7 Essential Ways To Save Money When Buying Makeup! | Lifestyle

Welcome back! Today I'm here with a slightly exciting blog post with some advice when it comes to saving yourself some money! You may have noticed a slight few changes around here, such as a new URL and the lack of comments on my posts, unfortunately, when I updated my blog name all the comments were deleted :( However I know you that you lovelies can show them some love! Thank you and enjoy!

7 Essential ways to save money when buying makeup!

1. Loyalty Cards
2. Read reviews before you buy
3. Samples
4. Asking yourself 'Do you really want it?'
5. Coupons, Vouchers & Discount Codes
6. Don't buy it just because it's on offer!
7. Shop around first

1. Loyalty cards are so great. In fact, I have another purse full of them! Not so fun when you're at the till and hunting your way through them. They all work on the scheme of the more you shop the more rewards you get. I personally couldn't recommend them enough! I think some of my friends must think I'm crazy for always trying to collect points in whatever shop we go in but it really does all add up! One of my favourite loyalty cards is the Boots Advantage Card, 4 points for every £1 spent. Often they send you exclusive vouchers such as double points, and an extra 200 points when you spend £20 (very easily done!) Christmas shopping is so much nicer when you can use your points to buy presents, certainly, makes it a lot cheaper as well!

2. Read reviews before you buy! I can't stress this one enough. If you're on a budget but really want to buy more beauty products and makeup I feel ya, being a student I really have to cut back on what I buy! There's nothing worse that buying a few products and being really disappointed with them and feeling like it was a waste of money. My rule to go by is: 'Don't just buy it because lots of people have bought it and you've seen it in many recent hauls, wait for the reviews! Reviews are so important and valuable! As a beauty blogger I'm sure a lot of people already do this but gather up what a few people say before making the splurge, you could definitely be saving yourself some money! If you're thinking of buying something but not seen anything about it, pop it into the search box of Google or Bloglovin' and see what appears.

3. Samples! I love a good sample, try before you buy. Although I hugely dislike the samples that come with a piece of card or in a small little sachet. Some companies happily give out fair sized samples, so it's definitely worth asking! Feel Unique do a great Pick 'n' mix sample service which I hugely recommend, you can read the full review here. I'm also going to class a swatch as a sample, definitely always swatch makeup in shops before you buy! If you're not 100% certain on it, leave it and if it sticks in your mind and you grow to love the colour on your swatched hand then you can definitely justify buying it. Just remember the brand and shade when you swatch!

4. Asking yourself 'do you really want it?' Could it just be the fascination of the packaging or because it's a new release? This is something which is really important to me when it comes to buying new make-up. I love to get my money's worth and make sure it's going to be beneficial rather than buying for the sake of it. For example, I like to think back to when Urban Decay released the Alice In Wonderland Palette, something which was unbelievable, so pretty and everyone wanted it! I myself at first wanted it! However the more I looked into it and the more I thought about it realistically I realised that actually, it wasn't going to be much use to me because I wouldn't wear many of the colours, I looked at it and thought about being brave and trying some new colour combinations however I knew that just wasn't me and I like to stick to colours that I know suit me and that I'm comfortable with so I didn't buy it. In the long run, I'm really glad I made that decision because I really wouldn't have had that much use from it apart from opening it several times to look at the pretty packaging! I can now take the time to admire and appreciate others that do have the palette and have put it to good use! So maybe before you splurge on the latest release it's a good idea to ask yourself why you're buying it, it might make you stop yourself from spending when you could save up for something else in the near future that you're going to get more use from!

5. Coupons, Vouchers & Discount Codes. I barely ever shop without using a voucher or some sort of discount. It's out there you just have to sometimes go on a little search! Boots & Superdrug magazines are free if you have a loyalty card and they always have money off coupons at the back, worth using if you're already buying that product. If you're a student then most places do 10% student discount which I take full advantage of! NUS cards are available to give you those discounts as well as UNIdays & StudentBeans, worth signing up and subscribing to their emails so that you can make the most of your discount. Other websites such as Vouchercloud always have other discount codes, before you buy online always do a quick search on google for codes and you'll usually find discounts every time.

6. Don't buy it just because it's on offer! Now it's safe to say I fall for this one almost every time! I'll walk past and see some Barry M nail varnishes on the deal of 'buy one get one free' and I instantly think what a saving and then proceed to buy. Although I didn't actually need them! At the time it feels like you're saving money because you get one free however in reality if you didn't need it in the first place then you're spending more. Watch out for those deals and think whether you would really benefit from the offer or whether the money is better off in your account!

7. Shop around first. How many times have you bought something only to go into another shop and see it cheaper somewhere else? All it takes is a quick search online for your favourite shops to see where is cheapest, you never know they might have it on offer! Shops such as Savers, Home Bargains & Poundland sell many brands at discounted prices which you'll be very thankful for when it comes to buying your favourite regular beauty products. Make sure you don't get caught in the rut of buying it because "It's only a pound" when it could be cheaper somewhere else!

I hope this post has given you some hints and tips on ways to save money and how I manage my money when it comes to spending it all on makeup and beauty products! Of course, I can't guarantee it'll help you save lots but it's always worth a try!

Have you got any useful tips or ways which help you save money when shopping?

- Love Hanney xo

Save me to Pinterest!