Rue La La! Have you heard The Skinny? Exclusive Beauty VIP members-only sample sites are Haute!
And new ones are cropping up all the time — sites that sell collections and sets filled with sample beauty products at prices that often amount to HUGE savings of 50-75% off (versus purchasing the products separately at retail). Some, like Beauty VIP, go a step further, delivering members-only coupon codes and discounts on cosmetic surgery, beauty services and spas.
Membership’s usually free but required to browse the deals or to place orders online. Ironically, there’s rarely anything exclusive about joining these sites. A name and email address are all that’s typically required, but there’s just something alluring about the promise of exclusive goodies. 🙂
10 Top Beauty Sample Sites
Site: Gilt Groupe
Shtick: Mainstream beauty (Jemma Kidd, Mario Badescu and more) and fashion stuff, too
Site: Rue La La
Shtick: Luxury fashion, house stuff and beauty
Site: Swirl
Shtick: A product of Daily Candy; clothing and accessories up to 80% off retail
Site: Billion Dollar Babes
Shtick: Fashion, home and beauty products by Michael Kors, MD Skincare and more
Site: The Fairest
Shtick: Big mix of brands including Anastasia and FusionBeauty
Site: The Skinny
Shtick: Simple concept and not a lot to it; brands featured like Bare Escentuals, Dermaquest and Perricone MD
Site: NewBeauty TestTube
Shtick: Little choice; they send you a new sample set/tube once every three months
Site: Beauty VIP
Shtick: Actually charges an annual fee (about $50/year); has a huge array of deals, but their discounts are usually around 20% off
Site: Haute Look
Shtick: Fashion, beauty and stuff for home
Site: Market for Drama
Shtick: Typically just one discount/sale at a time; I like their product writeups, though.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Rebecca says
November 21st, 2009 at 2:26 pmI actually signed up for a few of these… and then promptly forgot about it. I get e-mails from some, but they go straight to my junk folder and I haven’t really paid them much attention. But I’m thinking I should start to look into them again – I absolutely loooove free samples!
In fact, I love pretty much anything with the word ‘free’ in front of it 😉
.-= Rebecca’s last blog post… Aussie Deeeeep Conditioner: It’s a Follicle Miracle! =-.
amy says
November 21st, 2009 at 2:36 pmI look at them sometimes, but site such as Haute Look charges 18% international fee. After the exchange rate, shipping and international price, I might as well pay full price a the store.
.-= amy’s last blog post… Tarte Treasure Chest Tier 2: Matte Eyeshadows Review, Swatches and Final Thoughts on All 32 Eyeshadows =-.
Shiny says
November 21st, 2009 at 2:52 pmI have bought off hautelook before (a headband not makeup) but after the astronomical shipping costs + customs to Canada it is really not a good deal. I do love the window shopping, and drooling over some of the higher end stuff on giltgroup
Lisa says
November 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pmI’ve actually gotten stuff from Haute Look and for me it was great! The stuff took awhile to get to me, but since I got it at such a good buy I’m cool with it. I did just sign up for the test tube thing. 39 bucks 4 times a year is cool to be able to try out new stuff (thats the price with shipping and everything.)
Michelle says
November 21st, 2009 at 3:42 pmI’ve gotten some great deals on Haute Look — I was lucky and the shipping was just $5 for the order. I got Rock and Republic stuff (normally very pricey) for 50-60% off. I also got some great Urban Decay stuff for cheap. I believe Urban Decay is having another sale on Haute Look next week . . .
Catherine says
November 21st, 2009 at 4:39 pmOooh, I’m a member of Gilte, Hautelook, The Fairest and The Skinny but I wasn’t aware there were so many more! Thanks for sharing!
.-= Catherine’s last blog post… Join Shop’n’Chomp’s Giveaway! =-.
veronica says
November 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pmI’ve bought from Gilt, BillionDollarBabes, RueLaLa and HauteLook with great success! You should also check out Editor’s Closet and Ideeli. I’m not a huge fan of The Fairest, the brands they usually have don’t appeal to me.
Just signed up for Swirl, I’ve been a DailyCandy member for a long time, so I’ve been looking forward to this. Thanks for the info on the others too!
V
.-= veronica’s last blog post… Anything but “gloomy†with The Gloomers =-.
diana says
November 21st, 2009 at 7:24 pmI’m a member of all these sample sites. They have tons of great deals and discounts on some of my favorite designers and beauty products.
Marisol says
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 pmI belong to Gilt, Rue La La, Billion Dollar Babes, The SKinny & Row Nine. Have only purchased on Gilt and been really satisfied with my purchases.
Will be checking out Swirl and HauteLook. Thanks!
.-= Marisol’s last blog post… This is what a make-up no buy looks like =-.
Tiffany says
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:57 pmI’m signed up with a few of these sites, but whenever I’ve started to order I realize the shipping charges basically make up for any discount 🙁