5 Ways to Enjoy a Beauty Sale Without Breaking Your Budget

Many of us who love beauty products wait with bated breath for the annual Spring Sephora sale to begin. At the time of writing this, the dates for the upcoming Spring 2020 sale have not been announced yet, but it is traditionally sometime in March, April, or in the beginning of May, most years. As the anticipation for this sale or any other looms,you might also be worried about getting carried away and still spending too much money, even with the discounts. Here are some tips that have worked for me that have allowed me to reap the benefits of a sale without going overboard.

Make a List and Stick to It: Making a shopping list sounds like something we all do before an impending shopping trip, but sticking to it is the greater challenge. It is so easy to stray as we are wandering through the store testing and swatching all the products or scrolling through the website and looking at all the beautiful photos and reading all the marketing blurbs designed to draw you in. Having a list prepared in advance, say, by about a week before the sale, and staying faithful to it will immediately curb the urge to impulse buy or get sucked into hype and spend money on products that you may not have truly wanted in the first place.

Don't Try New Skincare or Haircare Items If Can't Afford Them At Regular Price: A lot of skincare and haircare can be quite pricey, and it can be extra tempting to try luxurious when their price is reduced. But skincare and haircare are both categories of products that we tend to use on a regular, if not daily, if not twice daily basis. If a product is completely new to you, it may be hard to tell how fast you go through the product and when you'd need to repurchase if it ends up becoming something you rely on. Nothing is worse than having to not buy a product you've come to depend on consistently, and very likely, you would need to repurchase when the item is not on sale and could be too much of a splurge. So instead of waiting for a sale to test out luxury skincare and haircare, maybe look for mini sizes or ask for samples so you can try the product and try to gauge how fast it will be used up based on how long the smaller sizes lasted and see if you truly love it and want to work it into your routine. Then, when a sale pops, you can perhaps buy a couple of that item to get you through some time to take better advantage of the discount. Depending on your needs, you might also use these same ideas for trying new versions of staple makeup items that you use regularly like foundation, concealer, or mascara.

Buy Only One of Any One Type of Makeup: If you have a wishlist or cart brimming with lipsticks, for example, really work on deciding on which one you want the most and buy only that one, and the same goes for any one type of item. This is definitely helpful when your fantasy cart may already be overflowing. It may not work for everyone or be the most necessary if your shopping list Is smaller, but it is a strategy to keep your cart from becoming bloated or potentially redundant.

Know the Things That Reel You In: We all certain kinds of products or shades that we naturally gravitate towards. Like moths to flame, we can find ourselves continually drawn to every purple eyeshadow or glistening highlight that hits the market. If, however, you find yourself tempted by the same kinds of things over and over, chances are you may have very similar things already in your collection and don’t necessarily need to buy the latest or the newest one to catch your eye. Instead, look at this as a time to remember how much you love that particular kind of item and get even more use out of the ones you already have.

Remember There Will Be Other Sales: Sales may occur only every once in awhile, but they do happen multiple times in a year for most stores. So in choosing the items you want and editing them down, know that anything you may forego but could regret foregoing can be bought, even on sale, sometime later. But who knows? When the next sale may come around you may not even want that item anymore since it did not make the cut the first time around, and you’ll be glad you didn’t buy it to begin with.

Buying new beauty items is a fun and happy pastime for a lot of us, and sales just help sweeten that deal. Still, it is helpful to have clear plans and strategies to make the most of the joy of shopping without overspending.