You see, many of the brand leaders provide some free cosmetics for certain reasons that I explain below. And this is your opportunity to get your favorite luxury brands free of charge.

OK, first "why" and then "how". Well, there are three main reasons for the "why":

1- Market Testing

They may be "market testing" a new range. Who better to tell them what they think of the product than *you*. Think about it.

If you don't take a free bag of cosmetics or a high quality bag for say $1, then you are unlikely to go and buy the same products. But if you do take the products they provide for free or for $1, then you are more likely to later buy the product.

After testing, if you intend to buy the products later, then you obviously like the products. They will want to know what exactly you like about the products.

If you decide you won't be buying the cosmetics in the future, again they'll want to know how they can improve their cosmetics range. In short your opinion matters.

2- Market Stimulation

The cosmetics firm may be stimulating the market for a new product. So you will get a whole bunch of small samples or may be even full sized products. And if you're happy with the products, you will of course rave about it to all your frineds. Hey look, we all like to talk about the latest, biggest, best, most unusual, luxurious, etc, experiences we've had.

This is an age old technique used in marketing and you can benefit by knowing where to look and getting a regular supply of top brand cosmetics. Sometimes all it will takes is giving your opinion.

There are even times when the cosmetics firms will invite you to take part in their focus groups. In return for your detailed opinions the benefits can be huge.

When I say detailed, I mean you may have to fill in a 5 page form for example. They'll want to know what you thought of everything. The packaging, the product and even the way the cosmetics range was presented to you. Your rewards can be significant.

3- Marketing Boost

There are times when a cosmetics range has been around for a while and is well established. Even thought this cosmetics range is well liked, the newer competition and competitive marketing may be taking some customers away.

Many cosmetics firms run campaigns to give a bit of a boost to their existing ranges. This is why you often see TV and billboard advertisements for products that have been around for ages. But in those ads, they can offer free cosmetics to everyone nor can they let you touch, feel and sample the cosmetics.

Therefore the free offers are made through other means and the Internet has made this much easier and cheaper than ever. The result is that you too can benefit significantly as I will show you next.

How? Well, the free cosmetics products aren't advertised on the TV but they are widely publicized on the web. This makes it really easy for you to find them. There are specialist web sites that will list these offers for you.

Some offers last a long time and others come and go quickly. But by looking at these specialist sites you can pick and choose what you want when you want it.

All you need do is to conduct a search for the following terms: "free cosmetics", "cosmetics offers", "free cosmetics offers". But also try two variations:

A) Try repeating the above searches, each time replacing the term "cosmetics" with your preferred brand name(s).

B) Do as In A) but instead of replacing, try inserting your preferred rand name(s) in between "free" and "cosmetics" or before "cosmetics offers".

I have two more quick tips for you:

A) Firstly, read the details of the terms carefully. If they are asking you to jump through too many hoops and mailing it difficult for you to get the cosmetics then just move on.

"How much is too much" depends on you. You may find 15 minutes of form filling is great for what's being offered or you may hate giving your opinion for even 5 minutes, for $100 worth of products. In the end the choice is yours but read the details first.

B) Secondly, some cosmetics offers require your email address. This is not a bad thing as you may get those invites to participate in their focus groups etc.

Don't worry all the reputable brands will immediately remove you from their list any time you wish. All you do is click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of their emails.

However, I suggest you set up a separate email account for this purpose. This means your offers are always clearly visible to you all in one place. Also the offers won't clutter your inbox for your private mail.

This also enables you to quickly participate in some offers. After they send you an offer, if the cosmetics offer is good, then you can read the details. This saves you a lot of time wastage before you opt in.

Which ever email address you use, make sure you add the sender's address to your address book or white list so that your ISP doesn't filter the offers into your junk mail folder.

Well, that's about it. By tapping into one of these sites you get a regular supply of your favorite cosmetics free of charge. And at times, all it can take is your valued opinion.