Beauty Advent Calendars 2022 part 4 (SPOILER central)

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Continued from www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4665058-beauty-advents-2022-part-3-so-many-spoilers?reply=121810580&utm_source=thread&utm_medium=share

General chat about beauty advent calendars.

Bare Minerals is now £66 in the boots sale

@MyOtherCarIsAHearse just came on to update and saw you'd already posted! I got the Premium Rituals one for Jadvent! Will brighten up my January 😀

Yay glad someone else is doing it for Jadvent! Really looking forward to it. :)

Still no reply from cowshed customer service , however I have lugged it to the post office and it's on the way back for a refund anyway

For me it wasn't just the serum , it was generally not as good as the one advertised. It was genuinely not worth £40 I would have hesitated to pay £20

@diamondsandrose I fear you might be right but was hoping the products might be really nice. I think if they send me the serum I will put it in the drawer and keep it for next year. If not I will return. Am a bit tempted to get the nice rituals one instead….

The rituals calendar seems to have very small sizes .

Yes I bought rituals last year and was disappointed. The sizes were tiny and 4 doors were useless mini candles that were so small that you couldn't smell them at all when burning.

It's ok if you want to try the range but I don't think that I'd buy it again. Would rather just get a couple of full size products

They have three versions of their calendar. The premium is where the good shit is at.

Yes same here @MidnightMeltdown. Wasn’t impressed. Used the shower stuff but not keen on any of it really. Found a couple of the body sprays a bit sickly too.

My Rituals calendar has already arrived! Ordered last night so that was incredibly quick.

Set it up and it looks pretty but there's definitely a design flaw with this year's calendar. A lot of the boxes are already coming open and some are too heavy for the cardboard tree! Really glad I got it for Jadvent as I'll probably take them all off after Christmas 🎄 Still think it was great value for (mostly) full size products 👍

Which secret Santa gift will go down better for a 30 year old relative: a Cowhed Jadvent (which I got in the sale) or a Cult Beauty buyers edit? I know most of us love the idea of Jadvents, but I'm having second thoughts as a gift for someone who may not be a Beaty advent calendar devotee.

@stripymum Cult Beauty buyer's edit would be a great gift, I'm about the same age and the Cowshed advent didn't really appeal.

@stripymum i agree with @KimmySchmitt CB buyers edit all the way!

Thank you @Zoetrope1 @KimmySchmitt that's decided then! I will have lots of travel size cowshed products for any weekends away!

On another note I also received the illuminating serum today after making a complaint that it was not in the box. Looking forward to trying that and the balms.

Good idea. Now the main advent season is over what are our advent obsessive thoughts? I am really pleased with LinB, so glad this thread highlighted that. Still a niche fan of Debenhams there were some beautiful minis, not little plastic bottles but mini glass perfumes and a full sized Stilla. I put all the boxes in a big bowl which worked well as the main box not strong. Quite fancy F&M next year as the packaging looks lovely if products are right. Don’t think I will need to buy any beauty for a while though. If money was no object would try the La Mer one but unless half price I don’t think I would buy it…

I really enjoyed John Lewis with some great products and worth the value but interestingly would probably not get again unless radically different as it felt very similar to last year with the neom candle, elemis,, Charlotte tilbury so feel like I have done it .
I also got LIB which was great value at the reduced rate and really pleased I bought and would look at this again to fill my staples if the value was right
Next year I will look at maybe Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty or similar which seem to have a few more niche products just for a bit of variety

I really enjoyed my Liberty calendar, a rea treat, with lots of brands/products I haven't used before to try. Already enjoying some of the skin care products

I really enjoyed all my calendars! I had Space NK, CB, LiB and Selfridges. And I bought Liberty for mum. I loved them all, even Liberty which copped a lot of flack on its thread.

All calendars had brands / products I knew I like but I was surprised by how delightful I found opening and trying other products - the kind of products I was meh about when choosing between the advents.

