Beauty Advent Calendars 2023 Part B - have we chosen...or not?

[Stoic123]

Are we going to buy or have we peaked?

@AnnieSnap i bought the LIB from TikTok half price (£99) last year. No problems but it was from their latest in beauty shop. I have heard there are quite a few scams on there so if you do buy I would say make sure it is direct from the company involved.

I didn't understand Tiktok last year. At all! It's utter madness. I created an account just for AC sales, but didn't buy anything because I wasn't sure.Then I deleted my accounts and removed the app.

I set everything up again a couple of months ago, purely for LiB. I ordered a couple of their boxes through their tiktok shop because they were cheaper than on the official LiB website, even with my Pro subscription, and it's the only profile I know for certain is 100% genuine.

Although I understand other companies also have TikTok shops, I cannot, for the life of me, work out what is genuine and what is fake.

I can't decide on any AC this year. I'll write a shortlist and see how it goes. One day I want extravagant, next day I want a sensible option, the day after I realise I already have tons of products, then I start again. Nothing truly grabs my attention.

@AnnieSnap I got the CB calendar for £140 and the LiB for £99.50 via their respective TikTok shops. Big savings and zero issues with delivery or product quality

Thank you @Stokey did your DD like it? Mine is 12 if that was a similar age to yours?

This was a tip I learned from here: if you are looking at Sephora AC, add Sephora Favorites to Brands You Love in your profile for 10% discount.
You can add up to 2 brands but can't change them for 6 months I think.

I'm not going there. Not excited about spending £50+ on a lot of small sizes of things I didn't want, because if I did I'd buy it anyway. And then I'd have to work out how to recycle all the packaging. And who to give the orange lipstick to.

@BaconAndAvocado YES. Yes. It HAS been a tough year and therefore 3 advent calendars are probably required

Oh don’t tell me that @ferretface , I might end up getting the runner’s one! Who doesn’t need socks? Did you DH enjoy the snacks?

Haha I’m clearly not well informed @Squishmymallow @Housewife2010 on my AC history.

I do agree it’s pricey but I would use everything in it and the box has year round appeal @MidnightMeltdown. Oh that’s a good theory, I think the Clé de Peau could be grouped together @Giftwithpurchase as there’s 31 items in total listed here https://beautyadventcalendar.net/vogue-beauty-advent-calendar-2023/

@Puravida23 i love candles too, it’s another reason I want the vogue one, the Discotheque Crisco Disco one sounds amazing “Whipped cream foam, a suede jacket, the scent of cedar, blood orange, the lyrics burn baby burn as your heart floats in a fluffy vanilla sky, the night you fall in love in the Meatpacking District.”. There’s a night time Neom one as well. I prefer candles to personal scents.

I wish there was an eyeshadow (palette would be even more amazing!) rather than the boring Tilbury black mascara in the vogue one though.

@BakeOffRewatch I love the sound of that candle in Vogue too but it's a 'bespoke size'... wonder what that means. Would probably rather just buy a full size one tbh.

@Growlybear83 I quite like the look of the HoF crackers, especially the make-up one.

I'm now coming round to the JLP calendar, despite discounting it on first sight... this year is really tricky. LiB isn't grabbing me, despite me thinking it was amazing last year.

I bought it and wished I hadn't after when I saw the product sizes! I think that it sold out within 2 hours.

I notice that you can buy the now 4 year old calendar on Amazon for the bargain sum of £699.99, which is more than the 'value' of the contents 🤔

Good to know! Thank you to everyone who replied to my Tiktock query 👍

I’ve just tried to search Sephora shop and advent calendar on TikTok. All the flashing-up craziness sets me on edge and I can’t find any brand name shops, only private sellers. How would private sellers be selling ACs at a fraction of the price?

Top tip for tiktok if you're a "grown up". Mute your phone before you open it!
Also be very careful buying ACs in the tiktok shop. As a previous poster said, only buy from the official shops. So when LIB AC has been around, keep an eye on the LIB shop on tiktok & only buy from them. Also if it's too good to be true, it probably is. I bought a LF AC from tiktok for £20 last year which was a scam. I managed to get a full refund from tiktok. If there are any genuine deals we will discuss them on here.

@Housewife2010 I couldn't agree more: sound off.
This tiktok gives me a headache, everything moves, jumps, makes noises, it feels as if I'm attacked when I go on there. No idea how youngsters cope with this madness every day. And they go back for more the next day!!!

The only proper shop I managed to find was Latest in Beauty.
Cult Beauty is also on there but I couldn't find it again.
I don't know if Sephora (or others) have an official tiktok shop.

I decided not to cancel my Liberty AC as some of the items make up for the the DoD. Had an email this morning to say it's shipped.

The US version of ASOS looks much better than the UK one, cheaper too. I'm quite envious

Does anyone think it's worth waiting for any kind of discount on the PLT one?
£48 feels a bit steep for my DD16 but definitely the one with the best contents for her. Last year it was a bit cheaper IIRC, but sold out while I dithered on whether to buy. (I may be answering my own question here...! )

@Georgieporgie29 DD1 was 12 last year too. She did like it and it was a good starter make up calendar, although there are a few bits are won't use. This year she's said she wants a mix of skin care and make up though so am thinking of buying a few separate bits and making one for her.

@FireandBrimstone before you commit watch miss boux unboxing on you tube she unboxed the plt and was disappointed as one of the items looked like it had been taken from another set (had sticky residue on) and some of the others were either tiny or unbranded.

That’s a good idea @Stokey my dd isn’t in to skin care as such yet so I think I’ll go for it, thanks for your help.

Selfridges calendar is now on sale, if anyone is interested. For me it’s definitely one of the better ones this year.

Hoping to complete and post my spreadsheet analysis of all the luxury calendars tonight.

@loz12345 thanks so much for flagging this, I see what you mean. Some hero products but some absolute guff too!

It's a bit annoying that they don't say what the lipstick shades are

Ordered the selfridges so thanks for the heads up

So I have ...

Space NK

Harrods

Selfridges

All bought blind (ish! I've obviously scanned over weeks back when contents revealed and I've done my best to forget now!)

That should really be it for me now I think because 3 is excessive. However I had put some money aside and one is a gift so meh, why not ?

Shame I still fancy liberty and net a Porter