September's the Best Month for Big Beauty Deals

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

September always feels like a fresh start. Maybe it goes back to those elementary school days, when a new backpack awaited, filled with pencils and crayons. As adults, we covet other kinds of colorful essentials: beauty supplies!

Lucky for us, September is the best month to shop for skin care and makeup. According to data that RetailMeNot shared with Racked, beauty merchants offer the highest average savings and the most gifts-with-purchase during the second week of September. For percent-off details, the fourth week in September is best. We dig some digging to find the scoop on what beauty merchants will be offering this fall.

Birchbox

Beauty cred: Birchbox provides monthly deliveries of personalized beauty goodies, has an ecommerce shop, and has a brick-and-mortar store in SoHo.

• September 16: Customer Appreciation Day! Free BYOB with any Birchbox purchase, plus other free surprises.
• Gift with any Davines hair care purchase of $50 or more, get a free 10-ml Sea Salt Spray.

CAP Beauty

Beauty cred: This website and shop in Manhattan’s West Village offers natural skin care, hair care and makeup. It’s been featured in Glamour and Women’s Wear Daily magazines.

• Sign up for the newsletter via the website and you’ll receive 10% off your purchases all month.

Cos Bar

Beauty cred: High-end skin care, makeup, fragrance, beauty, and bath and body products can be found at Cos Bar’s website, or in its 13 stores in 8 states.

• September 12 to 19: Gift with purchase. Spend $150 or more, and receive deluxe size samples from a variety of brands.
• All month: Fall Into Beauty event will see various brands participating with special offers; check the website to see who is offering what that day.

The fine print: Quantities may be limited.

Image: Image source/Getty

Glossier

Beauty cred: The new makeup company from Into the Gloss founder Emily Weiss focuses on modern skin care staples, with no animal testing.

• September 13 to October 11: Free shipping on any order over $30.

HSN

Beauty cred: Shopping channel and website HSN reaches 95 million households. It offers 1,077 options in just the fragrance category alone.

• September 14: Too Faced Nude Beach La Crème Lipstick and Lip Injection Extreme Gloss, $25 (regularly $28).
• September 14 to 20: Free shipping on all makeup.
• September 15: Carol’s Daughter Monoi Mask, $22.90 (regularly $32).
• September 16: Benefit Cosmetics Box O’Powder Collection, $80 (regularly $100).
• September 17: vBeaute It Kit, $49 (regularly $99).
• September 18: Becca Souffle Duo $25 (regularly $34).
• September 22 to 28: Free shipping and handling on Dr. Brandt Laser Perfect Duo, $69.50.
• All of September: 25% off Signature Club A brand. And, extra flex payment options for select Buzzworthy Beauty items (Hair: Tweak’d, Voloom, ECRU, TruHair, Blow Pro and Taya; Skincare: MD Solar Sciences, vBeaute, M61, Dr. Brandt, Dr. Shultz and Korres; Makeup: Becca and Benefit; Bath and Body: Daily Concepts, Lather and Ahava; Tools: Simple Human, Iluminage, and Violife).

The fine print: Some of these deals coincide with HSN’s weekly beauty program, "The Beauty Report," on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. The program expands to a series, September 14th to 18th, with two hours of beauty programming from 7 to 9 p.m. every evening. Free shipping on all items featured.

Image: Driely S. for Racked

LeVert Beauty

Beauty cred: LeVert carries pure, nontoxic brands of skin care, makeup, and bath and body products. The website has been featured in Allure.

• All of September: The site will be running a "Welcome Fall" celebration, with 10% off all orders. LeVert Beauty also does free two-day shipping on all orders over $75, and if you sign up for the newsletter, you get 15% off your first order.

LovelySkin.com

Beauty cred: This dermatologist-owned beauty website is based in Omaha and has over 350 brands and 14,000 products. Dr. Joel Schlessinger also founded a clinical trial facility where they test things like topical Botox.

Throughout September:

• 25% off on all Obagi products.
• 35% off on SkinMedica Skin Polisher and SkinMedica TNS Line Refine. Use code SMSAVE at checkout.
• Receive a free $75 SkinMedica four-piece travel set with any $125 SkinMedica purchase. Use code SMTRAVEL.
• Receive a free $60 SkinCeuticals Early Signs of Aging Regimen travel bag with any $120 SkinCeuticals purchase. Use code SCTRAVEL.
• Receive a free $32 Glytone Body Retexturize Exfoliating Body Wash with any $75 Glytone purchase. Use code GLYBODY.
• Receive a free $25 DermaBlend Mini Foundation Brush with any $75DermaBlend purchase. Use code DERMABRUSH.
• Receive a free $29 Mirabella Myth Visionary Long Wear Eyeshadow with any $75 Mirabella purchase. Use code MIRAEYE.
• Save 20 to 50% on all clearance items.

The fine print: All deals are while supplies last. To see more steals and deals from LovelySkin, visit www.LovelySkin.com/Sale.

Murad

Beauty cred: Based in El Segundo, California, Murad just opened a flagship store on 3rd Avenue in LA. The founder is Howard Murad, a board certified dermatologist and associate professor at the Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.

• September 10 to 16: Friends and Family sale, with 20% off everything and free shipping. Use the URL www.murad.com/bestsellers; the coupon code is available on that page for redemption.
• All of September: Receive a free cleanser (4.5 oz size of either Clarifying Cleanser or Essential-C Cleanser) with any $60 purchase. Use the same URL as above.

Image: Driely S. for Racked

Onyx Creative

Beauty cred: This LA-based online destination carries all-natural, organic beauty products, like Supermood from Finland, and Miss Violet Lace and Good 4 You Herbals, from the U.S.

• Free international shipping throughout September.
• Buy a skin care set and get a lip balm for free.

Skin Owl

Beauty cred: Founder Annie Tevelin uses organic argan oil and other pure ingredients to create natural skin care products like Beauty Drops and Eye + eye treatment.

• September 14 to 18: Free shipping just for Racked readers. Use the code RACKED.

Ulta Beauty

Beauty cred: According to RetailMeNot, Ulta had the most free gift deals among the beauty merchants in September 2014. We checked in with the company — which carries 20,000 products and 500 brands — to see what was on offer this year.

• September 6 to Septemeber 26: Annual event, 21 Days of Beauty, held at Ulta Beauty stores nationwide and on the website. Each day throughout the 21 days, there will be one-day-only Beauty Steals — which are deals on top beauty products from brands like Too Faced, Tarte, Urban Decay, IT Cosmetics, Philosophy and Bliss. A few examples:
• September 7: Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel, 50% off.
• September 9: Too Faced Le Crème Color Drenched Lip Cream, 50% off.
• September 10: Stila Smudgestick eyeliner, buy 1, get 1 free.
• September 13: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes four-in-one mascara, 50% off.