have free reign over how you spend your points. Every dollar = 1 point, so it’s difficult to obtain a high amount of points unless you spend a lot of money or take advantage of events where you get free points with your purchase.
The amount of products at Sephora is also a big plus. When they have items on sale, I usually have a lot of brands to choose from, silently hoping they have a product I’ve been wanting to buy on sale. You also get to pick 3 free samples when you checkout. So far, I have been a little disappointed with their free samples because most of them come with no packaging and instead come with the little “baggy” I have to cut open to use, so the product goes bad if I don’t use it ALL right away. I have also had issues with Sephora not sending me the sample I requested, most likely because they ran out of stock. They do, however, send a replacement sample.
Sephora’s shipping is amazing. Sephora has new “Flash” 2-day shipping for 10 dollars and it lasts the entire year. If you are Rouge status, you can get flash for free. If you have flash, you can upgrade your order for 6 dollars to receive overnight. Normal customers get free 3-day shipping on orders over 50 dollars. Orders under 50 dollars can get three day shipping for 6 dollars.
I have a really good relationship with Amazon, but not when it comes to buying beauty products. Although it isn’t makeup, I have ordered shampoo and conditioner and I could have sworn it was a knock-off. Amazon is great on customer service and let you return items free of charge. This can be a bad thing, however, because you don’t know if you’re getting a new item or not. I have never worked for Amazon, so I don’t know if this is true or not, but I have heard chatter that some people will empty the high-end shampoo bottle and replace the contents with low-end shampoo, then return the product back to Amazon claiming they never used it. Of course, if you run into this problem with your products, Amazon is really easy to work with as far as getting a refund for a faulty product.
Besides hair product thievery, I have read dozens of reviews about shattered makeup pallets upon delivery or customers receiving old product. After my issue with the shampoo and conditioner, I decided to stray away from Amazon. I have Amazon Prime and get free 2-day shipping, but it still wasn’t worth it to me because returning a product is still a hassle, and the point of shopping online is to avoid hassles. I might shop for items that couldn’t be easily destroyed upon shipping like makeup brushes or other makeup tools.
If you have Amazon Prime, you can get pretty fast shipping on anything that is Prime eligible which is usually 1-2 days. Not many prestige brands ship for prime, but if you find one, the shipping is really fantastic.
QVC, QVC, QVC! This was the place I’ve been looking for. The deals are everywhere. You can get 2 for the price of one, product with a 20-50 dollar brush INCLUDED without any additional charge. This is fantastic because you can save gobs of money. The downside is the long shipping time and no rewards points, to my knowledge. QVC doesn’t carry nearly as many brands as Sephora or even Ulta, but if they have one product you’ve been looking for a deal on, this is the place to double-check. The brands I have seen are bare Minerals|Bare Bare Escentuals, Kat Von D, It Cosmetics, Tarte, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Dior, Julep, Laura Geller, Lipstick Queen, Mally Beauty, NUDESTIX, Stila, a few skincare brands, and a few other makeup brands I’m not familiar with. Even though the shipping is a long wait, I think the deals are worth it.
Sometimes Zulily has prestige makeup brands in stock, and they are always easy to spot on the “New Today” page. I have seen skincare lines as well. The only thing about catching these deals is that they are usually only around for 3 days. After about 3 days, they go off of the website and you’re unable to buy them. When prestige brands show up, they also sell out pretty fast so it’s difficult to get an item you’ve been looking forward to getting. I’d say that this may be one of the last places to check for deals because they don’t really cater to beauty products the same way they cater to clothes. Zulily shipping is not very fast. The times in which you receive your order can be all over the place. You can, of course, pay for faster shipping, but not everyone wants to do that.
If you buy beauty items from the “Ready to Ship” area of the website, you can get your order a lot faster than you would be able to if you ordered from the new items available. However, most of the “Ready to Ship” items are off-brand, so it’s hard telling the quality of the product if you’ve never heard of the brand before. If you’re looking to save money and prefer trying off-brand items, this may be the place for you! Above all, I think it’s good if you’re looking for beauty products besides makeup, but the shipping speed is something to keep in mind. Buy in advance!
Shopping on the brand’s official website is also a no-brainer as far as options go. I haven’t done this yet, however, because I always find a better deal somewhere else. I think that the time to buy on brand sites is if they have a crazy holiday sale and the product you’re looking for is on sale on their website. Most brand websites, if not all of them, give you a coupon code for 15-30% off your first order on their website for signing up with your e-mail address. I only know of one brand website that gives you reward points, which is Tarte. I feel like this is the downside. Without reward points, parts of me feel like I’m missing out and making empty purchases.
That’s all for my guide so far! I hope this article can help someone find better deals online. If you know of any other online stores or have any experiences you want to share, feel free to comment!
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