I constantly struggle with how much beauty cosmetics cost in Australia; we have an unbelievable mark up on the price of makeup and skin care compared to the US and Europe. Therefore, as a Melbourne girl, I need to be thrifty in my cosmetic purchases and make smart buys when I can. As a result of years of hunting and scouting the best prices on makeup, I have developed some sure fire techniques to get myself a beauty bargain.

Beauty Online Sales – They are some amazing online only sites that post daily deals. These are a mixture of well known brands and small time products that are going cheap. Normally the products are last season or excess stock from stores or goods with old packaging; all of them are brand new and unused. If you are happy to have last season’s beauty, signing up to these sales is cheap (free, actually) and easy to use, with regular emails and phone apps for most of the big sites. My recommendation: Ozsale, Brandsexclusive and Catch of the Day.

Mailing Lists – Every in store sales person bugs us at the counter to join their mailing list or become a VIP member, whatever their loyalty program is branded as. They are very good at sending weekly emails which can seem annoying. However, I would never have known about Priceline having 40% off all cosmetics if I didn’t get the email; I stocked up on all of my favourite products at a great price. Being selective with who you sign up to is the key and not hitting unsubscribe on the emails will ensure you stay in the loop.

Gumtree and eBay – Every day, normal people are uploading their unwanted goods to these market places. You can guarantee you won’t pay the same price as you would in store; sellers know that they can’t match in store prices and they don’t need to because of little over head costs. This is a great place to search for your favourite brands at a discount. My most recent success story came from a search on Gumtree. A seller was offloading four Revlon foundations, brand new Colour Stay, for $10 each, in my colour. Why the cheap price? She had bought the wrong colour and wanted to get rid of them!

Finding a friend overseas – Friends, relatives and co-workers, there is always someone you know who goes overseas. Yes, there is duty free which is great for fragrances but if you can convince your loved one to make a trip to a pharmacy or a retail outlet, you can definitely pick up a bargain! Though you may not be able to get as many pieces as you would if you were overseas, at least you have saved some cash!