Beauty Advent Calendars 2020 - Part 2

[Housewife2010]

Best time of the beauty year.

Any link? I’d love to see it but can’t find it by searching.

Actually I’ve just googled, and the Selfridges Beauty Advent Calendar I got was in 2010! I knew it couldn’t be later than 2012 because I got in while in a particular job. I should have known it wasn’t 2012 because I didn’t get it while pregnant!

What a brilliant and distracting thread ! Was holding back due to £££ but have managed to get the H&B one online for me and DD but now looking at the Boots Macmillan one to open as a Christmas present to myself due to shit year and open in January which is undeniably going to make every morning seem a bit brighter

@RedComb

Meant to add that I looked at the Arran Aromatics one but for a brand that has so many different products, why is the vast majority of the calendar shampoo/condition/lotion/body wash? It looks more like an advent calendar of freebies you get at a hotel. A shame as if it had more variety then it would have been a contender.

Exactly, sadly.

Yes Cosmetopia is great. Eltoria is very annoying.

The LIB calendar is if (the one that is things in a box) reminds me of Eltoria's calendar a couple of years ago. There was a scandal because she sold an advent calendar and seemed to have put in it items she'd unboxed in advent calendars on her channel.

I do like an unboxing though.

Cosmetopia is my favourite too. I love her honesty and humour. Sammy Louise is the most annoying - everything is amazing. If she found a dead mouse in a box she would call it amazing. I can't watch Eltoria without thinking of what a scammer she is and how patronising she was when found out. Lady Writes is lovely but again, doesn't tend to criticise.

I do find many of them annoying tbh but Renj (Cosmetopia) seems genuine and doesn't act like she's auditioning to present QVC or kids tv

I don’t follow any beauty blogs/ youtubers, I don’t trust any of them.

Bring back the days of honest reviews (from people who actually use the products) on MakeUpAlley or Ciao.

I’m a fan of Cosmetopia too. I heard her say on one unboxing that she doesn’t get gifted the advent calendars, so I presume she buys them herself and then gives her own totally unbiased reviews? Those who are given the calendars to unbox (I’m cringing thinking of Eltoria here) fawn and gush over every item, presumably to secure their ‘freebies’ next year.

A lot of them get so much free PR stuff that they won't tell the truth about the products. Renu has said she doesn't receive anything now after being honest about something.

Oops....cross post Luv.

Oh I'm an ex Ciao writer! I used to love it. Dooyoo too. I had a decent following but a truly crap user name: ShoppingGirl. I always wondered what happened to 'nipples like organ stops' SexyKay, bet she's on here :)

I've found that Planning with Crystal's advent reveals are handy. They're only about five minutes long. She doesn't have the actual calendar but splits the contents into full, travel and sample sizes and their cost.

Renu from Cosmetopia was beautifully disparaging this week about a headband from one of the popular advent calendars.

Just watched a couple of Cosmetopia's videos. She's hilarious ... and refreshingly honest about some of the ridiculous things that are tossed into calendars. Things that clearly didn't sell for a reason!

Yes Renu is funny

I've been watching some of Planning with Crystal but I can't watch her for long as her voice grates on me

I’m pretty sure Renu isn’t being gifted the calendars; she mostly talks about the contents with pictures or showing similar products, rather than doing actual unboxings. Hence the refreshing honesty.

Crystal is annoying. She basically takes out each product and reads out the marketing material about it.

Does anyone know much about the Yesstyle calendar she is really keen on? Looks like it’s sold in the US but they ship to the U.K.?

With the Crystal videos I just watch the summary ones where she doesn't have the advent but summarises all the products on screen. Apart from the intro there's no chat, but the items are split into sample, discovery and full sizes with their prices. It's a quick way to decide whether the advent is worth it or not without watching someone opening every door and cooing.

@Housewife2010

Re Holland & Barrett, it's worth checking in store. Last year I picked one up in my local branch a couple of weeks after it sold out online.

I tried that yesterday and they said it was online only!

The YesStyle calendar has all full sizes, which is why Renu likes it so much. But they do a launch every Tuesday for five or six weeks and it is very hard to get hold of one. The contents look good enough but seems to be aimed at younger people, or at least people with oily skin. When I looked at the contents I would use, it proved much cheaper (and easier) to just buy them from the YesStyle website. There were a number of make up items in the calendar I had zero interest in and a few items made from snail slime which doesn't sound very ethical to me so I passed.

I dint understand how anyone can still watch Eltoria after the scandal a few years ago. The worst thing was her boyfriend would launch personal attacks against anyone speaking out about it. Considering most of her followers are young teenage girls, it was just nasty.

I don't understand how brands work with her as well.

I am also baffled by Eltoria's continued following. The scam around her own advent calendar ought to have destroyed her credibility. YouTube frequently 'suggests' her videos to me. I won't even click on them.

Yes I'm surprised Eltoria still has a following. IIRC she never acknowledged or apologised for what she did and he boyfriend put up some unacceptable comments to people who said anything.

I went off her and I don't watch her videos any more.

I don't know how she got away with it though.