Beauty advent calendars 2024 #7

[virgocatlover]

Only a few days to go until the doors open.

Please share thoughts, discussions and any last minute discounts!

It's this one that another poster recently bought.

Sephora had 20% off (nearly) everything instore yesterday, don't know how long it's on for.

eBay can generally be a bit cheaper because they don’t add fees. For certain products you will be able to tell if they have been used by asking to see it uncapped - lipstick will have marks on, and lipgloss tubes will show the colour at the tip.
Alternatively get from one of the beauty sites that are still running offers

@branster I am very happy with my Bridal Beauty purchases however I ordered a cleanse mystery bag with the Cyber code and have now got duplicates of things from other edits so think I need to give them a break for a while and to be fair I probably need to go through my stash and work out what I have and what I have excess of to sell/donate

LiB today gave me the Pixi Glow Tonic. I’ve recently discovered Pixi and am loving their products. M&S stock them which is useful.

It was tips on the beauty sites still running offers that I was after!

Can't go anywhere useful in person, so online it is. And I'm buying nothing more beauty-related for myself so no edits for me.

I'll have to do some messaging on ebay and get some proof. I just want to be able to things quickly really. I find messages often go without a reply on selling sites so it ends up being time wasted.

Basically I'm feeling the grump that I got the list I've been asking for since October the day after all the sites I know about took their big discounts away!

There are still some discounts on Liberty.

@Doubleraspberry - remember that it’s a breach of the rules to sell used makeup on eBay, (just such a gross thing to do), so if a seller did this, eBay would definitely refund you.

@Doubleraspberry I feel your pain, DS has done the same to me. Though his list will mostly be clothes so it will be a real sting when I have to pay full price for everything.

If you’re not already sorted, I’ve just had a quick look and Look Fantastic have the Clinique black honey discounted, they don’t sell Summer Fridays but Cult Beauty have that. Sephora also have discounts still, but some things out of stock

@IlovePond Aldi alert 😁
A video popped up on my Instagram where they said this Sunday there will have the following dupes at Aldi:
delayed La Mer Serum (I haven't used mine yet but I want more although I have no idea how good it is)
delayed Gold Caviar cream, eye cream and serum (I do really want to try the serum and eye cream)
Eye shadow quad thingy copy of some Charlotte Tilbury something I can't remember the name of
VB kajal eye thingymebob
Some mini perfumes copies of somethings famous but I didn't actually recognise the names
VB copies of all 3 perfumes (not sure if to try or not, I have no idea if I'd like the originals and the descriptions of the originals don't entice me at all, so unless there's a tester I won't bother)
Copy of the Bobby Brown base primer moisturiser
There were a couple of other makeup items but I didn't recognise them.
I'm not hugely into makeup, so the above descriptions is me doing my best to remember. I have no idea how to find this video again to take screenshots . it all happened to quickly for me to get on the case properly.

Anyway, no Aldis near me but there are 2 in opposite directions I can get to in around 3/4 hour drive and I'm going first thing on Sunday! Not sure which is the better bet but I'll take my chances. You never know if they will have in stock what you want! And I don't want to go to both.

@MrsBnow12 that's the risk with BB, duplicates. Especially if ordering too close. At one stage I had 4 sets if Aurelia oil, day and night creams which was brilliant. I do like them and still have 2 to use which is great. Had a few variations of Emma Hardie products too, which was nice.
I very rarely had duplicates of makeup.
The only 1 product I found very disappointing was some juniper oil body lotion in a pump bottle. Had quite a few of those, they last for ages and I didn't like them. But I couldn't gift because they weren't nice, didn't manage to sell them (I guess nobody else liked them either) and didn't want to throw them away because they were expensive. I powered through and used them all the time until they were gone. Had one bottle by the kitchen sink to use as a hand cream as well.
I'm going to order the box coming out tomorrow and then no more until Easter I think.

Hmmm maybe until Mothers Day, I liked those edits before and ordered 2 at a time.

Wow! Thanks so much @Branster - that’s so kind of you to take the trouble. I have a lot of stuff already but I really want to try that La Mer dupe and I am always up for more perfume and serums.

On a related note:

I have been wearing Aldi’s JM Pomegranate and Noir today and it’s lasted for hours and - to my uneducated nose - smells exactly like the original. (I have the JM too, so can compare.)

