Amazon Is Letting You Sample Beauty Products for Under $5

When it comes to investing in beauty products, few would argue that the most difficult aspect is figuring out which formulas are worth spending your hard-earned cash on. How do you know if a specific product will work well with your skin type and actually address your key concerns? Since skin care is not one size fits all, the answer to that question is virtually impossible to figure out without sampling the product on your skin first. That said, as you can imagine, playing a game of trial-and-error with a handful of beauty products can become expensive very, very quickly.

But what if we told you sampling beauty products could cost you between $2 to $4 each, and they’d all be delivered straight to your door? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s exactly what Amazon is offering their Prime customers through Amazon Prime Samples. The newly-launched program—exclusive to Prime customers—lets you order travel-sized samples of beauty products as a way to help you determine whether or not you’d like to invest in the larger size.

Here’s how it works: You start by logging into your Prime account—if you don’t have one yet, this is definitely incentive to sign up!—and visiting the Prime Samples page. Browse through the beauty & grooming section, where you’ll come across a wide range of beloved products, including a handful from L’Oreal portfolio of brands like the Garnier SkinActive Clearly Brighter Argan Nut Exfoliating Cleanser, the La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer, the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Rich Cream, and more. Once you’ve settled on which products you’d like to sample, you can them add to your cart for between $2 and $4 a pop. Upon checkout, Amazon will refund you the amount spent on the samples in the form of credits. (Example: If you spend $4 on samples, you’ll receive $4 of credits.) You can then use those credits towards purchasing the full-size version of that sample. In other words, if you try a sample and you end up investing in the larger size with money from your credits, that sample costs you nothing. 

More good news? There’s no limit on the number of samples you can try. However, you won’t be able to order the same sample twice, and your credits expire after 180 days. While you’re on Prime Samples, be sure to check out the offerings in the other categories. In addition to beauty and grooming products, the service allows you to sample beverages and food products, vitamins, supplements, and more.