Big Apple department stores are giving away cosmetics free – and if you’re lucky, you can bring home the booty in a matter of minutes.
It’s part of a settlement from a class-action suit that alleges price-gouging by 15 department stores and big-name cosmetics makers.
For speed and ease, try Bergdorf’s and Saks. Or, if you don’t mind standing in line, visit Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s.
And if you want to get a little something extra, bring a husband or male pal to stand in line behind you.
The giveaway began Tuesday and runs through next Monday, or until the stores run out of products.
Customers are only supposed to get one item, but there’s an honor system. People have gotten seconds and even thirds.
At the end of the day, I did pretty well. I visited five stores and came away with nine products worth $304.
At Bloomy’s, the line was 10 minutes long. They gave me two product tickets when I asked for an extra as a souvenir. They also gave two to a male pal I enlisted in my hunt.
Handing one ticket to a clerk, I took a bag containing Chanel body lotion ($50), and my friend took an Armani Code shower gel ($29).
I hit another table, where I got an Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair ($48).
Seeing my friend with several packages, a clerk called out, “Sir, one item per customer.” But she backed off when he says, “I’m with her,” motioning to me.
We scored three products.
We did even better than that at Macy’s, where they only let us have two choices.
There was a line around three sides of the store, and I had to wait 25 minutes in the freezing cold.
My friend and I each got two tickets.
I got a Chanel body lotion, and, to be greedy, I told the clerk I wanted to pick up a product for my friend, who suddenly had to go to the bathroom.
The clerk said she couldn’t let me have two products for legal reasons.
I got the idea of having a man stand in line behind me at Saks, where Sheryll Bellman, 64, a Manhattan writer, said she was having her hubby do that so she could get more stuff.
I got a Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely shower gel ($28) at Saks. I also visited Bergdorf’s and Lord & Taylor, scoring a Lancome black mascara ($35) at both.
Then, I was the last person at Lord and Taylor before they ran out of items.
Roxana Vlad, 30, a lighting designer from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, who had already picked up cosmetics at Bloomy’s, Bergdorf’s and Saks, was downcast.
“I’m a Chanel fan,” she said. “Every time I get my paycheck, I go to Lord and Taylor. I probably spent about $7,000 on cosmetics between 1994 and 2003. Now I’m getting back $50 or $60, but at least I’m getting something.”