Need-to-Know Beauty Web sites

With all of today's technology and resources, information is easily accessible and the internet has the widest array of information ever. For anyone who likes, loves, or even just uses cosmetics and beauty products, there are a few sites that everyone should know about. Whether you are buying, talking, or learning on one of these sites, they are all useful and a great way to let passion for makeup and beauty blossom. In no way is this all of the great sites, these are just a few of my favorites and the ones I use most regularly.

#1 - youtube.com

Everyone who uses a computer nowadays knows about YouTube. For the average internet user, YouTube is just a place where you watch viral videos or videos of the now. What a lot of people do not know is that there is a gigantic beauty community on YouTube featuring everything you would ever want to know. In all of these beauty videos, you can find things like shopping trips, reviews, tips and tricks, and even tutorials for every look you can imagine. YouTube is also a great site for communicating with people who make these videos to get advice about a certain product or a beauty issue you may be having. It is completely free and easy to sign up, making it the number one need-to-know beauty site on the internet.

#2 - makeupalley.com

Makeup Alley is a great site for all things beauty as it has so many different uses. The first use it is known for is swapping. For people who don't know what swapping is, you look through listings on the site for something you really want, or you can search. If you find something, you can contact that person and try to arrange a swap. I won't go into too much detail as I am planning to do an in-depth how to swap video, but you get the picture. For those of you who aren't comfortable sanitizing other's cosmetics and using them, that's fine! You can also find forums, message boards, members to chat with, and most importantly, product reviews and places to review products. Don't think of Makeup Alley as just swapping, because it definitely is not.

#3 - specktra.net

This site is especially for anyone who loves MAC Cosmetics. Specktra is a giant forum where MAC-lovers from all around the world come to discuss and embrace MAC collections, MAC products, and everything MAC. There are also a few places to chat about other brands, but for the most part, it is all about the collections. Here, you can find member face-of-the-days, collection information, and even product swatches from upcoming collections. All of the people on here are super-friendly and really fun to talk to. However, if you are on a budget, I might avoid this site as the forums and discussions on here have been known to convince people to buy something that hadn't wanted to before. But, I really do love this site as it is so fun, so unique, and they usually get product swatches sometimes months in advance. Very helpful, but you do have to wait to be approved for membership (though it is free).

#4 - temptalia.com

This site is sort of a blog, but more high-tech. I do not mean to single out any one site or say it is better than someone else's blog, but this is my favorite beauty blog to visit. The lady who runs this site (Christine) is nice beyond words and very helpful. At temptalia.com you will find reviews, collection previews, polls, looks/tutorials, sale information, and more. What I love the most about this specific blog is that she brings the readers in and really care what they have to say. She also does great swatches for products and has a great review system. I really, really love this site and usually visit at least every other day.

While the above four are great for learning and talking, I thought I would share some of my favorite shopping sites as well. I do not mean brand websites or anything like Ulta or Sephora- I mean purely discounted and discontinued stuff you can no longer get. My favorite way to shop!

#5 - beautycrunch.com

Beauty Crunch is kind of a small site, but everything on there is great! At beautycrunch.com, you will find some big name brands like Stila, Too Faced, DuWop, and others, along with some other smaller companies, at awesome prices with huge discounts. On here, you can also find some specific coupon codes for free shipping at big name sites like stilacosmetics.com. Their shipping is extremely fast, though somewhat expensive, and while they do not take returns, if something arrives damaged, they will do everything they can to make it better. That being said, they package everything extremely well and in all of my ordering days, I have never had issues with anything arriving damaged.

#6 - allcosmeticswholesale.com

This is, without a doubt, my favorite discount cosmetics shopping site. All Cosmetics Wholesale features a huge array of brands from Revlon to Yves Saint Laurent at amazing, outstanding prices. The shipping on here is always speedy and everything is always packed nicely. Some items are not on sale, but most are, some at crazy prices like a MAC eyeliner for $4.99! What is also great about this site is that you can find discontinued and limited edition items for the same price they sold for originally, sometimes less, instead of jacking up the price to hundreds of dollars like some other places I have experienced. They do run out of stock very quickly sometimes, but they are completely amazing and reliable- all of their products are authentic and brand new.

So, for now, those are my need-to-know beauty sites. Even if you already knew about most of them, I hope I was able to spread the word at least a little about these awesome places. If anyone uses any of these, let me know what you think!