Editor’s note: Black Friday has ended, so we’re no longer updating this post. If you want to shop Cyber Monday deals, see our roundup of the best Cyber Monday beauty deals here.
The biggest shopping holiday of the year — Black Friday — is upon us. Once a one-day mad dash to the stores, it’s now a weekend-long (and sometimes monthlong) event, where products are deeply discounted and arrive in time to stick under the tree. It’s my favorite to repurchase essentials and buy fancy beauty products that feel painful to purchase otherwise. As always, there’s a lot of stuff to sift through, which is why I’ve clicked through thousands (no, really) of products to surface stuff that’s actually worth it. Each pick is at least 20 percent off (our deals editor says anything less isn’t actually a good deal), and most of it we’ve written about before.
To make navigation easy, I’ve organized products by retailer. And if you’re in the market for other stuff — a new robe perhaps, Parachute is an impressive 30 percent off — we’ve collected all the deals in our big Black Friday deals post for you to peruse.
Deals I Personally Think Are the Best
Dyson’s hot tools are pricey and tend to go on sale a couple times a year, but rarely do I see a bigger discount than 20 percent. Currently, the Supersonic hair dryer, my go-to, is 23 percent off at Amazon and Nordstrom (I believe they’re price-matching) — the cheapest I’ve seen it this year. I’m also stocking up on Necessaire’s excellent body products, which are 25 percent off on the brand’s site and combing through Net-a-Porter’s beauty offerings — while its selection is hypercurated, you can snag brands like Aesop and Le Labo for 30 percent off if you act fast.
Lots of the stuff on sale is a rerun of what I saw during Prime Day (and at Prime Day prices), like Crest whitening strips and COSRx Snail Mucin Essence. There’s lots of Tatcha on sale too, a rare opportunity to snag the luxury skin-care brand at a discount.
Anthropologie is offering 30 percent off on its beauty selection, which includes some of our favorite brands, like Slip, Salt & Stone, and L’Occitane. I, for one, will be stocking up on more silk scrunchies and filling my shower with nice-smelling body washes. And if you’re in the market for sunscreen, this is the best price I’ve seen for Supergoop internetwide.
If you’re on the hunt for natural beauty products (think fruit and vegetable extract moisturizers), CAP Beauty has a nice curation. Products are discounted up to 40 percent and if you spend more than $100, the order ships free.
Credo Beauty, a leader in the “clean beauty” space, is running a 20 percent discount sitewide. That means cheaper-than-normal Kosas, Ilia, and Westman Atelier.
Dermstore is discounting its products up to 30 percent off when you use the code: JOY. That means cheaper-than-usual Elta MD, Sunday Riley and La-Roche Posay.
Fur is offering deep discounts sitewide — 30 percent off all the products, including the ingrown hair-inhibiting Fur Oil, which launched the brand to fame. The only caveat: Bundles and kits aren’t included, but with such a big discount, you could theoretically re-create it on your own.
This year, Glossier is doing a tiered discount structure. Orders over $100 will get 30 percent off and anything under that is 25 percent. That means under $60 Glossier You and $12 tubes of Balm dot com — an unbeatable price. Carts over $120 also get a free tube of Cloud Paint through December 1.
There’s something soothing about a face mask on a Friday night, and with 30 percent off all Loops’ masks, you can test out a bunch.
The entire Marie Veronique line is 20 percent off, including the brand’s collaboration with skin-care specialist Kristina Holey. That collection includes our favorite cleansing oil, the Pure + E.O Free Cleanser, which nourishes the skin while cleaning and doesn’t contain irritants like fragrance.
Net-a-Porter has a highly curated beauty selection, but it’s a sleeper hit. They stock fancy beauty brands like Susanne Kaufman, Le Labo, and Cle de Peau and offer discounts up to 50 percent off. Anything over that (there’s a few things hovering around the 70 percent off range) is likely final sale — something to keep in mind.
Necessaire makes exceptional body products. I’m personally a big fan of the body lotion and body wash as well as the now-discontinued body cream (RIP). We’ve also written about it a lot over the years. In 2018 our beauty columnist Rio Viera-Newton sang the praises of the brand’s “shockingly eczema-friendly body wash,” and the body exfoliator, lotion, and hand cream are stars of their respective best-in-class stories. As for the deal, the entire site is 25 percent off, the cheapest I’ve seen this year.
