Beauty advent calendars 2024 #5

[virgocatlover]

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

Yeh @RandomAnonName I've sold empty AC boxes before. The Liberty ones are very popular - have made £15-£20 on the fancy house one.

Other brands less so - usually get about £5 plus postage.

I agree re selling on unwanted items btw but also yes only high-value ones. So the AB cream is fine for me - I don't like it, but can sell it for £25 on eBay. For cheaper items it's just not worth it once a buyer has had to pay £3 postage.

Couple of items from ACs that I have discovered lately - a face mask and a vitamin D treatment, both by Zelens, I really really loved them both, The Vit D made my skin so so soft!

@clary I've kept seeing Zelens but not really looked into the brand. Will keep an eye out for the Vit D treatment, Makes a change from all the Vit C!

There are 2 or 3 Zelens Vit D products on TK Maxx right now.

Has anyone bought the Cowshed AC? I keep looking at it, and the newsletter/ first purchase code works to take 15% off. I love the look of the wicker hamper and I could regift some of the contents, but probably just getting too caught up in it all.

Last year I bought a No7 and Macmillan AC. This year I’ve spent more than I expected, as I’ve already bought JL and M&S. No regrets, so glad I found this thread and can’t wait for December.

Next has released some beauty crackers, there are some for men too

www.next.co.uk/search?w=beauty%20cracker&p=1#0

I’m finding that I am really into bath/body/hair, (as in hairwashing products, not styling) products atm, (and I can justify getting them on account of the fact that I have to wash myself regularly 😹)

I love skincare and makeup too, but I have loads and it seems to take ages to use up.

I am waiting to see if there are any offers as we get closer to BF. It never occurred to me there would be offers for Halloween, so I was miffed that I spent money earlier in the week with 15% discount only to get a 20% offer a day later. Fortunately it was only one cheaper item, but I was still a bit annoyed.

@IlovePond this is something I need to get to grips with next year and learn to pass on more offers. We have quite a wide range of retailers her in the UK and between them there's 10-25% off things virtually weekly.

It's interesting to see how crazy hyped the Sephora US sale is and I'm assuming that's because they don't discount 20% every second Tuesday as we seem to. I wonder why that is? I think I assumed the US would run more discounts than us not less, but their Sephora sale is a bit shabby compared to ours (though they do have a lot more brands, products and gift sets than we can get). Making low reward tier customers wait days before they can use their smaller discount seems a bit mean to me.

I agree @OvaHere - I was being quite good at resisting offers until a few weeks ago, at which point I seemed to take my foot off the brake in the name of Xmas 🙀

Me too! I feel I've been a bit out of control the last couple of weeks! I'm determined to stop now. 😆

As well as working through my stash in the next year I feel like i need to do a lessons learned exercise with myself.

Goals for next year-

Limit myself to one high tier AC and one cheaper one (but only buy the cheaper one if I really want and like at least 70% off the stuff)

I think I maybe like the beauty boxes and edits slightly more than most AC's so don't let myself go mad early in the season. The boxes and edits have been released a bit later on I've noticed.

Be mindful going in of all the things I've learned about what does and doesn't work for me. E.g I cannot get along with face or body oils, I don't like how they feel and my skin never reacts well. If the star product of an edit is an oil, even if it's worth ££££££ - do not buy it. This lesson can be applied to multiple things.

Hopefully by the time I've worked through my newly acquired precious things I'll have a strong idea of brands and products I do and don't like.

and more willpower. 😁

I mix oils with body lotion, just in my hand
Blob of body lotion, bit of oil. I like the way my skin feels after

Doh! That's an excellent idea.

QVC Elemis deal is live now for those who were interested

@alwaysfretting I was on it straight away! I thought I had missed the presale as it showed out of stock for all 3, but I decided to look again to confirm which I definitely wanted for the next release, and they were all showing as available so I quickly jumped on it

The Space NK lip cracker is available again

Has anyone bought the Rituals AC or had it before? Am umming and ahhing over a purchase this year over the usual JL calendar

Just bought the Elemis. I’m on the way to work so couldn’t look properly but wanted to get it before it sold out!!
@DarlingCoffee i had Rituals a few years ago. It is nice but I find one brand gets a bit boring, though it’s worth a try if you really like Rituals

The Elemis set looks good value but seen as I have the JL box and Harrods advent, I really shouldn’t buy more to add to my already rather large stash! Might mention it to DH for Christmas present idea though. 🤔

And 10% cashback via TopCashback too!

I chose the Vanilla Orchid scent.

The Elemis deal is good but not for me. I already have a large pot of marine cream on the go and an unopened 30ml. Apricot products irritate my skin so the toner is a no. I like the look of the shower milk and body lotion but that's all I would be interested in.

I'm going to pass on the elemis deal too. I have so much booty at the moment and although I've been a fan in the past it's not a brand I'm currently drawn to.

I've had their AC in the past, before I discovered the big department store ones. It's ok but there's better out there in my opinion and the sizes are a bit stingy

I’d be more tempted by the Elemis offer if I hadn’t just spent £150 on the mystery box. I’m waiting to find out whether they let me cancel when the office opens today. No despatch notification yet.

For the Elemis deal don’t forget new customers get £5 off code plus 12% on TopCashback. I set up a new account to maximise it as I wanted a couple of sets to last me. I got vanilla orchid and lime & ginger. I had the frangipani last year

Just ordered my Elemis set through Topcashback, thanks for the tip!