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If you bought makeup online from a business and simply changed your mind, you can usually cancel the order by telling the seller within 14 days of receiving it, then send the goods back within a further 14 days. A valid cancellation normally brings a refund for the item and the cheapest standard delivery option. You may have to pay return postage if the seller told you that before you bought.
Opened cosmetics need more care. The law recognises an exception for sealed goods that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened, but official guidance does not say that every makeup product is automatically exempt. The result depends on the product, its seal and the information the seller gave you before purchase. Faulty, damaged or misdescribed makeup follows a separate set of consumer remedies, and an exchange for a change of mind is usually a retailer-policy choice rather than the statutory cancellation remedy.
The rule at a glance
The online cancellation rules apply when you buy goods from a business through a website, app, mail order or telephone. You do not need to prove that the makeup is faulty to use this cooling-off right.
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| Question | General answer |
|---|---|
| When must I cancel? | Notify the seller within 14 days after receiving the goods. Citizens Advice describes the period as starting the day after receipt. |
| When must I post the item? | Within a further 14 days after you tell the seller you are cancelling. |
| What is refunded? | The item price and standard delivery charge. A seller does not have to refund the extra cost of an express or otherwise more expensive delivery option. |
| Who pays return postage? | You can be responsible if the seller disclosed that before purchase. If the seller did not say who pays, Citizens Advice says the seller must refund the return postage. |
| Can opened makeup be refused? | Possibly, where it is a sealed good that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened. Makeup is not automatically excluded as a category. |
| Am I entitled to an exchange? | Not usually for a change of mind under the statutory process. An exchange may be available under the retailer’s voluntary policy. |
| What if it is faulty? | Contact the seller under consumer goods rights. Repair, replacement or a refund may be available depending on the fault and timing. |
Check the order before doing anything
Find the order confirmation, dispatch email, invoice and the returns or cancellation page. Sellers can offer a more generous policy than the statutory minimum, so their stated deadline may be longer than 14 days. A longer policy does not remove your legal rights.
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Identify the seller and the purchase date
These rules concern a purchase from a business. Record the business name, order number, delivery date and the date you first noticed the problem or decided you no longer wanted the item. If a marketplace transaction involved a private individual rather than a business, do not assume the same online-business cancellation rules apply.
Look for the information that affects your decision
- The method or address the seller requires for cancellation notices.
- The return address and any returns portal or form.
- Whether you must pay return postage and how much an authorised label costs.
- Any wording about tamper-evident seals, inner films or hygiene-sensitive goods.
- The retailer’s voluntary exchange or extended-returns policy.
Save a copy or screenshot of these terms. The seller should have given the relevant cancellation information in writing. Citizens Advice says that if required cancellation information was not supplied in writing, the cooling-off period can extend to one year and 14 days.
How the 14-day cancellation timetable works
For a normal online change of mind, there are two separate deadlines. First, you communicate the cancellation. Second, you return the goods.
- Receive the order. Citizens Advice counts the 14-day notice period from the day after receipt.
- Send a clear cancellation notice. Your notice must reach the seller within that first 14-day period. Email or another written message gives you a record.
- Return the goods. Once you have cancelled, you normally have another 14 days to send the makeup back.
- Keep evidence. Retain the sent email, an automated acknowledgement, tracking details and proof of posting.
Do not wait for the retailer to approve the cancellation before posting if you are close to the second deadline. Follow the stated return instructions and obtain proof that you handed the parcel to the carrier.
Step-by-step: cancelling and returning makeup
1. Decide which legal route fits
Use the change-of-mind route when the product is as described and you simply do not want it. Use the faulty or misdescription route when the item is damaged, contaminated, the wrong shade or product, missing parts, or otherwise does not match the contract. Mention both issues if both apply, but do not describe a genuine fault as a preference.
2. Inspect without using the product normally
Online customers may handle an item as they would in a shop. That is not the same as wearing, applying or testing makeup in a way that goes beyond checking its nature, characteristics and functioning. Leave protective films and hygiene seals intact while you decide whenever possible.
3. Send the notice in a provable form
An email is practical because it records the wording and time sent. State that you are exercising the statutory right to cancel, identify the order and list the products. If the retailer provides a cancellation form, you may use it, but a clear written statement is the important point.
