Contest Articles

Giveaways

Have you ever wanted to try new beauty products without having to drop cash on them? After all, it may turn out you don’t like them. While $20 or $50 might not be much to shell out for a product you’re in love with, it’s quite a bit for a product you’ve never tried.

Beauty companies know this, so they often promote their goodies with makeup giveaways, contests, and sweepstakes. This is advertising for them, and opportunity for you.

Go for it!

Where Do I Find the Giveaways?

It’s a big internet out there! Sometimes, it’s a trick to wade through all the prolific spam-type advertising and find real values.

For example, if you Google “makeup giveaways 2014,” you will get 3,680,000 responses.

I would bet you a candy bar that a decent portion of those results are icky sites that get your contact information, and then sell it to someone even less reputable who will then bombard your email inbox with spam mail until you want to start screaming.

You think? I think.

Let’s Try That Again

Where do I find the giveaways that aren’t run by internet creepers?

Well here’s the thing: you can go with the respectable-looking sites all you want, but you should always protect yourself. Read the fine print before, or as, you sign up. An above-board site will always have their trustworthy guidelines in print for you.

Top Magazines to Check Out

Many of the long-standing women’s magazines have a giveaway and contest section. Here are a few to look into:
• Marie Claire Marketplace has a section that deals exclusively with free makeup samples. Some of the offers are discounts, and some are absolutely free.
• Cosmo Marketplace has a similar section for makeup giveaways and contests.
• Elle is another good beauty industry standard with a sweepstakes page. You cannot narrow your search to just makeup or beauty, but hey, there are trips and cash to be had in addition to the makeup. Nothing wrong with trips and cash!
• Lucky magazine is similar to Elle in that they give away all sorts of things and you cannot sort down to just makeup and beauty offers. Nevertheless, I could totally handle a shopping spree right now, couldn’t you?

What About Blogs and Websites?

There are a number of beauty blogs out there offering makeup prizes and giveaways to get you to sign up for their e-newsletters and whatnot. If you are interested in the blog, great. If not, move on, because there are also sites out there whose sole focus is giveaways.

Here are a couple:
• FreeSamplesMakeup is a website that specializes in free makeup samples with no gimmicks. Weirdly, it is run by two dudes.
• LuckyContests pools information on all types of giveaways and contests. Sorting by category gets you to beauty products easily.

Also, if you are a fan of a particular brand name, check their site for giveaways and contests.

Obviously, careful thought and a little research is required. But there are makeup prizes out there to be enjoyed and giveaways to indulge in.
Free stuff, here we come!