Deals vary in Nordstrom’s beauty section — ranging from 17 to 40 percent off. I’ll be buying another TangleTeezer Ultimate Detangler (25 percent off) and trying out an Olaplex No. 5 in a bid to maintain my ginger-brown dye job.
For efficacious skin care that won’t irritate, Paula’s Choice is my go-to. I’m a loyalist to the AHA/BHA chemical exfoliant and will be using the 25 percent sitewide discount to buy a bottle for myself and my skin-care-obsessed sister.
Fragrance brand Phlur isn’t often on sale, so the 20 percent discount is notable. I’m personally considering restocking their Heavy Cream fragrance, which has notes of lemon sugar, marshmallow, jasmine, vanilla, and whipped cream.
New kid on the beauty block Refy is offering 20 percent off sitewide. Writer Emma Firth wrote convincingly about the Refy multi-sticks, which she said makes her feel like an “early ’90s Julie Delphy in Before Sunrise” (a vibe). And if blush sticks don’t appeal, I abandoned my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze for the brow gel a year ago and never looked back.
Sephora is rolling out new deals daily leading up to the big weekend, so you’ll have to keep an eye on the calendar. The deal for today, Black Friday, is 30 percent off Fenty Beauty by Rihanna. There’s also a grab bag of other Sephora products up to 50 percent off. (My fellow writer, Arielle Avila, has rounded up even more picks from the sale in her Sephora Black Friday deals post.)
Shopbop is best-known for their fashion offerings, but it has a solid beauty section too. For Black Friday, the site is discounted 25 percent, so you can get a good deal on brands like Ouai and Tan-Luxe.
Everything is 25 percent off at Skinfix, making the brand’s fairly pricey moisturizers a bit more attainable. It’s a good time to stock up on its popular peptide-packed moisturizer, which Rio has said supports the skin’s barrier, minimizes redness, and boosts skin hydration.
Soft Services is offering a tiered discount structure, starting at 5 percent when you spend up to $49 and $20 percent when you spend over $150. The brand very rarely goes on sale so the prospect of getting a buffing bar for cheap is compelling, but I recommend filling up your cart if you’re planning on shopping.
A longtime go-to for K-Beauty brands, Soko Glam is a great resource for product discovery and stocking up on products you might not find on Stateside shelves. There’s also deep discounts on the in-house brand Then I Met You, which makes a cleansing balm that Rio has said is on par with the ultrapopular Banila Clean It Zero (also on sale).
Sol De Janiero is one of those rare brands still treating Black Friday as a one-day-only event. So if you want 25 percent off its mists, butters, or a big ol’ pot of bum bum cream, make sure you checkout before midnight.
Ssense
Don’t sleep on the Ssense beauty section. It’s highly curated and the deals are good for high end makeup brands like Hourglass, Byredo and Cle de Peau. What makes it good, though, is their fragrance selection. Ssense stocks brands like Floraiku and Vilhelm along with some designer favorites like Acqua di Parma and Tom Ford. With discounts up to 50 percent off, it’s a good opportunity to try out something you won’t smell on everyone else. My only warning is reading the fine print; some of the really good deals are final sale.
Target’s beauty selection has become increasingly diverse over the years, with premium brands like K18 sitting alongside drugstore favorites like Aveeno and Dove, due partly to the collaboration with Ulta. There’s discounts across the spectrum, making it a good spot to grab a nice mix of products.
Tower28 is another brand doing a tiered discount structure. When you spend $50 or less, you’ll get 20 percent off. Over $50, 28 percent. Personally I’ll be buying another shade of BeachPlease, the colorless highlighter and a refill-size bottle of the popular SOS Spray.
T3 — which makes some of our favorite, versatile curling irons and very-convenient foldable travel blow dryer — is 30 percent off with very few exceptions.
While you can find discounted Tatcha at a few retailers, the best deal is on the brand site. Everything is 25 percent off when you use the code: CYBER24. It’s even cheaper than the annual Friends and Family sale, so if there’s anything you have your eye on, I wouldn’t wait.
Similarly to Sephora, Ulta is offering different deals depending on the day. Unlike Sephora, there are deals on brands and selections from product categories like moisturizers or foundations. Ulta is doing both percentage and flat-price deals. The flat-price deal is limited but worth it if your favorite product is among the options — in some cases, like the NARS matte lip balm, it’s a discount of over 50 percent.
Violet Grey
Everything on Violet Grey is vetted by beauty-industry veterans, so you can trust the selection is well curated. The Best of Beauty event is the brand’s answer to Black Friday, with an even tighter group of products discounted 20 percent.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
