Deals on Cosmetics

May 20, 2004 12:28 PM

My grandmother wants me to find deals on high-end cosmetics for her. We've had luck on eBay before, but her latest particular request is coming up short for me. This question is two-part: 1) Where else can I look online/IRL for good prices on department store makeup? Google searches so far only point me to useless spam/ad sites or cheap chintzy makeup, and I can't think of anywhere to look IRL except outlet malls. 2) Cosmetics are hot business on eBay - I had no idea. How do you think these sellers get their stock? Are they employees with the privilege of ordering it wholesale through the store, perhaps? A lot of what's sold seems to be testers - is it possible to score some kind of deal at the counter for leftovers, if you're not an employee?
posted by Melinika to Shopping (1 answer total)

Two sites that I know to have good reputations are Strawberrynet.com and aDiscountBeauty.com. You will have much better luck with finding high-end discontinued makeup than say, items from the new Summer 2004 lines. I know of a couple people who sell high end makeup on eBay.. they are industry people (makeup artists and journalists) who get the products for free to use or review. I guess they end up with so many extra products that the temptation to sell just overwhelms them. ;)

FYI, just before Christmas Sephora always runs a 20% discount off your entire purchase with a coupon code. Not too helpful right now, but I like knowing about it so I can stock up on certain items that are never on sale otherwise.
posted by gatorae at 1:18 PM on May 20, 2004