How much do you think you spend a year on cosmetics? Hundreds of dollars? Thousands, maybe? Do you buy makeup just anywhere, or do have your go-to places? Because depending on where you shop—in stores or online—you could be saving lots of money.
For our July cover story, we sent our crew of secret shoppers out to price 38 top-selling beauty products, like lipstick, blush, eyeliner, lip gloss, foundation, mascara, and eye shadow at stores and online around the country, to see where the best prices were. We added up how many of the 38 products were the cheapest and the most
expensive at each retailer.
The winner? HarmonDiscount.com had the highest number of low-priced products. The loser? CVS had the highest number of high-priced products.
There are a lot of beauty websites out there, so we took a stroll through some of them with our expert panel of makeup artists, dermatologists, other beauty insiders. Some of our favorites: Beautyhabit.com, for discovering new products and lots of free samples, Ulta.com, for a giant selection, freebies, and other perks CosmeticsCop.com, for free advice and review
Also, check out EWG.org/skindeep, too, for data on the safety of hundreds of beauty products. Click on "Makeup", "Fragrance", "Nails", and more to find out which products carry the lowest risks based on
the latest research.
While we were there, we checked into return policies (yes, you CAN return makeup, even opened) and rewards programs, too, to see which ones really paid off. Some are better than others!
And watch out for bogus claims and bad beauty buys. You might think that skin-brightening cream will be a miracle cure, but in fact, it might be dangerous.
Check out our July issue, on newsstands now, for much more info on where to buy cosmetics!
Best beauty buys
By Robin Melen on June 13, 2011 06:00:00 pm
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Robin Melen
Posted at 06:00:00 PM in
Beauty | Cosmetics | Online Shopping | Sales | Saving money | Shopping
Linda Duncan
09:44:06 AM on Mon Jul 18 2011
My husband manages a national racing program that uses AA batteries to power the shot clock and light tree (SCCA Pro Solo program). We have been having an aweful year using Energizer AA batteries. I must have missed that issue due to our travels. What is the best AA and AAA battery that you tested.
Robin Melen
12:13:37 PM on Mon Jul 18 2011
Hi Linda~
In our tests of AA batteries, the Energizer e2 Lithium came out on top. As for alkalines, they were all pretty much the same. None did terribly well in digital cameras, but for toys and CD players, they all did just fine. Suggest you shop by price, then! Thanks for reading!
robin
Francia
12:20:54 PM on Sat Jun 1 2013
i like shopsmart, best way to shoping.