Beauty Advent Calendars 2023 Part D- waiting till December?

[Stoic123]

Or will you start opening in November?

Either way, it's not long now......time to make your choice (s).

Continuing the thread.

"This is a thread to discuss the buying of beauty calendars and not the opening of them. There may be general discussion about contents of a calendar but please do not share information about what is behind a specific door you've opened. Thank you"

Edited by MNHQ at OP's request

Sorry if it has already been mentioned but it looks like Glossybox has sold out now.

Hmmm interesting re JL. See I like the look of the palette; when you see the colours on I think they look amazing. Also I do love a CT quad and this is different from others.

Fo me, the very dark lippy in the Boots box is a no go - a pale pink works tho (I’m old and pale skinned).

I think tho, with Liberty, my refilled F&M box and the fragrance cracker, I should be ok. I might nab the CT palette and maybe the Neom candle on eBay, will cost less than the calendar after all!

I've been meaning to ask, what does DOD mean?

@SoloCat i agree re the charity, I thought it was just me as no one else has mentioned it

This discussion shows just how hard it is for the retailers to get their calendars spot on, especially with make up. I really like CT palettes, and have and use the one included in the JL calendar regularly. They are overpriced to buy individually, but happy to get them in a calendar.

I wear all sorts of eye shadow colours - especially Pat McGrath - but am very picky about lipstick colours. Too light doesn’t work for me, and I don’t like too dark, too pastel pink or too bright red. So I have loads of lipsticks but ending up using only the one or two that are just right.

Like @MidnightMeltdown I suspect that overall stocks of calendars were much lower this year after the heavy discounting that happened last year, which is why so many more have sold out by now than was the case last year. On the whole, the offerings have also been pretty decent. It’s not that surprising to me that the most disappointing this year in my view - CB and Liberty - have not sold out yet. I wonder whether they will crack and discount more significantly in the next couple of weeks.

@LaBrujaPiruja I'm so pleased for you to hear to had a resolution at last!
I completely understand going off Vogue AC completely after all this. I too adore the box and the fact it is their first AC but I find there were too many 'fillers' for the price. And also the cost much higher than my self imposed budget.

I'm glad to see many of the under or around the £100 mark have sold out as I won't have to keep going backwards and forwards trying to decide if to buy or not.

As it is, Branster is not buying an AC this year. I've gone Beauty Box mad and I thoroughly enjoyed it but, oh my, lots of money spent so I better reign it in. I need about a dozen spare faces and bodies to get through my collection over the next 100 years with daily diligent use of everything.
I will gift a fair bit so I made a pile of stuff to wrap up.
I should sell some items but that will have to wait until New Year as it is quite a lot of admin to sort, list, dispatch...

Overall, I realised that I paid around 15% of RRP on everything I bought over the last 2-3 months, taking into account I also got some freebies. I thought it was about 30% and I was happy at that level. It goes to show, I have no idea why we pay full price on a regular basis! And how come all these companies afford to, more or less, gift their products. A lot are premium level, a serum worth over £220 works out I paid £7.50, eye cream worth £150 I paid under £4 and so on. Let's hope I want get hooked on the super expensive stuff and want to buy it full price in the future!

@clary

Yeah, I don't like the lipstick in the Boots Beauty Awards box either. I have a feeling that they put that in there to get rid of it rather than because they thought that it would be a nice flattering shade for everyone.

I don't like the horrible orangey red lipstick in the Elle Calendar either.

Still, I think that these shades are better than putting in something super pale which completely excludes anyone with a darker skin tone. I have olive skin and it wouldn't work on me, so it must be even worse if you've got black or Asian skin.

Not sure about the CT Quad as I'm not a big eyeshadow wearer. I imagine that anyone could wear that, but personally I prefer cooler makeup tones.

Drawer of disappointment

@AprilLady I think that Sephora have done quite well with the shade of their Rose Inc lipstick. It's not dark/bright red, but not very pale either. I think that kind of shade could be worn by most people

It surprises me that the so called beauty experts who curate these calendars don't pay more attention to finding universally flattering shades

I tell you a good lipstick (for me anyway) and that was the Victoria Beckham lippy in Pout which was in the CB AC two years ago (oops! Still using it!) I really love it. Tho I recall some disliking it.

Pout is much too pale for me. That would be lighter than my natural lip colour.

I've got Sway which is better, but not my favourite

What sometimes works for me with very bright reds, is using a pink over the top to mute it a bit.

I got a pinky-purple lip crayon in an M&S calendar a couple of years ago and it's excellent for this job. If a red is too bright I put the pink on top and it tones it down and makes it a more flattering shade for me.

Oooh @MidnightMeltdown might try that! Thanks.

Give it a go @clary

I'm ok with reds, but they need to be cool blue-toned reds rather than bright orangey reds. I think what the pinky purple lip crayon does is cool down the red and makes it less bight.

The Liberty Jewellery calendar has been discounted by £100. Still not tempted though!

I quite like getting those actually!

I felt the same too. Plus the fact Vogue chose that man who cycles as their ONLY 'sportswoman' (oh please) on their powerhouse women list. Can't get on board with that at all or them for doing it.

@Branster I do love your posts. You write so well and they're so fun to read. I hope you get a lot of pleasure from your beauty boxes. I bought a couple of the Sephora ones for my teen for Christmas and I'm really looking forward to seeing her reaction.

I totally agree re vogue @FinallyFinalGirl

liberty mercury kit is now £56 plus 20% off beauty.

Go for it. Wr can tackle marathons in January ! (As if!).

@PomRuns thanks, I think thats a great deal for what's in the Mercury kit if you would enjoy it all. I think I'd only genuinely enjoy the shampoo, conditioner and possibly bath oil so it would have to be closer to £40 for me to consider it.

In my (very imaginative) mind there's someone at Liberty who convinced the beauty team this would be a huge seller and I hope for their sake they eventually manage to shift them all!

Thank you @PomRuns I don’t see the 20% off. Is that in addition to the reduction?

And do I want it? 😂

@FinallyFinalGirl oooh, the Sephora boxes look fab! Which ones did you buy for your teen please as considering for my two

@Pinenu i think it’s £56 and not an additional 20% - sorry wasn’t clear in my post.
@TreesinthePark agreed. I more interested in the sleep one - sadly not discounted. Yet!