A full beauty haul adds up fast, especially once you toss in a new foundation, that concealer everyone's talking about, a lip set, something for your nails, and a few things to refresh your skin care and hair care routine. It's no surprise that "buy now, pay later" has become one of the most searched ways to shop for beauty products online.

But buy now, pay later (BNPL) isn't just for your shopping cart — it's also how a growing number of people are paying for beauty procedures like Botox, laser hair removal, and permanent makeup. This guide covers both.

How Buy Now, Pay Later Works

Buy now, pay later lets you split a purchase into smaller payments instead of paying the full amount up front. Most retail purchases use a pay-in-4 structure — four interest-free installments, usually due every two weeks, starting with a first payment at checkout.

A few things generally hold true across BNPL apps:

• Instant approval decisions. Decisions are usually instant at checkout.
• No hard credit check. Most apps use a soft check, so applying won't hurt your credit score.
• Interest-free, if on time. Pay-in-4 plans are typically interest-free as long as you pay on schedule.
• Automatic payments. Remaining installments are billed automatically on a set schedule.

Buy Now, Pay Later for Beauty: Products and Procedures

Beauty spending doesn't stop at the checkout cart. Between makeup hauls, med spa visits, and bigger cosmetic procedures, more people are looking for ways to pay over time instead of all at once — and the right option looks pretty different depending on what you're paying for. Here's how BNPL and beauty financing work across all three.

BNPL for Makeup

Most major beauty brands and retailers now offer flexible payment options directly at checkout:

• Sephora integrates with buy now, pay later apps like Klarna, Afterpay, and Sezzle, letting you split your order into four interest-free payments.
  
• Ulta Beauty offers a similar pay-in-4 option through Afterpay and Klarna, available both online and in the app.
  
• Many independent beauty brands — from skin care lines to nail and hair care brands — now build BNPL directly into their checkout, so you'll often see it as a payment method option alongside your usual debit or credit card.

What to know before you buy:

• Return policy and refunds. BNPL purchases follow the retailer's normal return policy, but your refund is usually applied to your remaining installments first, and any extra is returned to your original payment method.
  
• E-gift cards. Some BNPL apps let you shop with e-gift cards or store credit alongside your payment plan — handy if you're combining a gift with a bigger purchase.
  
• What you can buy. Nearly anything in a beauty shopping cart qualifies — makeup, skin care, hair care, concealer, lip and eye products, nail treatments, and full beauty brand bundles.

BNPL for Med Spa Treatments

Once you move from products to in-person treatments — think Botox, dermal filler, laser hair removal, or facials — retail BNPL apps start to fall short. Most are built around small, one-time product purchases, not recurring or higher-cost services, so you'll rarely find Klarna or Afterpay at the med spa front desk.

This is where healthcare-specific financing comes in. Providers typically offer options like Cherry Payment Plans, CareCredit, or Alphaeon Credit. Some, like Cherry's Allē Payment Plans, are built right into the loyalty apps patients already use, like Allergan Aesthetics' Allē. That means you can check your approval amount and set up a plan for Botox or Juvéderm without ever leaving the app.

Here's how the main options compare:

• Cherry Payment Plans is built specifically around buy now, pay later for beauty and wellness providers, using a soft credit check (which doesn't hurt credit score) instead of a hard pull, with straightforward installment plans and true qualifying 0% APR options rather than a revolving balance that can rack up interest if you're not careful.‍
• CareCredit is a reusable healthcare credit card accepted at a wide range of providers, though it typically requires a hard credit check and can carry a steep deferred-interest rate if a promotional balance isn't paid off in time.‍
• Alphaeon Credit is a revolving line of credit often used for elective and specialty treatments, with similar deferred-interest promotions to watch for.

What to know before you buy:

• Application speed. Most healthcare financing options can approve you in minutes; some, like Cherry, are built for an instant decision at the point of care — handy when you're deciding on a treatment the same day.
  
• Credit check type. A soft credit check won't affect your credit score, while a hard credit check (common with traditional medical credit cards) can cause a small, temporary dip.
  
• Approval amounts. Since a single visit usually costs less than a surgical procedure, med spa financing tends to approve smaller amounts per treatment than plastic surgery financing does.
  
• Recurring treatments. Botox, filler, and laser packages are often repeat visits rather than a one-time purchase, so check whether your provider lets you finance each appointment separately or set up an ongoing plan for touch-ups.
  
• Deferred interest. Many "no interest if paid in full" promotions still accrue interest in the background from day one. Pay it off within the window and that interest is waived — miss a payment or leave a balance, and you can be charged interest retroactively on the full original amount. A true 0% APR plan works differently: there's no interest accruing in the background, so what you owe never changes as long as you make your scheduled payments.

BNPL for Plastic Surgery Procedures

Surgical and higher-cost cosmetic procedures — rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, and similar treatments — sit at the far end of the cost spectrum, often running well into the thousands. Retail BNPL apps generally aren't built for amounts this size, and even some healthcare credit cards can leave a gap between what you're approved for and what the procedure actually costs.

Common financing options here include Cherry, CareCredit, Alphaeon Credit, and PatientFi:

• Cherry uses a soft credit check with no credit union requirement, offers both short-term interest-free plans and longer installment options with true qualifying 0% APR, and is known for approving a wider range of credit profiles than some competitors.‍
• CareCredit offers broad provider acceptance, but approval relies on a hard credit check and revolving credit terms. Promotions are also tied to deferred interest.‍
• Alphaeon Credit offers higher credit limits geared toward specialty procedures like plastic surgery, though it's also a revolving line with deferred-interest promotions.‍
• PatientFi offers fixed installment loans with a soft credit check, though approval tends to be more selective, and some plans require joining a credit union as a condition of the loan.

What to know before you buy:

• Application speed. Some providers can pre-approve you in minutes online; others require a longer underwriting process, especially for larger loan amounts.
  
• Credit check type. Confirm whether the application uses a soft or hard credit check — this matters more here than almost anywhere else, since procedure costs (and therefore loan amounts) tend to be higher.
  
• Approval amounts. Financing for surgical procedures typically goes well beyond what retail BNPL or even med spa financing covers, so ask your provider what loan amounts they support.
  
• Repayment options. Larger procedure costs usually come with longer repayment terms, since spreading a bigger amount over more months keeps the payments manageable — ask your provider what terms are available before assuming it's the same short pay-in-4 window you'd see for a product purchase.
  
• Deferred interest. Some plans market themselves as "0% interest," but if the balance isn't paid off within the promotional window, interest can be charged retroactively on the full original loan amount. Given how large surgical procedure loans can get, this is one of the most expensive fine-print details to miss. A true 0% APR plan doesn't carry this risk — there's no deferred interest sitting in the background, so timing doesn't change what you owe.

BNPL for Makeup: The Bottom Line

Whether you're financing a makeup haul or a med spa visit, the right BNPL option depends on what you're actually paying for. Retail apps like Klarna and Afterpay work well at checkout, but once you move to in-person procedures like Botox, laser hair removal, or permanent makeup, a healthcare-specific option gives you more room — higher approval amounts, terms built around an appointment, and true 0% APR instead of deferred interest. If your provider doesn't already offer Cherry, find one near you who does.

If you're a provider who wants to boost treatment acceptance and practice growth, Cherry can help: with a ~90% approval rate, upfront payment within 2-3 business days, and the lowest merchant fees in the industry, more clients say yes to care and more of every transaction stays with your business. Find out why Cherry is offered first over its competitors more than 80% of the time. Claim your personalized demo today.