Liberty had a lot of hair products and didn’t space them out very thoughtfully. But I use them and love the multiple candles and perfumes. And I love that it contained niche skincare brands.

LiB was incredible value, every item full size and practical. I wish the packaging was a little more exciting but that’s my only criticism.

Sefridges was an absolute delight. Love that we received 4 different perfumes, the candle and it had a good range of products. Day 25 was a bit dissapointing for me (false eye lashes and eye liner) as I don’t wear make up but other than that I’ve really enjoyed it.

Space NK was the best value for me based on the products and brands I use and I knew I’d like this one. It didn’t disappoint.

CB surprised me! I’d done my research and compared it to Space NK and didn’t think it was as good. But it was so much fun unboxing, they really nailed the psychology of the calendar (products spaced out, a few days of joy with 3+ products etc) and had similar brands to Space NK.

I also loved chasing the sales - everything I bought was 40/50% off with the exception of Liberty which sold out anyway so I think I did very well!

next year is going to be very different. I doubt we’ll have the same amazing deals and I also cannot justify 5 advents even though I share with mum!

Here is CB’s day 25 for example of excellent psychology and product distribution!

*Sorry Space NK was 20% off with a goody bag

I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 too. It was my first Liberty calendar, and, ordering of products through the days aside, I was really happy with almost all of it. LiB was practical and excellent value, but today’s candle was probably one of the few really exciting products. Relatively speaking, F&M was probably the least good value: but I do love that there is a bit less skincare and more fragrance, bath and body than the rest, and that there is less overlap overall with other calendars. It’s also the prettiest and best quality packaging of the three.

I think given how slowly many of the calendars shifted this year, it is likely that some retailers will choose not to do one next year, and those who do will have fewer available. This year has actually been incredible in terms of choice and value, especially once priced were reduced. It’s hard to imagine it being repeated.

That said, the aim for me is no/low buy 2023, at least until next advent season, as I now have a huge stash to work through.

Merry Christmas all!

Lush Boxing Day sale now live. I just grabbed their Wow gift and advent calendar at half price each! It’s made my entire year!

I really missed my calendar opening this morning!

it’s been interesting. I had the JL and really liked it overall. I thought it was good value for me as I bought it with the free Beauty Box and then also got a refund on the discount when they discounted it. Packaging wasn’t very Christmassy for me. Overall a good selection of products I thought. I would have preferred a Christmas scented candle rather than the Neom sleep one but that’s me being picky. Also thought the Lancôme Mascara was a bit small and they maybe could have added something in that day like a lip balm.

I have also enjoyed seeing what @AprilLady got each day. The LiB looked great.

I will hopefully be on the Liberty thread next year as I have joined up to the Beauty Drop to save up for it. As I’m also on a complete No Buy next year I’m hoping the Beauty Boxes every few months will help my withdrawal symptoms!

I did a bit of a stock take of my stash recently and need to add in the advent calendar bits and also do a proper stock take of small sizes and concentrate on using them up. I also need to start using up all the masks I have so I’m planning a bath and face mask once a week. And hair treatment to use some of them up! I also need to start using perfume more as I now have lots of that.

All in all I have really enjoyed Advent Calendar Season. Loved all the excitement watching people decide what to go for and the discount sharing etc. Special mention to @spidersenses for spotting the Bare Minerals discount! I ordered it for my sister and can’t wait to see what she thinks when I give it to her. And huge kudos to Bare Minerals for honouring the discount.

I've enjoyed Liberty this year, I researched it so it met my expectations. My surprise joy was the heavily discounted Glossybox calendar as it was fun.
Next year I will definitely look to do one skincare luxury and one more frivolous again.
I would have loved Harvey Nics but wouldn't have found it easy to use the vouchers.
I hope the trend for multiple exfoliating/acid products disappears next year.

I just got the Wow collection and a bath bombs set. What a stressful hour! The website wasn't working properly for ages, but just suddenly kicked in again. I'd been waiting for for the Lush sale.