How to Score Make-Up For Cheap and For Free

Natural beauty is just that…beautiful. But we all like to enhance ourselves a little. 

However, I no longer pay retail for any makeup or nail polish. In fact, 99% of the time I get them for free.

How? Simpler than you think actually. It’s all about making your local drugstore work for you. Most of us have a CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid that we shop at. Each store offers different incentives, coupons, deals and more. 

CVS – Offers Extrabuck rewards every week on different products. 99% percent of the time one of those products is make-up. Extrabucks are like free money to spend in the store. They are used just like coupons. $3 in Extrabucks equals $3 off your purchase.

They also offer the CVS ExtraCare Beauty Club. It’s completely free to join and register your ExtraCare Card. You get a 10% off Beauty Shopping Pass once enrolled. You earn $5 in Extrabucks for every $50 you spend in beauty. You get $3 in Extrabucks on your birthday. Plus exclusives deals and coupons sent right to your email. 

You will also get store coupons printed on your receipt from time to time. And most CVS stores have a coupon machine where you can scan your ExtraCare Card and snag even more store coupons.

Every week in your Sunday paper you can find coupons on beauty products. When you combine your manufacturers coupons with sales/Extrabuck deals at CVS – you can walk away with free make-up.

Let’s say L’Oreal make-up is on sale for buy 1 get 1 50% off. Plus they are offering $10 in Extrabucks for every $30 dollars spent. Let’s also say you have 2 manufacture's coupons for $3 off 2 L’Oreal products. And the CVS coupon machine popped out a $4 off any $12 L'Oreal purchase.

L'Oreal Mascara - Black $10.99 X 4 (Buy 1 Get 1 50% off) = $32.96
Use 2 manufacture's coupons for $3 off 2 (-$6) =  $26.96
Use your CVS coupon (-4) = $22.96 (cash - out of pocket)
Get back $10 in Extrabucks = $16.96
Plus $32.96 towards Beauty Club Rewards

Then the following week CVS has Covergirl on sale - Spend $10 and get $3 in Extrabucks (Limit 2)
And you have 4 Covergirl coupons for $1 off any 1 product
And the CVS coupon machine popped up a coupon for $5 off any $20 make-up purchase

Covergirl Eye Shadow $5.79 X 4 =  $23.16
Use 4 $1 manufacture's coupons (-$4) = $19.16
Use $5 CVS coupon (-$5) = $14.16
Pay with $10 extrabucks from previous week = $4.16 (Cash - out of pocket)
$23.16 towards Beauty Club Rewards (total of $56.12 - You have earned $5 Extrabucks)
Get back $5 Extrabucks from Beauty Club Reward
Get back $6 Extrabuck Rewards

For the next week you have $11 in Extrabucks to spend. So after a couple week's you begin rolling like a pro. Meaning you are paying for your make-up with coupons and Extrabucks instead of cash.

This system definitely takes a couple shopping trips to truly implement.And you will have trial and error. But don't give up. You can certainly score make-up for free on a regular basic when you work this system.

Walgreens – Offers Register Rewards. These are also frequently offered on beauty products. Register Rewards are free money as well. They are used like coupons. $3 in Register Rewards equals $3 off your purchase. Walgreens also has store coupons posted in their weekly ad. 

They also offer Balance Rewards. This is an incentive points program. You can earn points for purchases you make in-store or online. You can also earn points for tracking your healthy living activities. There are many ways to earn. Points can be redeemed for $5 or more off your next purchase.

When you combine your manufacturers’ coupons with Walgreens sales/Register Reward offers – you can get deeply discounted make-up and beauty items. Once you start collecting your Balance rewards, you can combine them with coupons, Register Rewards and sales and start walking away with free make-up. 

Rite Aid – Offers Up Rewards. And like the other two retailers, they offer Up Rewards weekly on beauty products. Up Rewards are just like cash. They are used as coupons at checkout. Each Up Reward is equal to $1 off your purchase. Rite Aid also offers store coupons in their weekly ad and coupons on their website you can earn from watching sponsored ads.

Rite Aid also has a points incentive program, Wellness+. You earn points for shopping in store, for prescriptions and watching videos on the online site. There are many ways to earn points. There rewards selection isn’t huge yet. But you can redeem points for magazine subscriptions, restaurant certificates and more. You can earn points on some of your beauty purchases even if you are using coupons and Up Rewards and walking away paying zero. 

Amazon- Now if you want to spend more money on make-up, which I do from time to time…I shop at Amazon. I usually buy my mascara at Amazon because I am a mascara junkie. I like mascara that stays on all day and really makes my eyes pop. So I am willing to spend a little cash on a great product. I choose Amazon not only because they have top rated brands, but because I can save big. And I often use Amazon giftcards towards my purchase. I usually earn at least one giftcard per month through Swagbucks.So I often walk away paying nothing at all. SCORE!

 Photo Credit: axiomphotog