Beauty Advent Calendars 2023 - Spreadsheets & SPOILERS

[Stoic123]

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

The full size oto is 100ml so why say 25ml is full size?

Some sort of wheeze where it’s one of their ‘full’ sizes but they now call their full size as deluxe.

My 2 favourites brands are up for 'renewal' on 27th august so this is a great tip! Will be changing one to Sephora just in case.

I've had Liberty twice in the past, and I think that they've always been one of the less generous in terms of sizes (compared to say, F&M or CB).

There are 29 products, so there must be some drawers with 2 items, but even so, for me, there's not enough to justify the cost

Personally, I'd rather they put fewer items, but more generous sizes

I love a good advent calendar thread! None appealed to me last year and I felt really hard done by in December. I had Cult beauty the year before and it was great.

Im excited to see what Space NK and CB bring out this year. You can sign up to the waiting list for CB’s on the website if anyone else is keen.

Really not feeling Liberty or Look Fantastic. I already have the big palette from the LF calendar and while it’s lovely and I do use it fairly often… I’m so bored of neutral palettes. Like a previous poster I instantly disregard any calendar that features Avant. It’s not luxurious, the one product I tried smelt horrible, was really thick and greasy and never sunk in. I really wish the likes of LF and Glossybox would give up the ghost and stop pushing it.

Cult Beauty took ages to sell last year so hopefully it's improved this time.

Space NK is usually sample sizes now so not holding my breath for that one.

JL is usually good and intrigued to see what LiB does.

I forgot about JL. I think they usually have the best make up selection of all the calendars. The last few years there’s always been a Charlotte Tilbury quad, a nice lipstick and mascara. I just find them a bit perfume heavy. Im autistic and really struggle with different smells and I’m worried the calendar would turn up heavily scented!

I’ll add it to my list to keep an eye out for though. The make up selection was tempting last year.

Anyone remember what the JL one cost last year? I really don’t want any Charlotte Tilbury but I imagine my stepdaughter might like it so I could pass it on.

@Blossomtoes - I think it was around £165? I wasn’t going to get it but they brought out a GWP if you spent over a certain amount and the advent calendar counted toward the spend so it turned ut to be really quite good value.

I will check them out - thank you!

@Blossomtoes ive just looked back at my banking and have a £179 spend at JL end of October so think it was £179. With a good GWP.

That’s pretty good actually - the JL was my first AC in (I think) 2017 or 18, and it cost £175 back then. I wasn’t very impressed for the price and didn’t buy it again.

At least LF doesn't have a jade roller or a gua sha stone this year

I wonder whether Net a Porter is going to include a gua sha for the forth year running. I refuse to buy anything with this nonsense

I don't want a black eyeliner or a pulse point roller ball either. These are my most hated advent calendar items.

My favourite thread of the year!

I'm definitely getting a JL one this year. I had my first one last year and loved it. I've also been super disciplined this year and not bought too many beauty boxes so my stash is getting quite low. I actually need a black liquid eyeliner!

So, I may well be in the market for another calendar or at least a box. It would be amazing to grab another bargain like the Bare Minerals one from last year. I really enjoyed those products.

If I could bring myself to sort out my stash I could probably post you 20 black liquid/gel eyeliners, @Roundaboot .

I bought a 12-day Benefit AC in January, can’t remember the price but pretty cheap, and they were all things I love and use (4 mini-mascaras!) apart from the black gel eyeliner.

One to watch out for is Sephora, it has a reputation in the US for being really bad. I wonder if they'll keep the one from the company they took over or if they'll import the US one. Or maybe I've got the companies wrong

Sephora were ok last year as far as I remember. And they had only just taken over Feel Unique. They had a few different calendars I think. They do t usually do them in the US I think as they aren’t such a thing there.

Thank you. That’s doable, especially with a GWP thrown in.

Curious to know what’s in cult beauty, the box doesn’t look especially festive but for me they’re usually my favourite. That or space nk. Though I haven’t had one for a few years now due to not needing any - I still feel left out though come December 😂

I had F&M last year which was really good except for a couple of empty drawers which F&M customer service were less than helpful when it came to sorting.
This years does look very similar and I still have 2 AA bath oils in the cabinet, plus some foot cream, highlighter and, body polish. I loved the Cult51 night cream which I have since replenished and bought the day cream. There were 2 products from Delilah which were less than impressive - the most gloopy mascara ever.

@Nearlyadoctor

have you had an email about this years F and M ? I haven’t had mine yet, and am champing at the bit!

Me either - reckon by 12 Aug re F&M. At least they never discount it so no harm to buy early (except temptation)

I’ve now set up my spreadsheet and done my analysis for Liberty. It’s looking like a definite no for me, unless the mystery additional Liberty product is truly amazing. Oddly, without the mystery product, I’m well under the claimed RRP. I seem to remember being there or thereabouts with all the calendars last year, so it’s a bit odd. I have had to guess a few items though: the Votary serum must be new, as I can’t find it for sale anywhere, same with one of the perfumes. Also had to guess values for mirror, clips etc. But it still seems quite off.

Spreadsheet attached. For those wondering “replacement value” is my estimate of what it would cost if you bought the items from eBay/discount sellers - so a more robust “value” calculation than RRP. Given my (extensive) existing stash, I’m also being very picky this year about what I actively want in the calendars.

Thanks for the spreadsheet @AprilLady very useful.