Do You Love Black Friday Sales?

by BR Kellie

Remember when Boxing Day sales weren't just a thing but THE thing? Once a year New Zealand would go into sale mode and people would flock to the malls to pick up the best bargains of the year. These days? You can't open your inbox or tap into a web page without a sale being thrust in your eyeballs' direction. Not only that but the BIG sales days have multiplied, with Cyber Monday and Black Friday being added into the shopping calender. But are they really such a big deal for beauty lovers?

In all honesty, I can't remember a single Cyber Monday or Black Friday beauty sale that was NZ-based and caught my eye. At least not compared to the deals being offered in different categories. Love tech? You're in luck. My husband literally saves all year to buy his geek gear and saves hundreds upon hundreds of dollars buying up audio plug ins and, I don't know, cables. (I'm not even joking - his cable collection rivals my cosmetic collection.) Me? I saved up a little, saw the usual 10 to 20% off deals in the beauty category and decided to save my cash in the hopes that the Boxing Day sales delivered the goods. (They didn't.)

On the whole it seemed that New Zealand beauty retailers skipped the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales completely, or offered up bundles of products at reduced prices - which is all well and good if you want everything in the bundle, but if 80% of the products are of no use to you due to skin tone and/or skin preferences, then you're not really saving anything.

As for the overseas retailers? There are bargains to be found, especially if they're US-based companies, being that that's where Black Friday stemmed from. In fact recently I was captivated by an email that appeared in my inbox; the subject heading stating: 40% off sitewide, pre-Cyber Monday sale.

The sender? Tarte cosmetics. As for the deal? Actually, 40% off is pretty darn amazing, and I filled up my cart with goodies I've always wanted to try. The result? I saved my pennies because the postage cost pretty much erased the savings.

And there's the rub, if the overseas sites' offers are cancelled out by the cost of postage, my money will stay in my virtual pocket. And if the local beauty selling businesses want to take part but do so in a way that matches the usual offerings that pop up every few weeks, or reduce the price of products that are from two seasons ago and weren't all that great to begin with, there's hardly a reason to cough up the cash. 

For me Cyber Monday and Black Friday are just another two days in a calender. It's more likey to mean 'Cyber spent-too-much-time-on-my-computer-and-now-my-shoulders-ache Monday' or 'Black missed-out-on-Hourglass's-latest-palette-release-and-now-I'm-crying-into-my-coffee Friday'. So unless the sales are switched up to something sensational I'll be keeping my coins.

That's just my point of view though, I'd love to know what yours is...

Will you be partaking in this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales? Have you done so in the past? And what were your best bargains? Or is this an easy pass for you? Hit up our poll and get chatting below!