Fortnum & Mason Advent Calendar 2023 opening thread

[narniabusiness]

I’m hoping you’ll join me to discuss the Fortnum & Mason advent calendar. As is usual shall we wait until 07.00 to discuss that day’s gift?

It smells amazing! Very pleased with this morning’s haul. I’m considering a delicious bath this morning using the salts and the candle…..

Today’s drawer contained Cult51 Oxygen Cellular Mask. I’ve never had anything from this brand before. Is anyone else familiar with it? I vaguely recollect (it’s my age) that Cult 51 was said to be very good but I’m sure that poster was talking about a day cream and I’d convinced myself that was what was going to be in this calendar. 🤔

I've tried the day cream before (and possibly the night cream?), I think from the 2021 F&M calendar. I didn't personally get on with the day cream, I found it pilled really badly under make-up. In two minds about whether to use this or try to sell. I see there are already a few on eBay, but it gets really good reviews and I'd use it at night so no make-up issues, so maybe it's worth a try.

ETA - great size though, and RRP £110 so nice to see this in the calendar.

Thanks for that info @Possimpible I can stop wishing it was a day cream. Nothing more off putting than a cream which pills.

I thought it was the day cream in the calendar too. Was pleasantly surprised with a mask. Have just tried it and my skin feels lovely. Not sure I would buy it at full price, but a lovely treat!

It’s after 7 so I’m going to give my thoughts on todays product.

It’s a lip pencil from a brand called La Bouche rouge in colour nude. It’s not a brand I know but a quick google tells me they are stocked in Liberty. My lip pencil is just about down to the stub so this is going to get used very soon. It’s seems nice and pigmented.

@CocoMascara so not just me thinking it was a day cream. I’m not going to check the advertised contents though as I don’t want to be reminded what’s in the rest of the drawers.

I tried the oxygen mask last night - wow! I’ve never felt anything like it and my skin felt amazing afterwards.

I am not really a lip pencil person but will give it a go….

@BatchIt that's a good review, I've decided I'll try it and not sell it on!

I'm also not a lip pencil person but this is one of the reasons I got this calendar, it's a piece of makeup I don't actually already have. The colour looks a bit pink, almost orange, but I think that might just be the artificial light as it doesn't look like that on the website.

Sounds great @BatchIt I’ll give a it a go later.

@narniabusiness I’m not sure whether I read it was cream on the F&M website. I did wonder whether they had changed it but probably more likely I just presumed it was moisturiser!

I like the lip liner, I wore it today with some clarins lip perfector and it looked nice. Haven’t worn lip liner for years, so a good addition for me.

I’ve lit the candle this evening. So far it’s a bit underwhelming. I think I was spoilt by the Liberty candle I had last year which was very potent.

Just placemarking to say I ordered this when it went down in price on Wednesday evening and it hasn’t been despatched yet! I was fine with it arriving after December 1st but they’re taking the pee now 🙄

@CocoMascara they haven't changed the contents since advert. I'll say no more as don't want to spoil for anyone.

@Jellycats4life I didn't realise it had been reduced. You must have been lucky to snap it up before it went out of stock.

@narniabusiness that's a shame - I'll probably leave mine unlit for a good while as decor then

Today's is a full size Aromatherapy Associates bath oil in Revive. I'm pleased with this and it's one of the reasons I bought this calendar, I've had a few AA oils in the past and they're really lovely (but too pricey for me to ever purchase on their own)

I’m really pleased this morning too - I love AA bath oils and I haven’t tried this one.

Me too. I’ve got a bottle of Relax on the go at the moment from one of my many advent calendars last year and it is the loveliest bath oil. Leaves my skin so moisturised that I don’t need to use body lotion afterwards.

I used the bath salts and the mask this morning. The mask smells lovely and I loved the fizzy feeling. I used the whole of the packet of bath salts which seemed to be the right amount.

Oh this is a DoD for me. Really not keen on the rosemary scent. This will be regifted…

@Possimpible I’ve probably remembered a totally different calendar, at least I’ll get a surprise every day! 😂

I tried the cult51 mask today after putting it in the fridge yesterday and pleased with the results. The candle does indeed burn for at least 18 hours and no uneven burning. Not loving that design but the smell is nice.

so far the lip pencil I wasn’t fussed over, but pleased to see full sized aromatherapy associates always livens up winter and makes bathroom smell good.

Today’s drawer contains

Olverum firming body moisturiser. I believe this brand makes a very good bath oil, although I haven’t tried that. I’ve just used some on my hands. Photo attached. It’s a rather small size at 30ml.

I love Olverum stuff, I've tried their bath oil and their body oil, but yes. 30ml of body moisturiser feels stingy. Just looked it up and 200ml is £43 so this is approx £7 worth, so it is the lowest value drawer. I think they could have stretched to 100ml... Considering the Cult 51 product is allegedly worth over £100

Most calendars this year seem to have 25ml Bum Bum cream as their body moisturiser, so I guess in comparison we should be grateful

Very true. I’d much rather have this than bum bum @Possimpible

Yes a bit disappointing this morning. I’m sure it’s lovely but it’s very small for a body moisturiser.