I can really recommend the Aldi no3 - the Pomegranate and the no39 - the Poppy and Barley. (I stumbled across 39 by accident - meant to get the no3 next to it 😹)

The last BB box of the year is being released at 9am tomorrow. Had an email about it earlier. They claim it's the best one yet. It didn't mention price.

@branster @OvaHere It is live on the BB website and it £30 plus postage…as much as I said I want buying anymore I have placed an order 😂
I know what you mean about duplicates I have 3 Gallinee foaming cleansers and do like it but also have about 5 others I want to try, probably have enough cleansers to last a few years!
I am fortunate my god daughter is happy to take anything I have used and don’t like back to her uni house if she doesn’t want it.

Thank you @OvaHere and @MrsBnow12 I've ordered. Phew!
@OvaHere it has a set of Jurlique hand wash and hand cream (300 ml each) which will be the perfect present for my lovely elderly neighbour who is incredibly glamorous and warm and perfect and loves gardening, although she is 92 so just potters about really.
Also a set of Charlotte Tillbury perfumes. This I actually want. I tried 3 of these and loved them but can't remember which ones they were. The lady explaining the fragrances to me was going on and on about the universe and some silly stories, but basically they are meant to be mood enhancing fragrances, a bit like Clarins maybe. I didn't understand and don't really care, all I know is that they did smell incredible. Annoyingly expensive though. I don't know why perfume has become so, so expensive. And this is probably average price nowadays.
The rest will be a surprise. The price is £30 and my guess is total RRP would be about £150 - £200 at most.

@Branster @MrsBnow12 thanks for the heads up about it being live already (why say 9am in the email?) I've gone for this one after nearly buying others in the past but holding off. I'm okay with £30 and like you I know I'm interested in the hand set and the CT.

I don’t need that box at all but I want it now! Interested to try the JL fragrances and trying to justify it to myself.

I received the Lumene AC last night in a smashed box so I had to reassemble the calendar and it’s a bit ripped. I’ve emailed them so will see if they offer me some small discount which could go towards more beauty products I don’t need!

also still waiting for 2 boxes from OK to arrive…. I should have just bought 1 outstanding AC rather than 5-6 boxes and bits!

CT fragrance not JL!

@MrsBnow12 I share your cleanser obsession. It's possibly my favourite type of product to try and search for the HG one. I bought an Innisfree one with SpaceNK points against my better judgement as I already have a few to try.

I'm hoping my BB box might have the KS cleanser.

@Branster I don't think the total value will be a lot. I assume they factor in the hand set and the CT perfume into the value which maybe only leaves about another £100 worth of value at the most.

I wonder if they've worked out that a partial reveal translates to more purchases? They did the same with the BF box that had a magic cream set. I prefer having some idea and would probably have passed on it if it was just a mystery box.

I've enjoyed the boxes and edits, sometimes they are actually better than the AC's. Next year I think I'll buy one good AC in the 200-250 region then look out for the best edits and BF deals. With a bit of luck I might have used most of my stash by then although this could prove quite the challenge!

@OvaHere I thought the same re value so will pass. A partial reveal is probably a better marketing tactic though , I'm not sure a mystery is good use of my ££ as it contains things I'll " use up " or regift .. which really just translates as "don't want "

I'm not crazy on their brands , I'd rather spend the money on a Cult or Space NK edit that has things that are more "current" and I already have an interest in/ have heard of.

Weirdly the £5 postage puts me off , I don't know why I am so stingy on p&p costs !!

@diamondsandrose I do agree with you for the most part which is why I've held off until now. The partial reveal clearly works on me! My DD loves CT and it's her bday straight after xmas so I'm stashing goodies for that.

As previously mentioned,I purchased the recent £60 mystery box from Bridal Beauty that is now sold out. I'd seen posters rave about the BB boxes, and thought I would give one a go. It was ok, but not that great. Total value, taking into consideration prices available online, was about £160.

As previously posted, I think that some of the amazing value edits around at the moment from the big beauty companies provide much better value for money.

As an aside, their ultimate bridal beauty box priced at £60, showing all contents, appears to be much much better value for money than any of the mystery boxes I think.