Beauty advents 2022 part 3 (so many SPOILERS)

[Zeeza]

Continued from:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4639718-beauty-advent-22-part-2-massive-spoilers?page=40&reply=121083464

All your general beauty advent chat, reviews and discount codes.

I'm driving myself demented with the shall I get it now, or shall I wait for an incentive on the Harrods calendar.... I'll be really disappointed if it sells out, but equally annoyed if I buy it and they give a goodie bag or discount later. Argh!!!

I get the point that we are a little spoilt in the uk. Compared to EU countries and the US, our advent calendars are much better and more generous.

However you also need to bare in mind that most beauty products are extremely cheap to make. The mark up is enormous. If people like the product, then they may continue to purchase in future, which benefits the brand.

What brands probably don't take into account is the fact that many people buy multiple calendars and therefore don't need to repurchase much for the rest of the year!

I take 'value' with a pinch of salt as usually it includes samples that would normally be free. It's in the brands best interest to get you to try their products and switch from your usual. Also, you can find 20% deals off almost anything at various points in the year, so I always take 20% off when looking at value. Most people don't actually pay the ticket price when purchasing products, and brands will factor this into their pricing structure.

I wasn't too bothered either - I just accepted that it probably wouldn't come. It was an impulse buy based on it had a things i already use and like, and some I'd like to try, and some things that will be stocking fillers.
I've bought Christmas gift packs from H&B before in the January sales and loved most of the products.

I have no need for it really, but it's nice to treat myself.

Has anyone got the CB glow goody bag? I can’t find a list of products.

Not only will Harrods not send me a replacement calendar, they won't collect the old one either!

They've told me that I have to take it to the post office and then send them a copy of the receipt so that they can refund me the postage! 😡😡🤬

So if I want a replacement calendar, I now have to pay another £250, as well as the postage to return the old one, and then I have couple of weeks to be refunded!

That's quite bad. Also, there's no guarantee the newer purchase won't have missing items or damages.
I'd return it and also claim the postage refund and buy a completely different one from a different retailer.

Late to the party.
I always get the M&S calendar for my birthday however this year I’ve been bought the You Beauty one. Anyone else got this one?

Harrods was the one luxury one I was interested in - your experience puts me off buying it!

Wow! Not the level of customer service you expect from somewhere like Harrods at all

I'm really surprised by how badly Harrods have dealt with some people who've had problems with their advent calendars. I must have been very fortunate with the person I spoke to when I called them, and I received my £20 refund for the missing item almost immediately. Mind you, I signed up for their reward scheme just before I bought the fragrance advent calendar, and it took over four weeks, five phone calls, and two emails to get them to sort out the error they made with my points.

I have pointed out to Harrods that it's a pretty heavy item to have to lug to the post office. Imagine if I was an older person!

Normally they offer courier collection for returns, but apparently, because this is a 'non-returnable' item, I have to post it to them!

Totally agree with the PP regarding the perception of value.

I don't prescribe at all to the "worth £1000" type marketing , free sample size for example 5 or 10 ml , I've even seen 3ml claiming to be "worth" a certain amount based on a ml for ml calculation of the full price size.

As a pp pointed out , these are sample items usually given away free at point of sale for marketing purposes.

Companies hope you may rebuy the full size after trying and I don't appreciate being "sold" a sample !

Customers will quite rightly not buy something they do not perceive to be good value for the contents inside and it would appear the offerings are not matching up! I am holding tight still , I divide the price by 24/25 and think , do I really want to pay £? for most of these items . I accept the odd dud but totally agree these calendars are full of last years boring duds . I want to try 2023's next thing not 2020's!!

Not only that, but I don't want to spend my lunch break queuing at the post office because of their mistake!

I ordered l'occitane calendar one year from JL sales. They sent me a candle calendar. First the customer service asked me to go to JL to return it and then I would get refund. I said that I have mobility issues and it's not possible. They let me have the candle calendar and I got tefund. I don't have any mobility issues but I couldn't have asked to travel to city centre to return it.

I'm quite tempted by the Latest In Beauty Luxury Skin Edit. Couple of products I'd like to try in it.
Cowshed advent has 30% off now.

Ah that I was looking forward to! Ordered this morning for £80 with code STSLUX80
I already use the Eve Lom cleanser and want to try three of the other products already so it was a good buy for me.

Think I'll keep this one in mind. Good sizes too!

Debenhams advent is half price @£45 with free delivery:

www.debenhams.com/product/debenhams-debenhams-beauty-advent-calendar-worth-over-280_ydd08766?colour=multi

Look Fantastic calendar is £66.50 with a code from o2 Priority app.

Ahhh! I like the look of this. I wanna try that Dewy Cream. But even so, when there are the possible discounts floating around for other things…

decisions!

My fave this year and the one I bought was the Sephora/Feel Unique. £139, don't think the value is genuinely £711 but it's probably not that far off, and 17 full size products and 34 products in total in the calendar. There's some bits in I already use in the full size which made it value for money for me and things I want to try, and the rest is just nice to have. There is nothing in it that majorly turns me off.

If money was no object Penhaligon's would be my dream, but I already have a ton of their perfume that I really don't wear all that often, it's like a bloody collecting hobby. They're my go to for gifts for my parents though, they both have faves out of there that I can rely on and usually a good discount code for freebies.

Despite being open to the possibility of a second calendar I've not been tempted even with various discounts going around but this is very tempting!!

Love the Eve Lom cleanser, I've had the Keys one before and it wasn't anything special but smelled lovely, not tried anything else in there but it's all stuff I wouldn't mind trying. All full sizes too is fab.

Sits on hands...

I posted on here a while back now as I was trying to find an AC I could send to my sister in Aus. Eventually discovered that Selfridges do international delivery so purchased the Molton Brown AC which was delivered in less than a week! Although the delivery was a bit pricey they deducted the VAT as it was going overseas so pretty much balanced out the postage costs, just in case this helps anyone else with overseas family.

And in some beautiful karma…I took delivery of the SpaceNK calendar this morning from my sis - yay! I’d resisted buying so far this year but was weakening so feeling virtuous 😄

What lovely sisters you are! I hope you both really enjoy your respective calendars.