What brand do you rarely purchase at full price?
There aren’t many for me, since I need to purchase sooner rather than later for reviewing purposes (typically!). But if I was strictly a consumer, I don’t know that I’d buy a lot of Pat McGrath… so many 20-30% off sales, which would make me feel comfortable waiting to buy at a discount (plus there’s always 10% off the initial launch)! I love Pat McGrath and get excited about the new releases, but I know I can wait a lil’ bit and save some money most of the time. I’d say the same about any new Urban Decay palette – they always go 50% off at some point.
— Christine
Hourglass, Tom Ford. That’s what comes to mind at present.
Chantecaille for sure. Also mac for some reason. I like to get things on sale.
Marc Jacobs, Morphe, Colour Pop (I know the last two are already inexpensive but they have sales so often, why not get it for less?), Natasha Denoma, ABH, Estee Lauder.
Chanel lipstick. I wait until I have Macy’s reward points.
Any brand I can get at Shoppers Drug Mart (the stores near me, in any case) – so Clarins, Smashbox, Elizabeth Arden, Stila, Benefit, Clinique…. (and Dior and Chanel if I’m lucky enough to be in Ottawa). Because every Thursday is “Seniors’ Day” so I can purchase for 20% off, which is a nice saving. Lately, I’ve been checking Winners and its affiliate stores regularly (now that they’re open again) for Becca, Marc Jacobs and Nars before buying them at Sephora. I scored a Becca Mineral Blush yesterday – still retailing at Sephora for $42, for $8….yes, just EIGHT dollars! All 3 of my Becca blushes came via Winners and for a fraction of their regular price.
In the US we have TJ Maxx and Marshall’s where I also bought my two Becca blushes for $8 each.
Winners is part of the TJMaxx group. Here, we’ve got Winners, Marshall’s and HomeSense. Isn’t it amazing to find things there for those incredible prices? I got the NARS Suede Voyageur eyshadow palette for $16 back in September, when it was still selling for $41 at Sephora here in Canada. I’d nearly bought it a day or two earlier when I was at Sephora and when I found it at Winners, I was so happy I didn’t waste more than twice the discounted price. Clearly, it’s hit and miss but I check out this store often (it’s right by my gym) and find a lot of great stuff.
Always tangential to the topic, but I wonder why it is HomeSense in Canada and HomeGoods in the us? Somehow, they must have had to change it, bec the other TJX companies kept the same name on either side of the border.
There is Homesense and Homegoods in my town in the US. I also live in the UK where I only have TKMAXX which isn’t on a par with the US stores.
We don’t have anything like that in Aus land at all, I am envious…….
Seniors’ discounts or stores like Winners??? Winners is fabulous and, thanks to this site and Makeup Alley, I can check out what I find there to see if it “works” for me as many of the products are “security sealed” (they had NARS and Buxom blushes for next to nothing but there was only 1 colour that really suited me and I honestly don’t need any more blush but the $8 one – in the “sale” area – was too hard to resist!). It’s where I get the litre sized bottles of my shampoo (Joico? I honestly don’t remember) for half what it costs anywhere else.
Pat McGrath, even 10% will do from her for me.
Tom Ford
Natasha Denona
Pat McGrath, The products are too expensive at regular price.
I like sales for trying out something new. MAC, Clinique (especially moisturizers), and Bobbie Brown are brands where I will wait for a site sale. Tarte, Ofra, and Colourpop often have sales, so I might pick up a piece of a collection then.
Clinique also has very often quite good gifts with purchase, either full size or 3-5 travel items. If you purchase often from their website and write reviews their reward system is pretty decent. I don’t buy so often for them, I usually wait for the Labor Day sales since it’s just before my birthday. Between the gifts with purchase, the sale, the birthday gift (which is almost always generous), redeeming points, I get all my Clinique needs for the whole year. 😅
Basically all brands except maybe Wet N Wild or e.l.f. because I’m a cheapskate, haha. I mostly buy drugstore products but I usually wait until the things I want go on sale. Definitely never buy mid-range at full price!
