6 Ways to Score Free Beauty Products

I Score at Sephora

Confession: I am a Sephora-holic. I am a card-carrying member of their free "beauty insider" program, which rewards you with a point for every dollar you spend. Once you reach 100 points you get to start redeeming the points for products. But today I refuse to spend a dime.

"I'm not sure about this shade," I say to an employee as I inspect the smear of Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation I've applied to my jawline.

"Yeah, it might be a little dark," she agrees. "Try this one."

She applies the lighter shade and steers me toward a mirror. "That one's perfect," she declares.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure..."

"Well, you need to be sure," she says. And with that she opens a huge drawer and my heart skips a beat. She selects a petite plastic pot and fills it to the brim with the foundation. There's enough in there to last me for weeks. "Anything else you'd like to try?" she asks. I mumble something about eyebrow pencil; she tells me I can try any pencil in the store but that they don't have samples. Mortified, I ask for a cheek color recommendation. She suggests Benefit Cosmetics Sheer Cream Blusher and squirts a healthy dollop into another pot.

And she's not done. "We just got this stuff in," she says smartly as she presses a few packets of Dr. Brandt Lineless Lines No More Filler & Volumizer into my eager hands. "It's amazing." And so are you, ultragenerous Sephora saleswoman.