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.

Hourglass is fab. I'm a makeup addict and love their blushes and powders

With all the enthusiasm for Hourglass, I've decided to try it out. I'm currently wearing blusher and no other make-up. It's really, really nice. It's subtle and does give a lovely glow. Definite thumbs up.

Thanks @QueenPaws it does look brilliant.

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]@CupboardMonster - the sun-dried tomato puree looks great. I've never used garlic puree but ds would probably use it as he hates chopping garlic. He's been using dried garlic flakes.[/quote]
I swear by garlic puree! I have a tube of plain, a jar of smoked garlic puree and frozen ginger and garlic cubes. So useful and easy and no waste, and no stinky garlic fingers!

H&B today is Ethique solid shampoo and conditioner which I was a bit meh about as I won't use either on my hair (Curly Girl follower) but DS is keen on the shampoo and apparently the conditioner can also be used as a shave bar or in shower lotion.

One of the big reasons I chose H&B was that there weren't too many hair care products. I think M&S last year had about 4 or 5, which my sister ended up with.

Also love garlic paste or puree, so I was pleased with the Degustabox tomato puree and garlic puree today. Another useful day's worth.

@IToldYouIWasFreaky I am often disappointed with hair products as so many by default are for coloured and/or dry hair. In fact I need to get over to the swap thread with the ones I have stacked up.

The bodyshop was a bath bomb again, third one. Dd is happy again. I will try tonight H&B shampoo&conditioner bars. I tried gruum conditioner bar once but it really didn't condition my hair at all. Maybe better luck with this one.

I got a men's deodorant in the Rituals calendar today

@BuffaloMozzerella same! But I've dropped the ball on stocking fillers for DP so guess where that's going

Glossybox are sorry to hear I haven't received my item and are passing it to the relevant team it's not looking good.

@ashmts - Glossybox are sorry to hear I haven't received my item and are passing it to the relevant team sad it's not looking good.

If you do twitter or Facebook, start tweeting/posting to Facebook. They become much more effective when you deal with them publicly.

@OchonAgusOchonO I'm not sure I have the same leverage you did since it's the 2019 calendar. But yeah probably worth a try. Managed to get a £6k holiday refunded by pestering the company on Twitter when they ignored all other routes of communication this year! Amazing what it can achieve.

[quote ashmts]@OchonAgusOchonO I'm not sure I have the same leverage you did since it's the 2019 calendar. But yeah probably worth a try. Managed to get a £6k holiday refunded by pestering the company on Twitter when they ignored all other routes of communication this year! Amazing what it can achieve.[/quote]
It doesn't matter what year the calendar was. They sold it to you and haven't fulfilled the order. I wouldn't even mention it was 2019 in the tweet. Just say you ordered an advent calendar.

Well done on the holiday refund. Twitter seems to be the most effective of the social media methods of harassment.

You can also ask for your complaint to be escalated to a customer relations executive.

Good luck. I hope you get it.

@BuffaloMozzerella

I got a men's deodorant in the Rituals calendar today

That's a bit odd, isn't it? Particularly as the other body care items have been women's. I'm sure you'll find a recipient. Am I correct in remembering that it was your dp who surprised you with the calendar? If so, he's the obvious one

Amazon was Biore strips. Which we also got last year and I wasn't impressed with last year 😔

He won't use a spray unfortunately. Guess I'll be smelling of sandalwood for a while!

@BuffaloMozzerella

I got a men's deodorant in the Rituals calendar today

Same (obviously). DS2 loves any rituals products so regifting this one.

Small (150ml) coffee in Nespresso today, which reminds me that I need to do a re-order.

I buy frozen garlic and ginger from Morrisons.

Benefit’s Gimme Brow + from Fenwicks today. Which is a good product but kind of not as high-end as the rest of the calendar? Anyway it will definitely get used.

Today from F&M a Fresh face wash and face cleanser. Quite small - 20ml each - so not that exactly, but will definitely use.

Another good full size product from N-a-P, a Dr Dennis Gross eye gel. If the Cult Beauty site’s description of the product is to be believed, it’ll instantly improve fine lines and dark circles under the eyes, and for 72 hours afterwards too.

From CEW, a Wishful Honey Balm moisturiser. Another brand I'm not familiar with but it looks really impressive. It will not only soothe my skin, it will also visibly reduce pores. Looking forward to this one.

Lumene is, not unsurprisingly, another moisturiser. Tea is lemon verbena. Never tried it before.

That NaP product looks promising @AprilLady , I'm hoping for a great eye cream to appear in F&M.

Degustabox delivered a big bag of lightly salted Kettle Chips, another good day. I tried the pasta sauce last night and it was disappointing as they've used a lot of black pepper to hide the lack of deep flavours. The curry sauce was fantastic and I'll definitely buy it again.

I did sigh when opening Lumene today ... they make a lot of things other than moisturisers but the advent calendar is more of a moisturiser showcase! They'll all be used eventually though.
April - the Fresh strawberry face wash is lovely, I have it and it smells gorgeous, the grains disappear as you massage it in and it makes your skin feel so smooth.

@Ponks, that’s good to know, I look forward to trying it.

The F&M calendar has also been somewhat moisturiser heavy. I count 6 face moisturisers so far. All very different and interesting high end brands, but it has made the calendar a bit unbalanced. It’s been lower on serums than previous years’, and also no hair care products yet. @CupboardMonster, also odd that none have been eye creams. You’d expect at least one.

I was also pleased with the kettle chips @CupboardMonster. Haven't tried any of the sauces yet.

So what are your top 3 and bottom 3 findings in your advent calendars so far this week