Nowadays I rarely purchase something full price. I track my skincare and makeup, so most of my purchases are strategically planned around sales.
Most of my skincare is Paula’s Choice and most of my makeup is MAC, I always make purchases when they have 15-20% off sales (if I plan them around holidays, I sometimes even get a good 5-10% cashback on top of that). Those sales happen so regularly, it would be stupid not to wait for them.
I usually don’t pay full price for anything. There is almost always some kind of sale somewhere, brand discount codes, or affiliate codes.
These days, most brands. I will purchase stuff at full price if it something limited edition.
I will buy Pat McGrath and Tom Ford during the Sephora sales.
I learned that the Bay will price match offers from stores selling the same makeup item (i.e. bring in the Sephora email with the discount, of if it is near. Shoppers, you might get a discount on Seniors Day Thursday). I have only done this a couple of times.
Other than that wait for Bay Beauty Week for a 10% discount or VIP $20 off. Or a Shoppers PC Optimum points promo.
I have bought makeup and skincare at full price for years. At this point an occasional deal makes me more inclined to buy something.
Since I’m someone who loves a good bargain, almost every brand goes! Seriously though, it will usually be a high end skincare product like Drunk Elephant Protini Peptide, an expensive perfume like Tom Ford Black Orchid, anything PML or ND is generally on that list, specifically their e/s palettes.
Since I buy the bulk of my makeup with codes, during VIB sales or 21 Days of Beauty events, at the CCO, Bare Beauty Outlet, at Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx and from Poshmark and Mercari, I’d say there isn’t any brand I buy at full retail price!
I try not to pay full price for most things these days, but I will if I want it bad enough. I’m pretty self-indulgent that way and not as good about delayed gratification as I should be unfortunately. There’s a few brands I just simply won’t, usually because they have sales pretty frequently.
Colourpop – every once in awhile there’s a new release I really want and they seem so random about whether something is permanent, limited, limited but will restock, etc. And even permanent is pretty meaningless with them. Even so, they have sales nearly as often as they have releases so I try to never buy full price despite their pretty low price point.
theBalm – they also have frequent sales with very deep discounts. Good products, worth full price, but there’s no point due to the frequency of their sales
Zoya (nail polish) – they have two 50% or BOGO sales a year and generally at least two other not quite as steep sales in between so I wait.
Sunday Riley – I only have one or two products I like and I’ll pick them up if on sale, but otherwise I”ll find cheaper alternatives because it’s just too expensive for what it is
Pat McGrath – Just too expensive to pay full price, as beautiful as her stuff is.
All? As much as I’m obsessed with beauty and makeup, I still see it as a very frivolous item and can’t recall purchasing anything at full price ever. Not from wet n’ wild on up to PMG.
If I liked more of PMG’s palettes, I would definitely wait for a sale! But I did purchase the Sublime Mini at a heavily discounted price and it is excellent.
Most lipsticks I purchase on sale (from CP) and Maybelline, as well as my L’Oreal True Match foundation – as it normally retails for around $30 here, so a half price discount is pretty good to me.
We don’t have access to the kind of sales you have in the US and Canada at all, especially from Sephora – which is very, very disappointing.
Priceline and Chemist Warehouse (our major budget beauty and skincare shops here) often have really good sales on their skincare, but don’t carry the major makeup brands like Ulta et all do.
As for Mecca Cosmetics – well, they are just waay too expensive and never really have good sales.
I don’t pay full price for anything, whether it’s beauty, home goods, clothing, etc. If I can’t find what I want at a minimum of 25% off, I will wait or do without. I also take into account the cost of shipping, or the cost of gas, and brand loyalty benefits.
I rarely purchase anything at full price, period. I spend ages trawling the internet for the best deals and go along with those instead.