General beauty advent calendar opening thread - all welcome

[AprilLady]

As in previous years, this is a thread for all those opening beauty advent calendars not covered by specific threads, though happy for any to be posted here too. We’d also love to hear about other non-beauty calendars.

Only one ask please, do not disclose contents of calendars before 7am on the relevant day.

I’ll be opening the Liberty and Fortnum and Mason calendars. Possibly also Latest in Beauty, assuming it arrives on time.

Only two sleeps to go - looking forward to it!

Lumene Nordic C oil in JL today. It looks very pretty - like a tequila sunrise! I really should take pictures but never remember first thing.

Nice products again @AprilLady but the smell might put me off the serum.

Very pleased with the Lumene oil from JL. I've also got the teeniest Barbara Strum glow drops from Fenwick's. I've had these before and they're not a wow product for me, particularly given how expensive they are.

Yesterday Fenwick's was tiny Versace Dylan Blue pour homme and pour femme bottles. Very cute but not something I'll use. I've given DH the pour home - along with the JL Acqua di Parma - and will give one of the DDs the pour femme.

Black eyeliner in HN today, there's always one! Luckily I wear it semi-regularly so don't mind.

H&B - goji hair mask mini
body shop - rose face mask mini

That’s a great size shower gel @AprilLady I’m really glad I got the LiB for jadvent, I’ve been impressed with your items so far.

@Pinenu definitely been pleased with LiB. Lots of good size, useful products. Liberty and F&M are a bit more inconsistent, but every now and again there is something actively exciting - like yesterday’s Suratt lipstick, which is a great everyday shade and consistency.

Actually Day 18:

F&M: Two cute little Tocca perfumes

Liberty: Dr Sebagh Retinol Night Repair. I currently use a Sunday Riley serum, but very happy to try this when my current one is done. Full size too!

LiB: A nail product for a change, a Nails Inc top coat.

Another very decent day. I’m really enjoying my calendars.

Great day for HN! La Prairie caviar eye cream, a voucher for a 45 min La Prairie facial, and Sunday Riley vitamin C oil (which I love!)

They all look lovely @AprilLady. The top coat is a great idea as a nail product - less risky than a nail polish which people might not like the colour of.

JL today for me was a Bobbi Brown cream blush and lip product which I was happy with. Others got a Molton Brown shower gel which some of us got earlier in the month. Think both products having ‘Brown’ in the name confused the drawer fillers!

Very nice @CeeCeeDeeBee!

@CeeCeeDeeBee that does sound good. I really rate Sunday Riley products.

@Peridot1 agree the top coat is a good idea - I usually only wear clear nail polish, so for once it is a nail product I may actually use.

I got the Bobbi Brown cream blush too in JL. And then a This Works stress relief roll on for pulse points from Fenwick's. I think I may stick this in teen DD1's stocking as she's a bit anxious these days.

@AprilLady those perfumes look so pretty, what lovely treats!

Degusta - a bottle of fried egg sweets (I want to meet the calendar curator because I love how random it all is)
H&B - a rough sponge sleep mask
Body Shop - a bubble bar mini
Selfridges - Olaplex no3 100ml

Those Tocca bottles look gorgeous!
Happy with the bottle of sweets in Degusta today. H&B sleep mask is a miss for me. Retinol topcoat in LiB looks good.

Day 19: into the final week

F&M: Aromatherapy Associates de-stress bath oil. Love this one.

Liberty: The seated queen cold cream. New brand and product for me - apparently either a cleanser or overnight mask. Will be interesting to try!

LiB: Ouai shampoo. Can’t get too excited about shampoo, I’ve used this before and it’s fine.

A Floral Street perfume - Sunflowers - in JL today. The third perfume we’ve had so a bit meh for me.

@Peridot1 that is one of the few Floral Street scents I do actually like. Might be more of a summer scent though?

Yes @AprilLady - might be a good one to take on holiday.

Degusta- salted caramel energy bar
Body shop - Shea body butter
H&B - jojoba oil 10ml
Selfridges - Paula’s choice 2% BHA 30ml

Can't believe we’re on the final week, December has flown by.

@Pinenu degusta has been so random this year hasn't it?! DH happy with the egg sweets tho 😆

It really has @Giftwithpurchase it’s been the one we’ve had most fun with as we try to guess what’s behind the door each morning and our guesses have gone from ‘chocolate bar’ to ‘Christmas tree shaped jar of sauerkraut’ 😂

😂 😂 😂 @Pinenu .. who knows what we can expect this final week!

Bobbi Brown smoky eye mascara in Fenwick's today along with the Sunflower perfume in JL.

I'm not sure about perfumes, I love a perfume but maybe I have too particular tastes as do have my favourite scent. I thought I wanted some to try in my advent calendars but so far I've had:
Acqua di Parma - given to DH
Givenchy L' Interdit - not keen, will give to DMIL or DM
Versace Dylan Blue pour homme and pour femme - one for DH and one for DD1 (who mainly just thinks the bottle is cute)
Floral Street Sunflower Pop - ok for a light summer perfume but not much wow factor, may also end up with DD1
Ormonde Jayne muscat perfume - this one I do really like, it's dry and ambery and seems to fit the season.

So one out of five that I like, may have to rethink for next year.

@Stokey that’s a good point re the perfumes. I also fancy the idea of a few different perfumes to try, then end up actually liking only a very few of them. The Tocca perfumes from yesterday are cute, but neither are scents I’ll actually wear that often.

That said, I was lucky enough to get one of the Harrods Fragrance calendars, and that has been amazing, with only a couple of total misses for me. Quite a few had oud, so if you didn’t like oud you may have been disappointed, though. I suspect that was a one off though, I’m sure they’ll massively increase the price if they do something like it again.

I've started a swap thread [https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4701466-advent-calendarbeauty-box-swap-thread?reply=122397258 here]] for anyone interested.