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4. Package the items safely
Use enough protection to prevent leaks, crushed compacts or broken glass during transit. Citizens Advice says original packaging is not legally required, but you remain responsible for protecting the goods from damage while returning them. Photograph the products, seals and parcel before sealing it if the contents are valuable or fragile.
5. Post within the second 14-day period
Use the seller’s stated return address or label. Keep the receipt, tracking number and a copy of the package label. If the retailer requires a particular return process, follow it unless that process would unlawfully remove your statutory rights.
What the refund should include
Standard delivery is normally refundable
For a valid cancellation, the seller normally refunds the price of the goods and the cost of the cheapest standard delivery option offered. If you selected next-day, timed or another premium service, the seller need not refund the difference between that service and standard delivery.
Return postage depends on what you were told
Read the pre-purchase information rather than relying on a general returns slogan. If the seller clearly disclosed that customers pay return postage for change-of-mind returns, that cost can be yours. Citizens Advice says that where the seller did not tell you who pays, the seller must refund the return postage costs.
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Citizens Advice says the refund is generally due within 14 days after the seller receives the returned goods or receives proof that you sent them, whichever happens first. The regulations also allow a deduction for diminished value caused by handling beyond what is necessary to establish the goods’ nature, characteristics and functioning.
That deduction is different from a retailer simply preferring its own packaging standard. A seller should be able to explain what handling reduced the value and how the amount was calculated. Keep evidence of the item’s condition when you sent it.
Can you return opened makeup?
The key wording is not “all cosmetics are exempt”. The exception concerns sealed goods that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened. GOV.UK gives sealed goods such as underwear as an example, but its guidance does not create a blanket rule covering every cosmetic.
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Why the seal matters
A tamper-evident sticker, foil, shrink-wrap or other hygienic barrier may be relevant. If you broke such a seal, the seller may argue that the product falls within the exception. Whether that argument succeeds depends on the specific product and the reason opening it prevents a safe return.
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The legal question can differ between a sealed product, an item with no hygiene seal, and packaging opened only to inspect the colour or instructions. A lipstick, foundation, palette, brush or mascara may have different packaging and contamination risks. The guidance reviewed does not decide the outcome for every formulation or seal type.
What to do if the seller refuses
- Ask the seller to identify the particular hygiene exception it relies on.
- Ask where that restriction was disclosed before purchase.
- Explain whether the external packaging was opened, whether an inner seal was broken and whether the product was applied.
- Separate the hygiene argument from any fault, wrong-item or misdescription claim.
A retailer’s statement that “cosmetics cannot be returned” does not, by itself, settle every case. The product-specific facts and the information supplied before purchase matter.
Faulty, damaged, wrong or misdescribed makeup
The cooling-off right is optional for the buyer and does not require a defect. A fault claim is different: it relies on the product not meeting the required standard or not matching its description.
Examples of a separate fault issue
- A sealed compact arrives cracked or powder is loose inside the package.
- The shade, size, quantity or product supplied is not the one ordered.
- The makeup is contaminated, has an unusual smell or cannot perform as described.
- The listing promised a feature or component that is missing.
Describe the defect accurately and provide photographs, batch information and the order details if relevant. Do not discard the product until the seller has explained the return or inspection process.
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Repair, replacement and refunds
GOV.UK says a customer returning an item within six months may be entitled to a repair or replacement unless the seller can prove it was not faulty when bought. Depending on the circumstances, a refund may instead be due. The appropriate remedy is not identical in every case, so do not assume that a six-month claim automatically produces an immediate full refund.
GOV.UK also explains that claims may be made for up to six years, or five years in Scotland. That is a limitation period for bringing a claim, not a promise that every item will last that long or that the same remedy will be available throughout.
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“You must offer a full refund if an item is faulty, not as described or does not do what it’s supposed to.”
This is the wording used in GOV.UK’s Accepting returns and giving refunds: the law guidance. It is government guidance, not a quotation attributed to a named individual.
Can you exchange makeup instead of receiving a refund?
For a change of mind, the statutory online process is cancellation followed by a refund. The law does not generally require a retailer to exchange one unwanted shade for another. Many businesses voluntarily offer exchanges, store credit or a longer returns window, but those choices come from the retailer’s policy.
