LifeStyle World

Trust Me—QVC Is the Most Underrated Place to Shop for Beauty Products

As a beauty editor I am often asked where I personally love to shop for products is, but with so many brilliant options out there—Cult Beauty, Harvey Nichols, Space NK, the list goes on—it can be hard to choose a favourite. However, there is one decidedly underrated beauty destination that I now swear by if I’m looking for a beauty bargain: QVC. Yes, a website that started life as a TV shopping channel might not seem like the obvious or most glamorous place to shop for beauty but after a friend converted me to the delights of shopping there last year I just can’t stop raving about it. Turns out, QVC stock some of my favourite beauty brands of all time and have the best beauty deals online—hands down. Trust me, I think it’s about time that we stopped overlooking this underrated shopping destination. 

So, what was it that turned me on to shopping at QVC in the first place? Back when we entered lockdown one in March last year I was 3 months postpartum and feeling—and looking—absolutely shattered. I was still on maternity leave and had heard that one of my favourite tanning brands, Tan-Luxe, had launched a glow-boosting body serum that everyone was going wild for. While I was musing the pros and cons of making a purchase in my girls WhatsApp group one of my friends mentioned that she had recently purchased the product on QVC where she’d nabbed a seriously good deal. I headed straight over to the website to snap it up—effectively getting the trending product for less than half-price in a 2-piece set along with my beloved Tan-Luxe Super Glow Face Serum—and was taken aback when I realised just how vast QVC’s offering of beauty products was. From classic beauty brands like Elemis and Bobbi Brown to cult favourites like Tarte and It Cosmetics, QVC really is a beauty destination in its own right and I’ve been recommending it to friends and family ever since. It’s not just me who loves shopping there either: far from it, in fact. Last year, QVC reported that it sold 17,470 beauty products each day on average—that’s a lot of shopping going on. And the big beauty players really recognise how game-changing stocking their products at QVC can be. “QVC are such an established beauty and lifestyle network; making our partnership the perfect way to reach new consumers across the country and immerse them into the world of Estée Lauder,” says Emmanuelle Noyer, Vice President & General Manager at Estée Lauder UK & Ireland. 

Ahead, I’ve rounded up the best QVC beauty offers to be found right now across skincare, makeup and hair. Be warned though: with so many exclusive products and deals, things often sell out—fast. Keep scrolling to shop my favourites now.

Elemis is one of the most popular brands sold on QVC and you’ll often find exclusive products and sets available on the website at great prices. I’m a huge fan of the classic Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm (along with the rest of the Who What Wear team) so was incredibly excited to discover that they’d launched a new scent in a supersized tub, available exclusively at QVC until the end of March. This one smells so refreshing with notes of mandarin, waterlily and orange flower but still contains all of the brilliant active ingredients of the original formula. 

This is probably the most famous hyaluronic acid serum in the world but if you’re yet to try this classic product then this smaller 20ml bottle is a great, more-affordable place to start. It works on all skin types and sinks in quickly to smooth skin and boost glow overnight.

I’ve raved about Foreo’s hi-tech skincare tools plenty of times before and love their cleansing devices. This is a seriously good deal that I’ve already recommended to a couple of friends if you’re looking to dip your toe into the world of beauty gadgets without breaking the bank. The tool itself would set you back £99 if you were to buy it separately elsewhere but you’ll also nab an amino acid-enriched cleanser and squalene-based serum with this package.

This is the deal that converted me to the joys of shopping at QVC. I already use and love the Tan-Luxe Super Glow self-tan serum and know so many beauty editors that swear by it. I’m rubbish at tanning but no matter how slapdash I am when applying this, it always leaves me with a natural, dewy glow. The body formulation has all of that good stuff but in a bigger bottle to apply to the rest of you. Oh, and if you were to buy them separately then it would total £70 so this is definitely a cool saving.

QVC are the UK’s exclusive retailer of Tarte which previously you could only order in from the states if you were willing to pay the expensive shipping fees. This cult product is one of the best-selling concealers in America and looks set to achieve the same status here—QVC sold 60,000 tubes of the stuff last year. I can attest to how brilliant this stuff is—I use it on everything from under-eye circles to blemishes.

Another product with major cult status, It Cometic’s iconic CC cream went on to become the best-selling CC cream in America after launching—and basically everyone I know also swears by it. If you’ve already been converted to the joys of this colour-correcting foundation then you’re in luck: this enormous version is 75ml, more than double the size of the usual 32ml tube.

I’m all for easy-to-use makeup products that leave me looking glowy and Bobbi Brown is one of those classic beauty brands that always delivers. This trio contains everything you need to create a sheeny, low-maintenance makeup look: including a shimmery highlighting powder, one of their iconic cream eyeshadow sticks and a lipstick.

Honestly, I’d never heard of Laura Geller before discovering beauty at QVC but this US brand is one of their top cosmetics brands with over half a million products sold from the collection last year. I have to say—this primer is one of the best I’ve tried. Not only does it help to keep your makeup in place for longer but it leaves skin with a golden glow that means I apply less in the first place.

It isn’t just big brands that it’s worth checking out QVC for, they also have some great indie beauty brands too. We Are Paradoxx are one such brand—a sustainable, plastic-free Irish haircare brand with truly innovative products. This duo contains everything you need to soften, hydrate and nourish your hair with a multipurpose oil and restorative mask for shinier, healthier strands.

Originally created for Audrey Hepburn, Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer hair treatment has to be one of the most iconic hair products of all time. I personally think it’s the most effective hair treatment I’ve ever used—my hair always feels so much healthier and less brittle after using it. I always look out on QVC before repurchasing it as they’ll often have supersized versions, like this 1 litre bottle, in limited edition scents. This one smells like holidays which I think we’ll all appreciate right now.

I really love the Dyson hair dryer but, let’s be real, £300 is an enormous amount of money to drop on a beauty product. So, while this isn’t exactly a deal, I wanted to take this moment to point out another benefit of shopping at QVC: easy pays. Basically, QVC offer the option to split your payment over 3 months so there’s less of a shock to your bank balance. Genius.

Although Liz Earle are renowned for their skincare, their haircare is really good too—and this offer was too good not to include. This set includes a shampoo (which smells amazing FYI), a nourishing conditioner and a botanical hair oil, all designed to boost shine and add gloss to even the most dry and damaged of hair types. Up next: I only had one haircut in 2020, but this product is keeping my hair healthy.