Small foil packets, teensy bottles and tubs, and magazine inserts – all acceptable forms of beauty sample packaging and all the things in my personal beauty junk drawer. Nearly any makeup, skincare, or fragrance shopping trip leaves me with a few samples, which I gladly store up and sometimes forget about. What to do with all these samples?
Beauty samples are the perfect way to not only experiment with a new brand/product, but I find they are perfect for travel! On short trips, typically less than one week, I prefer taking my samples so I don’t have to travel with full-size products.
To get the best samples, you’ve got a few choices:
Sephora: Beauty Mecca offers samples of nearly everything, just ask! In-store, associates will create samples of anything you want to take home and try for a few days before you commit. You can also get three free samples with every Sephora.com order.
Subscription beauty box: Birchbox offers an affordable, monthly subscription box so you can try new products without breaking the bank. I often visit the Birchbox store in SoHo in NYC to build my own box that I can travel with! Sephora also offers a monthly minis box – Play! By Sephora – so you can try all kinds of products available in Sephora stores.
Gift with purchase: Department stores like Macy’s often offer a great, free gift with purchase – a promotional beauty kit when you spend a certain amount of dollars at that brand. Most items are travel size already, so it’s a great way of getting extra goodies when already shopping for beauty.
My favorite part? Finding my new favorite beauty product after trying a sample. A few of these have included Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara, Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipsticks, and Smashbox Photofinish Primer.