General beauty advent calendar discussion and swap thread

[AprilLady]

Like many others, I’m looking forward to starting my Beauty Advent Calendars on Tuesday. With no M&S calendar or thread this year, I thought it might be fun to have a general beauty advent calendar discussion and swap thread. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts about the calendar they are opening, whatever it is.

I suggest though we comment only on content from current or previous days, so as not to spoil the surprise for those opening one day at a time.

@clary - Actually having caught up with DD, she loves today's H&B offering, it's reusable so she approves and she loves the little case!

I've no update on it from dd. She's currently home but left the calendar in her student accommodation so will have a mass opening when she heads back on Friday.

@Talisin, I also like the little perfume testers that came today; much more interesting then getting more of one scent that I might not enjoy at all. And you were right about yesterday, definitely happier with the Aveda shampoo and conditioner pair. Love that brand on my hair.

So far, definitely enjoying the Fenwicks calendar.

Rituals was a decent sized body cream Ayurveda. Only ds2 snaffled it. Sigh.

Fenwicks today gave up one of the main reasons I chose this calendar - Charlotte Tillbury Colour Chameleon eyeshadow stick in Champagne Diamonds. Love this and my previous one was down to a stub.

F & M today is the body lotion to match yesterday’s body wash. Also fine, if not particularly exciting.

N-a-P today is a tiny Charlotte Tilbury pillow talk lipstick. I’ve added a photo of it next to another mini - from Bobby Brown - to give a sense of scale. Actually okay with this, despite the size. Having heard so much about it I wanted to try Pillow Talk, but the colour is a very browny nude that I wouldn’t buy full size.

Lumene today is a tube of rich eye cream, great for me as I love trying eye creams. For some reason it says to apply 30 minutes before going out?!

Talisin those descriptions are amazing! Oh to have a job like that! 2 mins in the morning doing those and then 3 hours to write the invoice!

In my next interview I’m going to say: I’m Gary the Demon, my world is an open playground. Diversity is my rule!

Lumene eye cream. Second one from them. I really have enough eye creams now. Definitely intrigued as to why it needs to be used 30 minutes before going out.

CEWS is an Iconic mascara. Always handy.

And peppermint tea.

@AprilLady - that's a very baby lipstick.

@Talisin - that looks amazing. I think I need one of them.

So sorry about your calendar coolcat, have you contacted them? Hopefully they’ll send you something. Or I could post you the stickiest, glitteriest lipgloss I got today. Like something off the front of twinkle magazine! Amaxon has gone a bit off the boil!

Really pleased with today's HB: a Korean product - Whamisa toner. It seems like a premium item judging from the gorgeous heavy glass bottle.

Amazon's lip liquid and gloss are festive and bright. Just the thing for a raucous Christmas party...oh no, hang on....not this year. Swatch pic attached so you can see the colours.

@Snowplop - two lip products in one box is pretty generous. I reckon they would make a gorgeous colour if they were mixed.

My colours are different snowplop wonder what others got!

Jar of tomato and chilli pasta sauce today in Degustabox.

Eye cream today in both JL (Dermalogica Vit C 6ml) and No 7 (protect & perfect 5ml) AC both of which I'll use so I'm happy with those although I have a large tube of eye cream to get through first so might be a while.

@GaryTheDemon @Snowplop I think I got the same matt colour as Gary but a different sparkly to either of you, mines a v sparkly dark pink. I like your sparkly one, Snowplop!

ASOS today was Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. I was underwhelmed, it was definitely NOT better..

Can't even pass it onto the 12yr old because of the ridiculous name!

Having now tried quite a few things from the calendars, I thought I’d post my thoughts so far:

• Oribe shampoo and conditioner. These were really nice, but very small. Also not so special I would buy at full price
• Sol de Janeiro lip butter. Love this, and will last a while. Quite likely to repurchase
• Pai eye cream. Seems fine as an eye cream, goes in nicely. Not noticeably different to others I’ve tried
• Le prunier oil. Using at night. Takes ages to absorb. Currently using after moisturiser but have now seen a suggestion to combine with moisturiser, so will try it this way tonight. Skin is soft and hydrated in the morning though.
• Chantecaille Rose De Mai. Love this. Using as day moisturiser. Love the rose scent and light feel of the cream. Sadly, too expensive to repurchase.
• 111 Skin Vit C. Very watery consistency, so hard to apply unless you mix with moisturiser (which I prefer not to). I think it does help my skin, although maybe no more than other Vit C products.
• Virtue hair mask. Really liked this, and managed to do without a leave in conditioner after I’d used it. It’s a small sample though, unlikely to last more than three washes
• Chantecaille Rosewater. Lovely and refreshing to spritz on. Will last a while.
• Ilapothecary hand and body cream. Surprisingly good, strong aromatherapy type smell and good consistency. Very likely to repurchase.
• Philip Kingsley elasticiser. Does a good conditioning job, but I prefer Olaplex 3.
• Iconic Chrome flash eye pot: gives a good pinky shimmer. Easy to apply, but not really an everyday look, so expect it’ll last a while. Not much need in the near future, sadly, now that we haved been moved into Tier 3
• Sol de Janeiro Hand cream. Really lovely hand cream. I’ve used quite a few over the last few months, and this is easily one of the nicest both in scent and feel. I’ll definitely be buying again once my current stash has reduced.
• Philip B Thermal protection spray. Decent enough. Will need to use more to see if it does make a difference in terms of protecting hair from heat damage.
• Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk mini- very glad I’ve finally got to try it, but quite disappointing both colour and texture wise. I have a nude Nars velvet matte pencil that I far prefer to this.

What products have you all enjoyed most from your calendars?

I've got the Lumene calendar and am loving the mascara, the brightening toner, and the pressed serum. Oh and the hand cream.

You've been busy April!

I've tried out very little so far as I'm finishing off stuff I have on the go. I'm using the Elizabeth Arden eye cream and really enjoying it. The other thing I've used is the Omorovicza Magic Moisture Mist. I've used it during the day if my skin feels a bit dry I was a bit sceptical but it is really nice and moisturising.

I have also tried a black eyeliner on the waterline and was very impressed with it. It seems I can actually use black eyeliner

I tried the Virtue mask yesterday but couldn't really see much impact - I've got quite long hair though so maybe needed to use more. Liked the Oribe shampoo and especially the conditioner, but like you, not enough to repurchase given the price.

I think that's it so far though - need to finish some full size products so I can move on to the new ones. And remember to try out the jade massage thing!

Can't try the Chantecaille rosewater though, as N-a-P haven't got back to me about the fact it had all leaked out - despite contacting them a week ago. Not very good really, will have to remember to chase again.

I think the Ilapothacary hand/body cream is my favourite F&M product so far, I'm using as a hand cream and it's lovely. No complaints about any of the other products and I've quickly come to love the sparkly eyeshadow gel, it's great for festive zooms and incredibly flattering.

Nespresso was Giorno. One that I buy regularly so a nice cuppa.

Rituals Karma hair & body mist. Dinky spray. Nice scent.

I'm still lurking and living for this thread. Didn't actually get a calendar but I felt left out so I bought the next beauty box instead
Wasn't a bad deal for £20

Very excited to try from my John Lewis AC a CT eye shadow pencil in dark pearl - great colour for me.

And from Boots No 7 an eyelash curler which I'm more than happy with as it's a newer version of my first ever eyelash curler that's lasted me for 35 years and I used it everyday for the first 20 years. Unbelievable really that it's traveled the world with me and I never lost it. Such is the dedication I had to curling my lashes and clearly such was my love for said item I never felt the need to replace it.

I've included a picture of both old and new curler.