Beauty advent calendars 2024 #5

[virgocatlover]

Continued advent calendar discussions. Please share thoughts, purchases and if you see any discounts!

Sorry, should have said "returning items that don't fit". Buying specifically to return seems like it would be a right faff anyway?

@ThePeopleBowedAndPrayedToTheNeonGodTheyMade what a gem your DH is!
Enjoy your AC. I'd keep it until you come back from the hospital so that you can truly enjoy using the products whilst you recover. Without danger of loosing anything. Nuxe do some really good effective skincare, one of my favourite brands. But I still don't know how to use that multipurpose oil properly. Lierac is another French brand I rate but, annoyingly, it is more expensive than Nuxe.

That's a good point about having it to look forward to @Branster. The oil is amazing, I use it on my hair as it's very thin/dry but you could use it as a body cream too, it's lovely after shaving legs and getting into bed with clean sheets (it's the little pleasures in life ) They also do a shimmery version which looks lovely on legs in summer.

After those tiny Nuxe oils gathering dust I have finally started using one on my hair. It's decent. The shimmery one has not worked in my hair however so I'll have to use it as a body oil despite preferring massage bars / body lotions. I did wonder who genuinely likes them though. Like the PK elasticisers, they're my last to be used.

After considering the M&S Calendar again I decided against it. Previous years I've loved it but with the increased price and after looking at the contents there's a lot I either already have or wouldn't use. Probably half I would use so decided to try something different. So I've now ordered the Ted Baker advent calendar from Boots. It's currently in a sale so now £36.80 and I'll use every item. For me that's better value for money.

I have also started using up the Nuxe oils I have acquired in various calendars. They are ok, but I wouldn’t buy them specifically.

I am on a mission not to ‘save’ things - for when? But to use them up instead. I have actually discovered some really nice things recently that I had been ignoring- Filorga anti- wrinkle springs to mind, as does Rodial face scrub.

Re: Selling on eBay - I don’t really ‘get’ the concept of buying a calendar to deliberately sell on most of it, but I see no issue with selling on bits you genuinely don’t want. If I had bought SpaceNK, that Milk primer and the sunscreens would have been straight on there.

My problem with eBay is that I end up selling stuff for peanuts. I never understand how some people manage to make a profit🙀

Yep. The actual AC. Bought online and returned to store.

My understanding is that if you bought the M&S calendar online and didn’t remove the security tag, they would refund due to distance selling regs.

I could be wrong, but that is what I was told in store last year.

To be safe, I wouldn’t personally buy the a/c, (or indeed any other beauty/skincare product), assuming I could return it unless it was faulty.

I am someone that has kept what I want from each calendar and sold the items not for me on Vinted or the Skin Freaks Facebook group (someone on her recommended them) at fair price. I have them created my own calendar from the bits I have kept so have my ideal calendar for December.

This year, I'm not saving things for best . Everyday is going to be a best day .

Hear, hear @Caramelandsalt - life’s too short!

What's there to get? I see a calendar or beauty box , can't really afford it outright so I sell enough to recoup my costs and then have a few things for free. Rinse and the repeat with a few different calendars to build up a decent stash for very little.

It's not like I'm buying hundreds of calendars in bulk and putting them on ebay purely for profit.

I have built up a great stash of makeup, skincare and perfume this way for either nothing or next to nothing and I love it!

To actually make a profit I only sell the highefrend stuff. Agree that a lot of stuff does go for peanuts but I usually make my money back.

I meant people who sell everything @IDontHateRainbows as in buy to sell the lot at a profit. But I wasn’t judging - I never manage to sell anything for other than peanuts myself - I haven’t got the knack

Yes it is , and I don't want to go and leave my beauty stash to some unappreciaters😂

It's their own fault though. They won't accept returns on it and they don't have a simple policy of only dispatching or allowing collection of the calendar after the 30 day returns periodfor the other otems has passed. They could easily do that, especially as the advent is dispatched seperatly from the rest of the online order.

After also having many tiny NUXE bottles gathering dust in my stash cave I now keep one in my travel bag and use it for -

Hair ends (non shimmer),
Shave oil
Body oil post shower
Even works in place of baby oil with a cotton pad to remove the residue my HRT patch leaves behind!!!

I have enjoyed my Sunday afternoon catch op on several pages of this thread 🙂

For me personally £150 is way too much to spend on a mystery box so Bridal Beauty is a no from me. I did however buy a £25 mystery box from them a few weeks ago based on this thread and was extremely pleased with it. It included a shiseido serum, organic pharmacy mask and more I know I liked. I wish I'd taken a photo because I have bought too much lately to remember where each item in my stash is from!
I did also buy the QVC Elemis mystery bag a few months ago which was amazing value but I think that was less of a risk considering the brand and also it was £50.

M&S need to stop with the minimum spend for the AC now in my opinion. Its not even on my radar past few years because of this as there's nothing I want except their food!

I think selling unwanted AC products is fair enough and is win/win for buyer and seller.
I try to repurpose products that don't work for me eg Kate Somerville Exfolikate mask was way too harsh so I use it on my feet! I keep cleansers that don't agree with my face for cleaning makeup brushes. And recently started putting AB face oil on my scalp where I had a dry patch.

I agree donating/gifting/selling unwanted products is sensible, better than putting them in the bin. I would find it stressful to buy something with the intention of recovering the cost though.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the crackers/edits more than the ACs this year. I’d love a bath set - bath oils, body wash, candles etc.

Regarding buying an AC then selling on items, this thread is the reason that I have deliberately done this, for the first time this year.

I bought the LF AC, the majority of items I really wanted/liked compared to any of the others this year, identified six or seven items I knew I wouldn't like and put them for sale on Vinted. I then identified from other ACs, the few items I would have wanted, bought them individually for a fraction of the price on Vinted and put them in the empty drawers of my LF for opening next month. I'm quite excited as I know every item in my calendar is something I really want.

The fact that most of the items I put on Vinted have been bought in a short time, has reminded me that one person's item for the drawer of doom is another person's ride or die product.

I also thought I'd have a go selling my stash of several previous years totally empty calendars but no takers so far. They are on FB marketplace as Vinted doesn't allow it. Has anyone managed to sell theirs or are they just not really a thing folk want?

Selfridges advent is back in stock

I love that there is an eBay/vinted market on advent items . Often there is the odd item I want from an advent and I just pick it up there. I also used to just stash unwanted items I now sell them on eBay/vinted if I can't gift reducing my spend and stopping all the product clutter I was accumulating. The only slight issue I have is the mass buying by sellers which stops buyers like us getting one . I always ultimately buy for me and sell as a byproduct

I have a couple of empty advent boxes being auctioned on eBay and they both have bids. I just set it as a low starting bid and made sure the postage would be paid by the buyer so I don't end up out of pocket.

Selfridges, Harvey Nicks and John Lewis are in stock. Only Selfridges really taking my fancy (already have space NK) and may be better off with Harrods beauty box instead.

Is there any more advents predicted to come out?

I'm wanting a fragrance one really, but I only really like gourmand. May be better for me to buy a decent sized sampler set. Does anyone know if Kilian or Tom Ford ever go further than 20% in the black Friday sales?

It honestly never occurred to me that people might buy the empty advent box. I regret recycling my Liberty one now, it didn't even occur to me to keep it for myself!

You can put them on your local fb marketplace and they'll often go free/cheap if you ask them to be collected