Beauty Advent Calendars 2023 - Spreadsheets & SPOILERS

[Stoic123]

Thread to discuss and compare 2023 Beauty Advent contents. Started because Liberty has already published their contents.

Is Liberty worth it? I've cost £140 credit (from the beauty drop scheme) Never bought myself anything expensive ever!

They say it’s “worth” over £1000, but things are only worth what people are prepared to pay for them. Also, unless you look at the contents you won’t know if it’s worth it, but then you’ve looked, and it’s less of a lovely surprise when you start opening the drawers.

I had the preorder email for the Liberty calendar today. I have to say very disappointed. In a dilemma as I have been saving my beauty drop credits for this and currently have £174 but not sure if I don’t get it what I will spend the money on.

I bought the first Sephora calendar last year. I think it was in stock for at least a few weeks. I got a discount on it, and money back through top cash back, so it worked out around £100. Really good value. Looking forward to seeing what they come up with this year.

Look Fantastic doesn't appeal to me. I don't want any of the makeup in it. Especially not the giant eyeshadow palette.

I like the idea of the makeup brush cleaner though. That's an interesting inclusion.

Not particularly interested in any of the calendars so far. Looking forward to seeing Harrods, Space NK, CB and Sephora.

Hope that Harrods don't keep us waiting like they did last year!

I can’t wait to see Cult and Space NK.

There will be a GWP in September (according to the thread), so I might use my £120 (by then) on that instead, then hopefully have the full credit for next year’s AC.

What’s a GWP?

@Hadenough2022 it’s a Gift with purchase.

Last year's Rituals calendar is still available to but on Boots website, but only 20% off. I wonder if it will be discounted soon.

Book marking. Thank you

Loved latest in beauty last year, be interested to see what in this years

LF never appeals to me, I think last year it was maybe okay? But I'm not impressed with that list. I do like the Coco and Eve hair mask but it lists it as full size and the tube in the photo is definitely not full size because that's a bigger tub. So heads up, check the sizes before you buy.

@AllTheChaos Fortnum & Mason might be a good option? Or Rituals?

LF is the one I’ve bought most often and I thought last year’s was their best ever, even bought another in the New Year for £50 for my sister’s pressie this Christmas. Until I found these MN threads I had no idea there were so many ACs available, so never looked at the contents lists to avoid spoilers. Now I know there are so many different ones there’s no option but to compare them to work out which one(s) to get.

I'm pretty sure the big eyeshadow palette or one by the same brand was in the Glossybox AC a couple of years back. I see LF are still pushing Avant too

Yes, the palette looks nice but I’m going for proper good colours in my palettes these days, greens, pinks, purples. I have enough neutrals to last me another 50 years.

And Avant! Does anyone pay full RRP when there’s every chance you’ll get it for £2 or £3 in a beauty box? I had an Avant eye cream and a night cream that would both normally retail for £90+ and although it’s a pleasant-enough brand to use, I have no idea how/why it’s so highly-priced.

The Sephora one was really good - if you set up an account on their website you can select 2 brands that you get 10% off that you can change every 6 months - last year I chose Sephora and got 10% off the advent so it made it really good value

Not for me the Liberty one and I have around £200 saved on vouchers and drop box.
anyone has a link to last years Sephora one ?

Jusr seen the Sephora one from 2022. Thanks for the link !

It's highly priced so companies like LF can pretend their boxes and calendars are worth more than they are. Avant is not a luxury brand...you don't find it in beauty halls like you would with similarly priced brands such as YSL or Chanel.

Cosmetopia looked into it some time ago...I believe the consensus was it was created off-label with cheapish ingredients from China and then the Avant label stuck on them.

Once I see an Avant product, I don't purchase. I don't like the manipulation, allowing people to believe the box is worth £400 when really it is nowhere near it.

I’ve just had another look at the Liberty calendar. I definitely won’t be buying.

I like the idea of a mirror/bracelet etc, but I just won’t use a lot of the products. Why are there 2 hair oils?!

They say that 19 of the products are “full size”. I think they’re stretching that a bit. 25ml of the Oto cleanser is listed as full size for example - since when has 25ml of a cleanser been full size?! The Zelens mask is 30ml, but the full size version they sell online is 50ml.

I think I’ll look at the Fortnums/Harrods calendars this year. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed for good GWPs from Liberty and Space NK.

It’s a no from me to re Liberty AC, box is pretty but that’s about it.
It must be hard to decide what to put in, but maybe there is also competition from other AC brands with what the companies are offering. I wonder if they’re running out of ideas/brand affiliates, hence randomness. It’s such a shame the original HG calendar has lost its lustre.

I think Liberty are going to be left with a lot of calendars on their hands this year. Hopefully it will be a wake up call and next year’s offering will be stupendous.

LF isn’t bad - a lot of of it is that the newer products don’t seem to be making it into the ACs - so if you’ve had several of these, unless you like the stalwarts they lose appeal (and Elemis, Bader, Kingsley - the usual suspects - they’re solid products).

I'm not feeling overly excited by either the Liberty or LF calendars this year. I might just get my trusty M&S calendar, which at £40 is a bargain and cheap enough that I don't feel the need to check the contents first, and hope for a good Liberty GWP in September.

It is stiff competition these days with the Nov cyber beauty deals, GWP and post Xmas sales!

i’m going F&M unless something really turns my head.