I Have a $250 Budget to Shop Augustinus Bader and Olaplex From This Luxury Beauty Sale

As a beauty editor who specializes in shopping, it would be heresy to not share with you one of my favorite places to shop beauty products. And it’s not Sephora, Ulta, or even Nordstrom. It’s the semi-under-the-radar website Dermstore. It has a curated selection of tried and true favorites and brands I’ve yet to discover. Best of all, its sitewide sales are actually sitewide—they always include even the expensive and prestigious brands like Augustinus Bader and NuFace. It’s having one of its unbeatable sales right now for Memorial Day Weekend—take 20 percent off sitewide until May 31 with the code SUN. 

I have been steeped in anticipation waiting for this sale because there are quite a few things I want to try and a few things I need to restock. I gave myself a $250 budget (my total comes out to $239) and these are the six skincare and hair care products I’m buying. 

Shop Editor-Approved Dermstore Memorial Day Weekend Deals:

Augustinus Bader The Hair Oil

I buy something from Augustinus Bader every time the brand is on sale. It’s just so expensive and so rare. This time, following months of bleaching my curls, I’m going with The Hair Oil. It’s formulated with the brand’s proprietary TFC8 complex that supposedly adjusts itself to each individual’s hair needs. 

Babor Hydra Plus Ampoule Concentrates

My skin is oily, breakout-prone, and dehydrated. It’s a cursed combination and Babor’s Hydra Plus Ampoule Concentrates is one of the only products that can remedy it. It comes with seven ampoules—one for each day. But, it has a thin, nearly water-like consistency, so I use half an ampoule a day, thereby lasting me two weeks. It’s like a quarterly boot camp for my skin, when I’m out the other side my skin has a deep level of hydration that is impossible to replicate with other products. 

Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector

I will protect my hair with my life, so although I could use Olaplex No. 3 more sparingly, I will and do not. That being said, I go through a lot of this. There is a marked difference between wash days when I use this and when I don’t. It makes my hair easy to brush, less frizzy, hydrated, and keeps my curls intact. 

SkinMedica Instant Bright Eye Cream

SkinMedica has an inimitable feature, it’s a skincare brand from the makers of Botox. The only product I’ve tried so far is its Instant Bright Eye Mask which is the most transformative eye patch you’ll ever try. Following my obsession with those I will be purchasing its Instant Bright Eye Cream—maybe my dark circles, puffiness, and fatigue will finally meet their match. 

Grande Cosmetics GrandeLash-MD Lash Enhancing Serum

I don’t mind mascara (anymore) but what I really want are lashes that are so long, wispy, and fluttery that people ask me where I got my extensions done. Grande Cosmetics’s GrandeLash is the bullet train that’s going to get me there. It has thousands of five-star ratings and a celebrity fanbase. In a few months, I fully expect my lashes to be so long they become windshield wipers for my glasses. 

Glo Skin Beauty C-Shield Anti-Pollution Moisture Tint

I am paranoid about adequate sun coverage, but sometimes adding the layer to my skincare and makeup routine causes pilling, congestion, or breakouts. I use Glo Skin Beauty’s C-Shield Anti-Pollution Moisture Tint year round but go through it like water come summer. There is a lot of skincare science that makes this product magic, but I’m going to keep it short; C-Shield lasts all day, doesn’t make me oily, hides my redness, conceals imperfections, and blurs my pores.