Beauty Advent Calendars 2021 Part 2: The Curse of the Drawers of Disappointment *Spoilers included*

[Coniferhedge]

As you were everyone!

If anyone’s interested,JL content list:

Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream, 15ml
Evolve Organic Beauty Rose Quartz Facial Polish, (full size) 30ml
Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour, Au Naturel, 1g
This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray, 35ml
Clinique Moisture Surge 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator, 15ml
Floral Street Arizona Bloom Eau De Parfum, 10ml
The Beauty Chef COLLAGEN Inner Boost, 100ml
NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, Dolce Vita, 1.8g Form.
Sunday Riley Good Genes Glycolic Acid Treatment, 15ml
Dr.Jart+ Ceramidin Facial Barrier Mask, (full size) 22g
Elemis Superfood Kefir Tea Mist, 30ml
Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo (full size) 92ml
Molton Brown Fiery Pink Pepper Bath & Shower Gel, 100ml
Hourglass Caution Extreme Lash Mascara, Travel Size, Black, 5.5g
Juliette has a Gun Not a Perfume Eau de Parfum, 5ml and Musk Invisible Eau de Parfum, 5ml
Liz Earle Instant Boost™ Skin Tonic, 50ml
REN Clean Skincare Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic (full size) 100ml
MAC Satin Lipstick, Twig (full size) 3g
Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex (full size) 30ml
Dermalogica AGE Smart™ Biolumin-C Serum (full size) 30ml
Hermès L'Ombre des Merveilles Eau de Parfum, 7.5ml
Fresh Soy Face Cleanser To Go (full size) 50ml
Aromatherapy Associates De-Stress Muscle Bath & Shower Oil (full size) 55ml
Charlotte Tilbury The Queen Of Glow Luxury Palette, (full size) 5.2g
Neom Organics London Real Luxury Standard Scented Candle (full size) 185g and Kate Somerville ExfoliKate® Cleanser Daily Foaming Wash (full size) 50ml

Not sure what I think. Bloody glow tonic and AB cream! Also a black mascara and the collagen drink?! But good sizes, good range and I love a Neom candle.

I think overall good and will probably get !

I'm not sure about this one. I like it but I don't love it. And the box is a bit meh, I like my Advent Calendars to be Christmassy. Am loving the Neom Calendar & Charlotte Tilbury Eye Palette though - but are they enough for me to be paying £159?

I won't lie I'm a wee bit disappointed. Waiting for Selfridges.

Hmm, not convinced. Pillow spray, AB rich cream, fresh soy face wash (which I think smells disgusting!) - all these calendars have too many things in them that crop up time and time again in calendars and GWPs.

There are a couple of decent sized serums, but on the whole, I think not for me.

Some PPs have said they've got calendar / GWP fatigue - I think I do too. The first year or two was great, because lots of the products and brands were new to me, but now it feels like I've seen it all before and I just can't bring myself to spend £££ on them!

Hopefully the M&S one will be as bargainous as previous years, and then I might get it because it's nice to have the daily treats in the run up to Christmas.

@notangelinajolie

I'm not sure about this one. I like it but I don't love it. And the box is a bit meh, I like my Advent Calendars to be Christmassy. Am loving the Neom Calendar & Charlotte Tilbury Eye Palette though - but are they enough for me to be paying £159? I won't lie I'm a wee bit disappointed. Waiting for Selfridges.

Totally agree with the packaging being meh - it's an advent calendar, they could at least use Christmassy colours!! So many of them this year are very un-Christmassy.

I think that the JL calendar is really good value

@ajandjjmum if your friend doesn't normally get beauty calendars, then I'm sure she'll love it.

I personally really dislike the smell of the Neom candle, but I know that a lot of people like them

I too am waiting for Selfridges.

There are a couple of thing in JL to tempt me but I could just buy them. I’ve tried nearly all of it before.

Does anyone remember, the past few years Space No have done spend £60 get £15 off, usually around advent calendar time. Do you think they’ll do it this year?

Hmm, I think the JL calendar is a bit of a mixed bag. As others have noted, a few serial offenders (the AB cream, the REN, the Sleep spray, Molton Brown shower gel etc) but also some really good bits; the CT palette, the decent sized EL ANR, the Neom candle, full size bath oil, 4 different perfumes… overall looks decent value and I’m quite tempted by it.

@ajandjjmum, I’d be delighted if I received it as a gift! It’s one of the better ones in terms of a good mix of skincare, haircare, makeup, bath products, perfume etc so makes a good gift if you are not sure what the recipient likes most.