If the retailer offers exchanges
Check whether the exchange policy excludes opened or sealed hygiene-sensitive products, limits exchanges to the same product line, or requires the original order number. Follow that policy if you want a faster replacement, but keep the statutory cancellation timetable in mind if the exchange process could run beyond it.
If the product is faulty
A repair or replacement can be a statutory remedy for faulty goods, subject to the circumstances and timing. Tell the seller that the issue is a fault and explain the remedy you are requesting. Do not accept store credit as the only option if consumer law gives you a different remedy.
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A voluntary policy can give you more time or more options, such as an exchange for an unwanted shade. It cannot remove statutory rights for an online cancellation or a faulty product. A sign or webpage saying “no refunds” cannot override those rights.
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There is an important distinction between a valid cancellation and a seller’s goodwill return. A retailer may lawfully set conditions for an extra, voluntary exchange while still honouring the legal refund route. Read the policy that applied when you placed the order, not only a later webpage.
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If the seller rejects or delays your return
The seller says all makeup is exempt
Reply in writing that the official guidance describes a conditional exception for sealed goods that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once opened. Ask the seller to identify the seal, the product-specific reason and the pre-purchase wording on which it relies. If the product was faulty or misdescribed, state that separately.
The seller says you missed the deadline
Set out the receipt date, the date and time of your cancellation notice, and the date you handed the parcel to the carrier. Attach the sent message and proof of posting. If the seller failed to provide the required cancellation information in writing, mention that Citizens Advice says the period can extend to one year and 14 days.
The seller has not refunded you
Write a concise follow-up quoting the date the seller received the parcel or your proof of return and ask when the refund will be processed. Include the amount of standard delivery and any return postage that the seller should cover. Keep the correspondence together with tracking evidence.
The seller deducted money
Ask for an itemised explanation of any deduction and relate it to the condition of the goods. The regulations permit a deduction for diminished value caused by handling beyond what is necessary to establish the product’s nature, characteristics and functioning; they do not give a general right to impose an arbitrary fee.
You cannot resolve the dispute
Keep your complaint and evidence in writing and seek consumer advice appropriate to the UK nation in which you live. Citizens Advice provides England-focused guidance and links to separate nation pages. The facts of the product, the seal, the seller’s disclosures and the timeline will determine the strength of your position.
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
The core online cancellation guidance is presented on GOV.UK. Citizens Advice labels the cited “changing your mind” page as applying to England and provides links to advice for the other UK nations. Check the nation-specific guidance if you live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, particularly when escalating a dispute.
GOV.UK’s guidance states that the limitation period for claims is six years in most of the UK and five years in Scotland. That distinction concerns claims about faults; it does not change the basic 14-day online cancellation timetable described above.
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Send a clear statement through email or the seller’s written contact channel. Keep the sent copy and any acknowledgement.
Subject: Cancellation of online order [order number]
I am notifying you that I cancel my contract for the following goods:
[describe the makeup products]
Order number: [order number]
Order date: [date]
Date received: [date]
Please confirm the return address or authorised return method. I will return the goods within the required period. Please refund the goods, the applicable standard delivery charge and any return postage that you are required to cover.
Name: [name]
Address: [address]For a fault, replace the cancellation wording with a factual description of the defect and ask for the appropriate remedy. If you are relying on both a fault and a change of mind, say so plainly so the seller cannot treat the complaint as only a discretionary exchange request.
Final checklist before you post
- Confirm whether the seller is a business and locate the order number.
- Calculate the 14-day cancellation period from the day after receipt.
- Send a clear written cancellation notice before that period expires.
- Check whether a hygiene seal was broken and preserve any remaining packaging.
- Read who pays return postage and save that wording.
- Pack the product securely; original packaging is not legally required, but damage during return can create a dispute.
- Return the goods within the following 14 days.
- Keep proof of the notice, postage, tracking and the item’s condition.
- Expect the refund to cover the item and standard delivery, subject to any lawful diminished-value deduction.
- If the item is faulty or misdescribed, use the separate consumer-rights route and describe the defect.
The safest approach is to treat an online makeup return as a timed cancellation unless a fault is involved, avoid breaking hygiene seals while deciding, and preserve evidence at every stage. An exchange may be convenient, but it is normally the retailer’s additional policy; the statutory fallback for a change of mind is cancellation and refund.
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