The 9.9 beauty sale is everywhere right now. Local beauty brands are promising discounts of 50% or more, bundles are being marked down, and Shopee and Lazada carts are filling up ahead of September 9.
But there is one problem with judging a sale based on the percentage printed beside the price.
What did the product actually cost before 9.9?
PeoplePlacesPlates checked selected products from BLK Cosmetics, GRWM Cosmetics, Happy Skin and Dermorepubliq on September 8, 2026, a day before 9.9, to establish a price baseline.
And we found something worth knowing before you wait until midnight to check out:
Some of the 9.9 deals have already started.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the discounts aren’t real. But it does mean that a product being “50% off” on September 9 does not automatically mean waiting for 9.9 saved you 50%.
Welcome to the first PPP Price Check.
The first surprise: BLK already 50% off on some products
Take the BLK Cosmetics Creamy All Over Paint.
BLK’s own website lists the product at ₱399. But when PPP checked the brand’s official Shopee listing on September 8, it was already selling for ₱199, marked 50% off.
That is a genuine ₱200 reduction from the listed regular price.
But unless the price falls even further on September 9, the interesting finding isn’t that you can save 50% on 9.9.
It’s that you could already get the same 50% discount the day before.
The same pattern appears elsewhere in BLK’s store.
Its False Lash Waterproof Mascara, normally listed by the brand at ₱399, was already appearing on Shopee for ₱199, while the Radiant Glow Filter Bronzer was down from ₱599 to ₱399.
So far, these are real markdowns. What remains to be seen is whether 9.9 itself makes them any cheaper.
Happy Skin’s ₱599 Jelly Blush is already ₱299
Happy Skin is another good example of why shoppers should distinguish between a sale discount and a 9.9-only discount.
When PPP checked the Happy Skin Jelly Blush on September 8, its product page showed a sale price of ₱299, down from ₱599.
That’s roughly half off.
If the Jelly Blush remains ₱299 on September 9, then the 50% saving itself is legitimate, but there would be no additional advantage to waiting for the calendar to turn to 9.9.
Of course, that can change once vouchers enter the equation.
A store voucher, platform-wide voucher or free-shipping offer could make tomorrow’s final checkout price lower even when the product’s displayed price stays exactly the same.
And that’s why simply recording the number shown on the product page isn’t enough.
Dermorepubliq is already showing discounts up to 55%
Dermorepubliq is promoting one of the larger percentage discounts around this year’s 9.9 sale, with selected products marked as much as 55% off.
Its 5% Niacinamide + 3% Tranexamic Acid + 2% Alpha Arbutin Serum was listed on the brand’s website at ₱202 from ₱449 when PPP checked on September 8. Dermorepubliq’s ₱449 regular price is also reflected by Watsons Philippines.
That’s a ₱247 markdown, or approximately 55%.
Another product, the 1% Hyaluronic Acid + Snail Mucin Serum, was showing at ₱171 from ₱379 on its product page, also around 55% off.
Again, that’s a substantial discount.
But it is already available before September 9.
Dermorepubliq’s 9.9 campaign also extends beyond the date itself, with the promotion running from September 4 to 11 and additional offers such as vouchers and free shipping depending on the transaction.
For shoppers, that distinction matters: 9.9 can be the name of a campaign without every deal being exclusive to September 9.
GRWM’s 9.9 prices are already appearing too
GRWM Cosmetics’ Shopee storefront was already carrying its “9.9 FlavorFest” branding on September 8.
Among the listings PPP checked, its Fresh Fix bundle was priced at ₱749, with Shopee displaying a 17% discount, while its Blur Combo was already ₱649, marked 13% off.
Individual GRWM products were also showing markdowns of varying sizes. Some Face Card products, for instance, were appearing at reductions of more than 50%, while other products carried much smaller discounts.
This is another reason “up to 50% off” should never be read as “everything is 50% off.”
“Up to” only tells you the highest discount somewhere in the promotion.
The product you actually want might be 50% off, 13% off or not meaningfully cheaper at all.
So, are these 9.9 beauty deals actually deals?
Based on the September 8 prices, yes, several of the discounts we checked are real markdowns from the products’ listed regular prices.
But that answers only half of the question.
The more useful question is: does buying on September 9 actually cost less than buying on September 8?
Those are not the same thing.
Consider three hypothetical scenarios.
A product regularly costs ₱399. It is ₱299 on September 8 and falls to ₱249 on September 9. That’s a genuine additional 9.9 saving.
Another product costs ₱599 regularly and is already ₱299 on September 8. It stays ₱299 throughout September 9. That’s still a real 50% sale, but waiting for 9.9 did not save you anything extra.
Then there’s the messier scenario: a ₱399 product remains ₱399, but a ₱100 voucher becomes available with an ₱800 minimum spend.
You technically can save money, but only by buying more.
That’s not the same deal for everyone.
The checkout price is the number that matters
For PPP Price Check, the comparison doesn’t end with the crossed-out price.
For each product, the useful trail looks like this:
Regular price → September 8 price → September 9 price → applicable voucher → minimum spend → shipping → final checkout price
That last number is what shoppers actually pay.
We’ll also treat personalized offers differently from discounts that are available to everybody.
Coins, new-user vouchers, certain credit-card promotions and account-specific vouchers can dramatically reduce one shopper’s total while being unavailable to another.
Those are worth considering when you’re buying, but they shouldn’t make a sale look universally cheaper than it actually is.
Before checking out at midnight, check your cart now
If you already know what you want to buy this 9.9, one of the simplest things you can do tonight is take a screenshot of the price now.
Then compare it with the exact same item tomorrow.
Don’t just look at the percentage-off badge. Check whether the selling price changed. Apply only the vouchers you actually qualify for. Look at the minimum spend. Add the shipping fee back in.
A giant “50% OFF” sign is easy to understand.
Whether you actually saved money takes a little more work.
And based on the prices we’ve checked so far, sometimes the most surprising thing about a 9.9 deal is that you didn’t have to wait for 9.9 to get it.
Prices and promotions checked on September 8, 2026. Online prices, vouchers, stock availability and platform promotions may change without notice.
