Beauty advent calendars 2024 #5

[virgocatlover]

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

@OvaHere I bought a couple off Vinted as I missed out on the Harrods AC calendar and wanted to try it. The tubes are tiny so I’ve used sparingly for a couple of nights then given up and decided to wait until I open my Space NK calendar so I can combine it with the serum.
I do think it’s more of a novelty as I’m more likely to want to use something cheaper for longer term use.
I’ve also purchased the Murad cream to try with the serum from my JL calendar.

On another note, I was in Aldi earlier and saw some great dupes (one was the Drunk Elephant whipped cream, which I think is approx £50 for that brand). It did get me thinking about all the money I have sunk into AC’s and other bits recently. Of course the issue with Aldi is they don’t often restock, so my luck would be to find something great and never be able to get it again! That’s how I’m justifying it to myself anyway 😅

Thanks for the Aldi info @Thelifeofawife - do you know what they are calling their DE dupe?

I am currently staying round the corner from an Aldi, (we don’t have one near us), and my DH is wondering why I am all excited about going this morning. (I do like an Aldi visit!)

It is an issue with Aldi. There's not many products you could use as a staple because availability is so hit and miss. Then anything that is popular/viral is bought to go on Ebay at 2 or 3 times the price.

You can usually tell the dupes because they tend to dupe the packaging style also if it's something they've done purposely.

Thanks @OvaHere . I haven’t really tried Aldi beauty products yet, (apart from a glittery oil that’s pretty good!)

I’ve seen some Murad products in our local TKMaxx last few months. May be worth a look…

I love thé AB rich cream. Discovered it in a calendar a couple of years ago and it’s one of the things I’ve repurchased from Vinted. Along with Algenist, Ren body lotion and The seated queen night cream.

I’m not buying one this year but am loving following your chat. I have bought a couple of sets and am watching for a bargain but don’t think it will be the like year when I got Selfridges for £120!! Last year I got Bridal Beauty which was great. Im still using things up and trying to work out a good routine for my peri and changing skin.

I love the Rich cream too! We seem to be the only ones! It’s great for my skin.

@Obsessedwithsourdough and @shinny with you both on the AB cream. Always feels like a treat for my skin. Loved it in the Liberty AC (last year?) after trying it in the beauty box. Definitely a fan.

Debenhams have some advents reduced. Benefit has 15% off, Clarins 20% and a few others

www.debenhams.com/search?text=advent+calendar

Blue light discount gives an extra 10% off at Debenhams too. Eg bringing benefit down to £119.34. Clarins 12 day down to £68.40. I haven’t tested others.

@IlovePond so sorry for the delay, I’ve only just caught up on MN. Did you have any joy?
It’s called Lacura whipped moisturiser.
I just did a quick online search and it appears that some stores are selling a La Prairie moisturiser dupe as well!

@OvaHere I had this exact conversation with a lady that works at my local Aldi. I purchased a YSL concealer dupe to try, and said it’s a bit pointless as even if I love it I may not be able to get it again.

I bought the Charlotte Tilbury lip oil dupe a while ago and couldn’t get it again. They did a restock recently but I missed it and ended up paying double the price for it on Vinted.

With the skincare they do tend to restock that more from what I’ve seen, but it’s still hit and miss.

I'm another who likes the AB cream. I love Murad products too, but the cream I love above anything else, and which came in one of the Bridal Beauty mystery boxes, is Whind Kasbah Moonlight. It feels lovely and really suits my skin.

I am not sure to be honest, HN has gone for great variety of hugely popular (and some plorising) fragrances and are more after fragrance enthusiast vs space nk maybe first timers or clean girl aesthetic/skin type of scents. Harvey Nicks also appeals to both gender.

Notino has new fragrance advent - its' not as good as the fragrance shop 12 days, 60 euro but may interest some
www.notino.ie/notino/advent-calendar-2024-12-days-of-perfumes-advent-calendar/

Thanks @Thelifeofawife - I went into Aldi this morning. They had some face oil and sleep mask - I bought some to try

ASOS have 30% off their calendar using the code TREAT brining it down to £66.50

@IlovePond I need to pop to the shops shortly, I can see if they still have the DE whipped cream in my store if you like, I’d be happy to post it to you

Just popping on to say the same, I just ordered for DD17 birthday at the start of Dec

@KevinDeBrioche I think it is good value at that price point and assume they must be struggling to shift it to offer such a big discount so early.

I was in Aldi this am and got what I was after! Dupes of the self warming eye masks often in acs. £3.49 for five. Also saw sdj dupe and a lip oil in plain, watermelon, or salted caramel. I got an olaplex dupe pre shampoo reduced to £1.99.

Apologies for the delay in responding @Thelifeofawife - I have been out for lunch with DH and DDog. That’s so kind of you, thank you very much for offering, but I think I have just found some, together with the SR turmeric oil dupe, on our way back to the place we’re staying.

@alwaysfretting - that sounds great.

On a related note: How do people know which Aldi products are dupes for what?

I see that my question was answered earlier re: similar packaging. Thanks x

There's hardly ever any skincare or beauty stuff in my local Aldi. It is quite a small one though. There's a huge newly built one about a mile away, I should probably check that one out instead.

I've just repurchased a full size of Glow Recipe Avocado Cleanser. I'm really impressed with this (dry prone skin). It wasn't in a calendar, I purchased a minis set mostly to try the watermelon toner lots of people love but it turned out the cleanser is the stand out product for me.

I've also tried the Kate Somerville Goats Milk cleanser which was in a calendar expecting that to really work for me but the smell makes me slightly nauseous so I think that one is a no. I'm going to try and stick it out to finish the sample as really that's my only issue with it. It's a shame as I thought that sounded like the perfect cleanser for dry skin.