Just got the M&S advent calendar and …🙃

[Chloefairydust]

I’m not sure what to think. On one hand it was a good deal £40 when spending £30 in store. Otherwise would be £300. I just don’t believe it’s worth £300 in value though M&S have lied!!!… I was expecting more full size items. So I’m somewhat disappointed however I like the selection and brands of products. But felt I have paid for samples which is a bit shit tbh … Don’t think I will buy the M&S one again though! Anyone else bought the M&S one? If so what did you think?

Also on another note, has anyone tried the Clinique mascara? (It’s in the Calendar) I have to wear waterproof mascara otherwise get loads of smudging during the day and end up looking a hot mess lol. Is Clinique mascara waterproof/ smudge proof??? 🐼

If not I will give it away to a friend or my niece…

The M&S calendar is fab. It was worth £300 last year - they don't lie. 🙄

And wtf have you opened it already?! 🤦🏼‍♀️

It's about 4x more expensive than the M&S one - not equivalent 🙄

@RampantIvy, not every day, no. I did of it was something I'd be using anyway.

It was just nice to open it up and then come and chat on here about whether we liked it, what we thought of the colour, etc.

I'm not getting the advent calendar this year because of lack of full sizes.

I hate that Clinique mascara, it's in every bloody Clinique gift and it brings me out in a rash!

It might be worth £300 in cost, but no way worth £300 to the individual if you're not using some products, don't really like others, give some away, aren't right colour etc.

You cannot compare an advent calendar that you are getting for £40 with one that costs £152 it’s ridiculous .

I have never had the M&S advent calendar before, this is the first year I have bought theirs… were there more full sized products in previous year’s calendars?

The M&S one is a good price, many can't afford the £150 one, you can't really compare them as one costs five times more so of course it should be better.

Just under 4 times more

Very odd to buy an advent calendar then open it all at once surely part of the price paid is for the box and the fun of opening it daily. Wouldn't you just check what was in the calendar and then buy those things you wanted if you weren't going to actually use the calendar part.

I won a love honey advent calendar from Mumsnet one year 🤣.
While there was lots of good products there was also lots of ones I'd never dream of buying and I'd never have paid for one as I think it was overpriced.
It was a fun December though 🤷‍♀️

Well I am apparently very odd then. I will survive 🙄

I get them because they are good value and give me products to try.

were there more full sized products in previous year’s calendars?

Yes.

@Chloefairydust I don't think you realise the cost of the products at full size, the majority of the products are high end brands, and why would M&S lie about the value, they'd be slaughtered for it. I've had 2 in the past and I live them. If I lived in the UK I'd be buying one again this year.

*love

I've decided not to get the M&S calendar this year, after doing so for the last four or five years, except the year they didn't do it. It's been a banker previously but I've noticed on previous opening threads people saying it had come to seem a bit samey after a few goes, and I think that's the point I'm at. It had fewer of the things I really like it for and more of the fillers.

I'll most miss the opening thread. Think I may just join in anyway!

The other mad thing is you didn’t have to smash it all open in one day. They have unboxings on YouTube so this whole thing was unnecessary to start 😂

Yeah, I think the m and s calendar is good value. It's not for me this year. But that's my personal taste, not because I think the calendar is not good. I've tried all the products in this years AC that I want to, and don't want extras hanging around.

Haha this sounds like a fun competition to win 😁

I also decided against M&S this year, partly because it has so many sample sizes in it this year.

The supposed ‘value’ of all the beauty calendars is slightly dubious, as they tend to cost small sizes at a percentage value of the full size, which isn’t a retail cost. There are also some brands which appear to have a hugely inflated cost for what they are and rarely get seen outside these calendars!

The YouTuber Cosmetopia does fantastic unboxings and reviews and is very Frank about some of the contents and their worth. And has a particular horror of the (£30???!) gua sha stone type fillers.

Really…

Im more of a skincare person than a makeup person, so was really disappointed to see there were no full sized skincare products in the M&S calendar.

I actually own one of the moisturisers they sent a sample size of. So this is how small the sample size is compared to my full size jar.

I find it really hard to believe that the products in the calendar are worth £300, in fact if that’s true I will eat my hat! 😁… Although I know I only paid £40 so can’t really complain, but not sure I would have bought it is I would have known how small all the products would have been. 🙃

Im more of a skincare person than a makeup person

So am I TBH. I actually prefer getting sample sizes because I like to try things out. I have had full sized products in the past that I used because it was there but not been fussed about.

I have just googled the contents. I wouldn't use at least half of the products, so I'm glad this thread reminded me.

Swipe past if you don't want the spoiler!

There you go! There's the list & the estimated cost of each item!

So it’s not worth £300 then 🤔