I think JL is a good one for someone who doesn't normally get a calendar and hasn't tried the products, but for me there are too many repeats:

• the AB cream, the Sunday Riley, the Nars pencil, the Ren tonic, the pillow spray, the soy cleaner, and the hourglass mascara are all things that I've had in calendars before.

The Mac lipstick shade isn't for me, I'm not a fan of Neom, and I don't really wear eyeshadow, so I won't buy this, although I do think that its good value.

Does the JL calendar usually sell out quickly? I like the look of it at first glance (need to check out the make up shades a bit more) but think I'm still swaying more towards CB which goes on sale 8 days later?

I never use hair products so it's nice that JL seems to have perfumes rather than hair stuff!

No “value” published for the JL calendar, but using the approach of pro-rating the sample size products and using full cost for things that retail at the size included, I guesstimate the “value” is c£600, so reasonable for the price when compared with other similar calendars.

I love the John Lewis one. I’m not in the UK and they’ve stopped EU delivery

The beauty chef is an interesting addition to the JL one. Never heard of that before.

I’m going to have a think about the JL calendar. There are 12 products I’d be interested in trying. I use EL ANR daily, but I buy 50ml or 75ml which work out cheaper than 30ml so I wouldn’t value that at the £60 that you’d pay for 30ml.

Drawers of disappointment for me include the candle, mascara, eye stick, pillow sprays, perfumes, lip pencil, glow tonic, dry shampoo and lipstick (colour doesn’t suit me). But the other items might make it worth getting. I’ll have another look tonight and look at reviews and prices of the things I’m interested in and work it out.

I think it looks nice but not christmassy enough for me. Can you tell I like Christmas?!

£159 also quite pricey. I'm deffo waiting on m and s.

I think I'm going to buy my granny the Clinique one.

I'm fed up of all the This works sprays though....
They seem to pop up everywhere

Hmm the Evolve facial polish says 30 ml full size but that appears to be travel size worth £13, with full size being 60ml.

Well, I'm excited by John Lewis! Only a couple of DODs for me - the pillow spray obvs, and I won't use dry shampoo. I'm a bit meh about the lipstick and lip pencil as I don't usually wear lipstick. I love the sounds of perfumes, and I'm excited about the CT palette and candle. It's a nice mix of skin care, perfume and make up, IMHO.

The price is holding me back though - not cheap and I'm still thinking that M&S might be a blinder (and a third the price!)

Hermes tried to deliver my H&B calendar today but I'm not at home so I told them to bring it back tomorrow. I really hope the extra trip doesn't batter it too much - I had to fix last year's with tape!

And the CT palette looks lovely but is a little too sparkly for me.

Hmm the JL calendar looks a bit blah.
The only things that I would be interested in are the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick, Floral Sreet Arizona Bloom perfume, Liz Earle Skin Tonic (as I use that), EL Night Repair & Hermes Perfume
Although the box doesn't look Christmassy it is pretty.
Last year's contents were much better.
So it's a miss for me.

Hope the M&S is good as otherwise it will be Rituals, Lancôme, Lumene or Dr Hauschka
Though the YSL one does look lovely too

I might be tempted by the JL calendar. I use ANR anyway so a bottle of that is handy and I'd like to try the Juliette Has A Gun perfumes as I LOVE Lady Vengeance. And I really like the sleepy spray as it seems to work for me, probably psychosomatic but I'll take that given my menopausal insomnia!

Do John Lewis ever offer GWPs or discounts that would make this seem less expensive?

What I’d like in a calendar;
Byredo..anything, really lovely stuff.
Creme de la mer
Derm institute
Aesop body stuff
Nice candle...not Baies dyptique though.
Johnny Depp for bonus Christmas Day 💖

Oh yes...some Dr Barbara Sturm..no idea if it’s any good or overpriced okish

@BurningTheToast

I might be tempted by the JL calendar. I use ANR anyway so a bottle of that is handy and I'd like to try the Juliette Has A Gun perfumes as I LOVE Lady Vengeance. And I really like the sleepy spray as it seems to work for me, probably psychosomatic but I'll take that given my menopausal insomnia!

Do John Lewis ever offer GWPs or discounts that would make this seem less expensive?

The This Works sleep body cream really helps me to sleep better. The spray probably would too - if I remembered to use it! I collected loads over the years as they were given away in hotels as well as in advent calendars but I always forget to use it so I gave a load away last year.

I like the JL calendar but it is too expensive. If the price goes down I might consider getting it. I have H&B and I am not too interested in other calendars on offer.