The only thing I love more than beauty products is finding a bargain on those beauty products (although if you ask my husband he will say it’s spending money).  I am a true bargain hunter –  my idea of the perfect Saturday afternoon is spending an hour perusing TJMaxx (my happy place), latte in hand, looking for the best deals on everything from clothing to shoes to jewelry to home items. Beauty was not an area that was always associated with discount in a pleasant manner – it used to imply used, old or imperfect products – ones that you wouldn’t actually want to use on your face, body or skin. Well the times they are a’changin for beauty and the off-price world is ALL over them. If you’re looking for beauty at a discount, check out my top picks for getting your favorite brands for a good deal.

Brick and Mortars:

TJMaxx and Marshalls – this family of brands under the TJX umbrella has managed to grow their beauty department to something of a marvel in the past few years. I once could never tell what I would be able to find there and now brands are consistently brought in on the regular and merchandised well in the store. You can almost expect to find liters of Biolage, Redken, Sexy Hair, and Biosilk hair products, Essie and OPI nail colors, along with brushes and hair tools from brands like Hot Tools, GHD, and T3. Skin and body products are merchandised by color and you can expect to find drugstore brands like Sally Hansen, Loreal, Aveeno and Neutrogena in the mix. If I am looking for a particular product, I often check here first before paying full price as these stores have been known to get obscure brands like Bliss and Ahava on occasion. Something you will also see :  clothing and accessory brands that you didn’t know had makeup lines. Did you know that Max Studio sold makeup? I didn’t either until I saw it in TJs.

Ocean State Job Lot – for my New England gals you might be shocked to know that I check this lower budget chain quite often (when we moved this fall we discovered we are down the street from one). I would not believe it either if I didn’t see it myself but if you have the time to look, you can find a good gem of a beauty product here. The chain gets loads of makeup and skin products on the regular from mostly drugstore brands like Maybelline, Loreal, Wet n Wild, Almay and Neutrogena. Some of the makeup is there due to packaging changes or discontinuation but there are plenty that are at your local drugstore being sold full price (so why pay it?). This is where I picked up my Essie growth treatment for $3.99 and love it! I have also found more Essie products as well as OPI shades. If you live near one of these stores, this is worth a look! Bonus: you can also pick up some cleaning products for your bathroom while you’re there.

Nordstrom Rack – although not an extensive beauty department, you can find some good options at this store, while your checking out the amazing clothing and shoe selection. The mix includes Sephora –type brands like Stila, Smashbox, Philosophy and drugstore brands like Loreal, NYX and Neutrogena. The store also includes nail polishes from Essie, OPI and Orly. Kind of a random mix, but not a bad one.

Flash Sale sites:

Rue La La: Now I am partial to this first one, probably because I am employed by them but Rue La La’s beauty department has EXPLODED over the past year. It’s become a major category for the organization and is on track to be even bigger in 2016 (I’m just a LITTLE excited). We have many recognizable department store luxury brands such as La Mer, Dior, Shiseido, Oribe, Chanel and Kerastase. We also have tons of the same brands you would find in your nearest Sephora such as Too Faced, Clinique, Lancome, Clarins, Nars, Bumble and Bumble, bareMinerals, Clarisonic, L’Occitane, Davines, Living Proof and Philosophy. The items are sold in multi-day boutiques with names like Blowout Bar or Beauty Bar and encompass hundreds of high quality, discounted beauty finds.

Hautelook: I am a regular Hautelook shopper and really enjoy their jewelry department. They tend to have brands I have never heard of and that definitely translates into their beauty department as well.  This flash sale site, which is predominately driven by brand events, has two beauty events per day, ranging from hair and skin appliances to gel nail polish and obscure makeup brands. Brands you can expect to find on Hautelook are Kevyn Aucoin, theBalm, Crown Brush, Laura Gellar, Josie Maran, NYX, FHI Hair Tools, as well as ones that you have never heard of (but could easily become your newest find).  One franchise that I do miss – #mani Monday – a weekly nail event that would include lots of uv gel nail polishes and lamps that were affordable options to the nail salon.

MyHabit: Amazon’s flash sale site’s approach to beauty is much like Hautelook’s  – brand driven.  This is great – unless you don’t know the brand and just want to browse around. In that case, the website does have a Beauty tab in which you can click to see all products live on site at that time. Brand offerings are much like Rue La La’s and Hautelook and include Living Proof, Kerastase, Lancome, Borghese as well as UV nail polish brands.

If you are a beauty lover who doesn’t like to pay full price (like me), there are definitely options for you out there, as long as you don’t mind a little digging. For me, its half the fun.

Where are your favorite places to find discounted beauty products?

Maureen