If it’s a brand that seems to go on sale regularly–like every other month or something like that–and isn’t a product I’d expect to sell out any time soon. I’ll also be more inclined to wait for a sale on staple products, since I can plan purchases so I’m never “without” (like a favorite cleanser).
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Holiday packs! These usually go on sale after the holidays so if they were a good value before, they’re a better value later.
Perhaps if it is something I liked a lot, but that might not have had all-around glowing reviews, and then it gets marked down significantly? Or when a retail establishment has a major sale on everything of, say, 20-25% or better. Coupon codes are always useful for this purpose, as well. And when it comes to the the 2 later options, I will use it towards either staple products, especially skincare or haircare, or towards a big ticket item that I otherwise may not be able to afford
A large price tag and a safe bet that the company has regular sales. I adore Melt cosmetics, but I have a hard time paying full price – especially when the Shape Shift stack was a full-priced purchase from me and it sucks – and they have a couple of sales a year so as long as stock doesn’t run out I can feel better about money spent on yet more cosmetics.
If I’ve been diligent about keeping up with my skin care then I can usually wait for Sephora’s sales to stock up then as well. I try really, really hard to not purchase anything at full price. Especially this year.
If the brand has a habit of eventually marking down recently launched items or if I know the retailer has periodic, predictable sales then I will wait.
I don’t know if this year has changed brand and retailer sales strategy but Black Friday came awfully early this year and I suspect there will be no Cyber Monday. It also seems like something that was launched 3 weeks ago is now on sale for 30% off at most retailers.
Nowadays I mostly buy on sale; I have a smaller curated skincare and makeup collection (one of each, except color), I keep track of dates I start products and when they expire, I know how long it takes to consume specific items, so for me it’s easy to know when to restock things.
My skincare, body care and hair care is mostly Paula’s Choice, I only purchase when they have have at least 15% off deals (which is quite often). Styling products I buy from Sephora, usually when the mini hair sets for on sale during holiday.
I only buy MAC when they have their 20% sale, which is at least once a quarter. I keep track of what I will need in the next 3-4 months and when the sale comes, I’m ready.
In the last years I rarely had to purchase items full price, this year I think the only one was a Sephora purchase of the Drunk Elephant body and hair care minis, which I wanted to try… and it was the only product that made sense to get my birthday gift without buying something useless. 😅
Speaking of Paula’s Choice, do you know if the brand is doing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Holiday deal?
Their current offer is going through November 25, I assume they’ll have some deals on Thursday. The brand always has Black Friday deals, I would expect to follow this year as well; I mean, I got my shopping early, they had 15-20% off and 11% cashback on ebates/rakuten on 11/11 … I assume the Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Holiday deals to be even better.
I’m always looking for deals: I’m not so product-loyal that I won’t look to competing brands for similar products at a fraction of the price. If it’s something I don’t need right away, then I’ll wait for a sale. If it’s at a high pricepoint, then I’ll wait for a sale but that would have to be something truly special. The only thing I can think of that fits that latter description are eye palettes, which I can’t justify buying right now anyway due to eczema on my eyelids.
What makes me more likely to wait for a palette to go on sale before I purchase it is the price. If the palette is quite expensive and I love it, I will wait for it to go on sale. Much better value then. Everyone loves a sale.
For skincare products, a sale price is an opportunity to try something different.