Sometimes I wish brands would stop releasing so many great products. I mean, I own 40 lipsticks (a fact I’ve recently discovered) but that doesn’t make me any less likely to treat myself to a new one every now and then.
See, the problem with beauty products is that, sure, you can test them in store, but in the end you have to take the plunge and buy the product, and then pray that you like it as much as that little swatch on your hand. But what if you don’t? You’ve then gotta go through the hassle of Depop-ing that ‘swatched only’ product and deal with a bunch of people offering you £5 inc p+p for something you dropped £25 on.
So what should you be doing instead?
Minis
Minis are most commonly found in perfume form, but did you know that brands like Benefit also do scaled down sizes of their best selling products? Boots do selections at 3 for £25 or 4 for £15 here, and not only do they make it easy for you to try out great products for a fraction of the price, but they’re also perfect travel sized products!
Magazine samples
I can’t be the only one who chooses magazines based on the free gift, right? Sure, its less of a big deal with grown-up magazines, but I still get a little excited when I see a free nail varnish or beauty sample, and even if there isn’t a free gift as such, they’re often still full of hidden gems like perfume samples!
Feel Unique Pick’n’Mix
This is my favourite discovery this year. The Pick’n’Mix scheme is simple and brilliant: choose 5 products out of a huge selection of what’s available, and pay just £3.95 to cover postage. This £3.95 is then returned to you in the form of a voucher to spend against a future purchase, should you fall in love with what you tried. Not only does it give you a free way of trying products, but there’s such a wide range of products, you might try something you’d never think about before. You can only do this once a month, but already I’ve tried NARS, Trilogy, NudebyNature, Benefit, theBalm and much more!
Have you tried any great products recently?
Lottie Does 
omg I love the layout of your blog!
Thank you!