General “waifs and strays” beauty advent calendar opening thread

[AprilLady]

As in previous years, this a thread for those opening Beauty Advent Calendars not covered by specific calendar opening threads (though also happy for contents of those to be shared here too).

As previously, it will also be fun to hear about other calendar openings - food, jam, socks anyone?

Please do not include spoilers before 7am on the relevant day. Please also avoid dropping hints or spoilers about future contents if you have opened the calendar in advance.

I’ll be opening the Vogue and Selfridges calendars this year. Really looking forward to Day 1.

Day 13 Boots R&R

A body wash which I'll happily use

Sad that there will be no more tights to marvel at. The really enjoyed those.

Vogue is a love by Killian perfume. I'm not sure what I think! I definitely don't dislike it, but it reminds me of the strawberry shortcake scented plastic dolls you used to get 🤣

By Terry is a full sized black mascara (Lash Expert Twist Brush) - RRP £30.

Don't mind this at all - mascara is one of the few items I use up (or discard) every few months. Spares will be used (or tried and chucked if rubbish).

Day 13

Vogue: As @HollyGolightly4 says, a travel size perfume, Killian’s Love don’t be shy. Have wanted to try this for a while, so very happy with this.

Selfridges: Three travel size hair products: JVN air dry cream, WOW lift the roots spray and Davines all in one milk. I really like that they put them all into one drawer. Interesting that they are all post hair wash products, though presumably with different goals in mind.

No picture yet as I had to dash out the house really early today. Will aim to post a picture tonight when so get home.

Day 13 Harrods is 111Skin Celestial Black Diamond Brightening Essence. No idea about this or how you use it so will have to do some research - I’m assuming it’s a bit like a toner…

The Vogue perfume sounds interesting! It’s not one I’m familiar with though.

SpaceNK today is a full size body serum by Necessaire. Looking forward to trying it because I think my winter skin probably needs it (but hoping I don’t love it so much that I’ll want to add another expensive step to body moisturising for the rest of the year!!🤣)

Day 13 Diptyque: Softening hand wash 10ml.

Not the most exciting but it'll get used!

10 whole ml! Don't use it all at once

Acqua di Parma Arancia di Capri shower gel and body lotion duo today in F&M, 75ml each. I have to say, I wasn't sure I'd made the right choice with F&M but I've been really please with it. I've been following the Harrods thread as that was the one I was worn between, but I'm happy with my choice

@Possimpible It is pretty teeny! 😂

I’m catching up with my refill: wow dream coat + 2 Ferrero Rocher, hyaluronic acid from a brand I can’t recall (Q&A? Or something?) + 2 Ferrero, nuxe lip balm + 2 Ferrero.

I’m assuming it was a 6 pack of Ferrero Rocher. I don’t think I’ve ever written Ferrero so many times.

LF today is a bottle of make-up brush cleanser by ISO clean. This size retails at £5.60 so it's not quite the whizzbang one hopes for in an advent calendar. Good reviews though. And I normally use soap so I'll give a go and see if I like it.

Ciate is another pink. Called Popping Candy I'm thinking more sugared almond. Not me at all I don't think!

I got a poppy and barley perfume in Jo Malone today and an anti wrinkle overnight balm from Lumene. I've tried several of the products from the Lumene calendar and they've all been lovely. Im so pleased that I bought this one. It was only a last minute cheapie compared to JM but it's SO much better than M&S.

@Growlybear83 I was really tempted by Lumene but put off by the small size of the products. Starting to have a bit of regret now!

Degusta catchup: balsamic vinegar, turmeric tea, tin of chicken broth.

I loved the first few days of Degusta - lots of festive treats. The last few days have been very meh! The tea is nice.

@toprump I agree but the randomness is all part of the joy of Degusta.

I dropped a few bits off to our local church collection and reviewed some strange looks.

I had Degusta a couple of years ago and agree @Pinenu ! I wouldn't want 24 sweet/festive treats, and the less festive things tend to be jars etc with longer expiries

I also quite liked the salt and balsamic vinegar! It's nice to have fancier versions of things I normally use, and these will last a while. I don't think I've actually bought salt for the last couple of years as we keep getting it in Degustabox

Lancôme, make-up remover. No7 Ultimate is a high shine lip gloss in Desert Rose.

Day 12 of my sister's homemade calendar - Inis seaweed handcream

Day 13 - some very appropriate socks!!

Love the socks @lookingforMolly

Day 13 picture:

Boots lift and luminate is a pure retinol cream. Never used this before so interested to give it a try.

it’s Day 14 already and I’m up and out early again.

Vogue: BBB clear brow gel. Coming to the end of my Benefits one, so very happy to have this to try.

Selfridges: A perume by Dries van Noten called Soie Malaquais. I really really like this one. I’m thoroughly enjoying the Selfridges calendar.

Day 14 Boots Restore and renew

Also a retinol which I have used before and I really like

I'm currently using retirides 0.5 but once I move up to 1% then I'll use this little boots retinol in between uses if the retirides is crazy strong.

No7 Ultimate is retinol hand cream. Lancôme is a tiny Genefique serum. I’m hoping there are some larger products in the remaining days of Lancôme as there have been a lot of small ones so far. ☹️