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!

Let's try that link again

I'm away for a few days so have decided to wait to open until I'm back. Agony, though!

Day 20: Yet another good haul, it’s been a great year:

F&M: Wildsmith Skin Active super oil. A full size facial oil with an RRP of £100 - expecting very good things from this.

Liberty: Zelens emulsion D moisturiser. I’ve liked (but not loved) the previous Zelens products I’ve tried, and a moisturiser will get used.

LiB: A rare make-up product from LiB. A Delilah eyeshadow stick which looks the sort of brown shade I wear regularly, so pretty happy with this.

That facial oil looks lovely!

Seaweed crisps in the Degustabox today. I'm thrilled as I'm the only one in the house who likes them so I get them all to myself 😁
AHA mask in John Lewis which is a bit meh as there's been lots of AHA already. And a teeny eye cream in BareMinerals which is not overly exciting but a useful travel size. Overall, I've been really impressed with BareMinerals. The makeup has been a big surprise. I really like the lip gloss - it's not at all tacky, just has a nice moisturising feel and a very natural finish. Lovely for everyday use. And there was a loose eyeshadow which was described as "Buttercup" so I thought it would be unwearable but it's actually a nice, shimmery cream which works really well in a tiny amount on my inner lids.

An AHA face mask from JL today. From Evolve. Not a brand I’ve heard of. Third exfoliating product in JL I think.

Very random day today.

Degusta - seaweed crisps
Body shop - hand cream (the third one but it’ll get used and they’re very handy sizes)
Selfridges - Kylie lipstick
H&B - a gua sha (my H thought it was a mini chopping board)

I absolutely love the randomness of Degusta, it's delivering brilliantly again this year.

@Pinenu 😂 A mini shopping board would be rather more useful than a gua sha from my perspective.

@Peridot1 quite a few calendars seem a bit AHA/exfoliator heavy this year for some reason.

Double mask for me today with the exfoliating mask in JL and an Organic Pharmacy Jasmine and Honey mask in Fenwick's. I also got an Oskia mask in one of them earlier on and the leave on mask, so now probably have enough masks to last a year!

I would definitely prefer less exfoliating products - would have liked a standard cleanser and maybe some nice body cream at this time of year.

Do you think there is an advent calendar that doesn’t exist but should?

This year in Advent Calendars as a whole there seems to be a dearth of cleansers with the exception of the Murad exfoliating one. There were also a lot of exfoliating products.

Day 21: More make-up and masks

F&M: Espa overnight hydration therapy. Apparently good for dry skin.

Liberty: Rose inc clear brow gel. Look forward to trying this. I regularly use the Benefits one, so nice to have a different product to try.

LiB: Mini Fenty gloss bomb plus key chain. Quite cute, though I’m not a big wearer of lip gloss. Might be tempted to try it though.

Overnight hydration therapy sounds perfect after all the exfoliators in other calendars @AprilLady!

A very small Lancôme Hypnose mascara in JL this morning. Happy with it as needed one anyway but it’s quite small.

@AprilLady I got that Fenty gloss in HN and I really like it, despite not wearing gloss usually.

Dull day for me with the Lancome mascara in JL and 30ml Sachajuan (another unknown brand) conditioner in Fenwick's. Both will get used eventually but I can't get excited about either.

Degusta - rootles chocolate carrot biscuits x 2 (huge hit in my house)
Body shop - the 4th mini shower gel
H&B - a mini face mask
Selfridges - sana jardin 5ml perfume

Day 22: Multiple products in the Liberty drawer today, and everything full sized:

F&M: Full size Bamford body milk. Looks good.

Liberty: 3 products today: Uoma mascara, REN lactic acid mask and KS ExfoliKate. Slightly odd to have two exfoliating masks in the same calendar, let alone in the same drawer, but I’m up for trying the REN.

LiB: Christophe Robin leave in Bari conditioner. Not one I’ve tried before, and the sort of thing I use often, so happy with this.

Catching up on four days of HN!

19 - full size Revitalash
20 - full size Hourglass ambient lighting bronzer (will regift or sell this as prefer creams)
21 - Augustinus Bader oil (10ml)
22 - bath oil, can't remember the brand, but a decent size

Dermalogica Dynamic Skin Recovery SPF 50 moisturiser in JL this morning. Very happy with this. I usually use a separate moisturiser and an spf but this will be good to try in summer when my skin is not so dry.

Nice group of products again @AprilLady but bloody hell that ExfoliKate gets everywhere! The Goats Milk cleanser would have been nice in that drawer. Or basically any other KS product!

Full size Revitalash is good @CeeCeeDeeBee!

@CeeCeeDeeBee HN products sound pretty good. I really rate Hourglass blushers and bronzers products - I use one of their blushers most days. Is the oil Olverum?

@Peridot1 JL moisturiser sounds good. I like to use the combined products in the winter, when I need less protection, but use a dedicated SPF in the summer as I’m never sure the combined SPF/moisturisers have enough SPF in them for really sunny weather.

Also agree re Kate Somerville - the cleanser, or even the goats milk moisturiser for soothing after using an exfoliating product would have worked well.

Overall Liberty has been excellent, but their choices in terms of what to put where have been odd - yesterday we had a one mini product with an RRP of c£9, today a drawer with 3 full sized products with an RRP of over £120. Just a bit odd really.

Good day here. The Dermalogica SPF moisturiser from JL and a 50ml Votary super seed cream from Fenwick's. This was one of the products that convinced me to buy Fenwick's as I like Votary and haven't tried this before.

What is it with all the exfoliating masks this year??

I’m normally the same with SPF @AprilLady. This is sold more as an SPF with moisturiser though I think. I’ll check it out. It’s under the SPF section on the Dermalogica website.

I’ve been keeping an eye in your Liberty offerings as I’ve joined up to the Beauty Drop to save up for their calendar next year. I agree the product placement is odd with the value sometimes. Very odd!

The Votary Super Seed cream is nice @Stokey. although I wasn’t keen on the smell I have to say. Which surprised me as I love the smell of the Super Seed oil. I bought a full set of the Super Seed range half price in the Harrods sale last year. It was great value.

@AprilLady the oil IS Olverum! And I'll happily swap the bronzer if you would like it :)

Have started Revitalash this morning, hoping for long lashes by Christmas

That’s a great haul @AprilLady

Degusta - a coffee in a bag
H&B - candle
Body Shop - rose body scrub
Selfridges - 111skin vit C booster 20ml