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If you dream of going to a fancy-pants spa and ordering a day's worth of treatments (and Champagne) without even glancing at the price list, join the club. Our reality looks more like this: paint our nails at home and pray we don’t eff them up while picking at our sad Trader Joe’s dinner.
But there's a workaround: Some sleuthing into the workings of our favorite beauty retailers found that we don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to make it look like we did. In fact, we don’t have to spend a single cent. Because there are dozens of ways to cop free facial treatments, hand massages, makeup applications, and more — if you know where to go and what to ask for.
One shop encourages you to follow a curated YouTuber’s tutorial with — get this — their stash of makeup. Another will give you a robust, 20-minute facial treatment that infuses a whole lot of pricey serum (it costs $250 a bottle) into tired skin. A third will hook you up with a free makeup application, then text you a video of the process so you can replicate it at home. And should you have to go from impromptu slumber party to work without so much as a tube of mascara in your bag? There’s a place where you can get your face done in five minutes flat.
Okay, we know these gratis services are designed to sell products. And many of these employees make their living from commission. So utilizing these free treatments and keeping decorum may mean spreading your usual beauty purchases out over a few store visits. Regardless, when you just need a little bliss on a rough day, the services in the slides ahead are a freaking godsend.
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