Ideas for affording makeup to review?

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internetchick

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What do you do to help you afford items? I will on occasion buy a highly sought after item to sell on eBay, but that is really rare. I find it a hassle. For drugstore items I wait for buy one get one free sales and combine with coupons. I shop clearance. I do have an app on my phone that scans barcodes, so at thrift stores I will check to see if any books are worth getting for trade ins. One time I paid $2.99 for a textbook that I sold back to Amazon for over $60! Plus Amazon has a Sephora store within it, so I can use the credit for items at Sephora for basically free. It is hard to find books that are worth it though, as it is time consuming scanning books. So what other ideas do you have to make a little money here and there to afford review items, host giveaway, pay for your own URL, etc.?

 
I stopped blogging a while ago because it got to be a hassle with being comm manager here but I would buy HE items once in a while but mainly stuck to DS items.  I shopped clearance and sales and also the 99 cent only stores ALWAYS had DS items so I went there a lot.  I also got a ton of name brand things there to sell on ebay

 
I had thought about buying the good drugstore items at the Dollar Tree and selling them on eBay.

 
I don't think that would work, especially with the price of postage going up so much, not unless you get really lucky and find things like the Sally Hansen Prisms that were showing up for awhile last year. I'm finding crap at Dollar Tree lately.

I have a feeling you would do better buying high or at least higher end stuff at Marshalls and TJMaxx and selling on ebay. While a lot of beauty bloggers have been clued in, I think a lot of just regular people don't even know to look there, which is good for us! lol And if you know what you're looking for, they have not just makeup, but skin care, perfume, even clothing, bags, shoes, etc that could potentially sell for top dollar.

 
I had thought about that. I hate eBay though. I worry about getting ripped off. Yeah, my Dollar Tree has really sucked lately lol.

Glad you made it. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
I buy DS when on sale and with coupon, when possible. HE stuff mainly when on clearance unless its something I really want. Salon brand stuff with a pro club when possible, even better when the store has it on clearance. I would say 75% of my HE is clearance stuff and maybe 50% of my DS was free or near free with sales and coupons.

 
The only issue with high end is it is rarely on clearance, but that depends on what you consider high end. I consider Dior, Chanel, Guerlain, Givenchy, etc. high end. Some people consider MAC, Urban Decay, NARS, etc high end, but I don't. Those are mid-range to me. Those you can get on sale if you wait enough.

 
Originally Posted by internetchick /img/forum/go_quote.gif

The only issue with high end is it is rarely on clearance, but that depends on what you consider high end. I consider Dior, Chanel, Guerlain, Givenchy, etc. high end. Some people consider MAC, Urban Decay, NARS, etc high end, but I don't. Those are mid-range to me. Those you can get on sale if you wait enough.
See and I consider Dior, Chanel, Guerlain, etc to be designer and not high end (which to me is a whole different category which I don't even touch because I can't afford it).

 
Do you have a good relationship with any of the SAs at counters? If so, you could ask about sample or minis to review. Sometimes Dior has mini quints, Chanel has mini lipsticks, I've even gotten some deluxe samples/ extra testers at CdP and Chantecaille. Not really a way to make money, but it does cut the cost of buying things solely for review.

 
^^ I had NO IDEA about that! Mini quints? Awesome! The nearest store with decent counters is about half an hour away, so I don't get to go often enough to build a relationship.

 
Quote: Originally Posted by lolaB /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Do you have a good relationship with any of the SAs at counters? If so, you could ask about sample or minis to review. Sometimes Dior has mini quints, Chanel has mini lipsticks, I've even gotten some deluxe samples/ extra testers at CdP and Chantecaille. Not really a way to make money, but it does cut the cost of buying things solely for review.
THIS. To be honest, if you're starting out....those SA's are the best bet. Chat them up during non-peak hours and if you ask nicely, most oblige. Also, when purchasing things, I usually get the gift sets so I can try a whole range of products from a brand instead of buying just 1 or 2 things. 

If looking for DS, take a look at discount stores like Big Lots. Once I got a whole bunch of Zoya Nail polish which are usually $7-9 for only$2.99. I also stalk nouveacheap for sales and all.

 

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