🎄Liberty London Advent Calendar 2024 Opening Thread

[BakeOffRewatch]

* Please avoid dropping hints or spoilers about future contents if you have opened the calendar in advance. * (Edited at request of the OP by MNHQ)

It is one sleep away! We’ve all been very patient, since Liberty London revealed their advent calendar in June this year.

Reveals from 7am GMT each morning please. This is to harmonise discussion/shift work/different time zones.

@nearly61 @UntamedShrew @supadupapupascupa @countdowntonap @AnneShirleysNewDress @TracyBeakerSoYeah @Waffles21 @mum2three48 @mynameiscalypso @Biscuitburglar @Isabelle70 @OchonAgusOchonOh @TriciaMcMillan @@Pootle40

General waifs and strays opening thread is here:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5220847-general-waifs-and-strays-beauty-advent-calendar-opening-thread-2024

@ProjectsGalore @Wherethewildthingsfart the wick is thicker than other travel size candles

I got the email too and I think they have handled it pretty well. I’m not sure how they could have dealt with it easily other than a voucher. As I have said before you can’t please all of the people all of the time but I think more people will be happy with a voucher than not.

I will have a look at the sale after Christmas and see if there is anything I can use it towards but it not I’ll just hold on to it and use it towards something I would buy anyway at some stage. Not that I’m a regular Liberty shopper but they do enough brands that I’m sure I’ll use it for something. Probably a mascara or similar.

Thanks @BakeOffRewatch .
Any vouchers that I get usually go towards another bottle of Boemia.

I haven’t heard of today’s brand but will add it to my stash of serums. I do use serums daily so it will get used. A good size for a holiday.

Day 20! I’m exhausted. Hope everyone else has managed to make it to the end of the last week of term with some sanity.

Agent Nateur Holi (Oil) Refining Ageless Face Serum 10ml TRAVEL SIZE
Value £68/£38.33 (£115 for 30ml)

I did see a 10ml for sale at Niche beauty hence the first value. I’ve never heard of this brand, I do use face oils a lot so this will be used up. Anyone know anything more or used it before? They sound like a spa brand.

There's little point looking ageless if us squinting at the packaging gives the game away! I really struggled with the white on shiny pink of the Dr Sebagh Rose De Vie serum too. They’re advertised to make you look younger but trying to read the text made me feel older

I noticed the Granado Tonka Bean candles aren’t widely available for sale when I was checking values before buying the AC and again when double checking before posting here. I suppose that would have no bearing on the suitability of the travel size though. There’s so many for sale on eBay and Vinted I’m not sure how they’ll get ahead of this safety issue.

@notnorman what does “burning unsafely” mean? Does it mean not burning completely and giving off toxic fumes?

Hi, first time poster here but your comment is very interesting as I'm also pregnant and I've measured 1 for carbon monoxide readings throughout pregnancy until my reading last week where I got 4 which midwife said was the level of a smoker! I also asked about candles as I had the Tonka candle lit all week and she said unlikely too but seems a bit of a coincidence!

@BakeOffRewatch I’ve used the Agent Nateur Holi oil serum before and I really rate it. I struggle with a lot of face oils as they seem to just sit on top of my skin and make it feel greasy, but I find this one light and absorbent and easy to use.

There's little point looking ageless if us squinting at the packaging gives the game away!

Same here!!

It says 5-6 drops which is too much for my pixie face. It feels nice though!

I looked into the brand earlier in the year. The blurb is….

Inspired by a passion for holistic remedies, Jena Covello founded the all-natural skin care brand Agent Nateur. Delivering unparalleled formulas with a focus on infusing skin with youth-illuminating European active ingredients, without exposing it to harmful chemicals, toxins or heavy metals, the luxury range of Agent Nateur skincare ensures quality and efficiency. The brand’s iconic aluminium-free deodorant, the holi(stick), is a testament to their mission – to offer a top-to-toe regime that is not only abundant in natural vitamins, minerals, oils, and plant extracts, but is free from damaging ingredients.

@Mctm thank you so much for sharing your experience too. I was really worried at the time and had my boiler and smoke CO alarms checked, all fine. Hopefully the PP who is a candle maker can clarify, as it’s not a risk I was aware of.

Thanks @AprilLady , I look forward to using it.

@Wherethewildthingsfart sounds like something written for USA market, using “European” to connote luxury. I just looked up the founder and she’s based in Miami, Florida.

I'm going to use my candle but not leave it unattended and trim the wick carefully. I burn my candles on our mantlepiece about our open fire so have a carbon monoxide alarm there as well, so I think I've got all bases covered!

@BakeOffRewatch I've felt exactly the same about being unable to read some of the packaging - anti-aging products need to have large print!

@notnorman that's really interesting regarding the wick size, it would simply never have occurred to me that wicks were sized according to anything other than length! It also explains why the candle burnt so fast -I was disappointed that it didn't last longer, a few days and it was gone. I wonder, do you think @ProjectsGalore and @Wherethewildthingsfart could replace the wick with a smaller one from a cheap candle and safely use their candles then? Just a thought? Or perhaps it's best to just pop the candles onto a radiator, unlit , and enjoy the scent that way rather than immediate binning? Seems such a shame to waste that lovely fragrance!

'Burning safely' means the diameter /thickness of the wick is too big (wide) for the width of the candle jar.

So it will burn too hot/too quickly.
The flame is too big/tall
The melt pool is too deep too quickly (within an hour mine had an inch of molten wax- this should not happen- the melted wax should only just be reaching the sides of the top by one hour, if that)

So it's altogether too hot which means the glass can break and cause a house fire.

It's really bad to be honest. We have to spend a lot of money to make sure our wicks are correct.

I was also shocked at the poor quality of positioning of my wick- if I had made this it would have been binned- not gone into a premium advent calendar! Can you see how the wick is not central at all? Again, dangerous as it makes one side of the glass very hot.

Different wicks are used for different types of waxes. If this is soy, an eco 7 would probably be okay for it.
You can get these from candle making supply places like Candle Shack in the UK.
Pull the original Wick out, take the metal circle off the bottom of the new wick then push it down.

@notnorman thank you for this. I had no idea at all about the different requirements etc.
It’s more involved than I ever realized!

It's expensive and gets obsessive to do it right! X

I’ve sent you my details by PM. Let me know if you get them. 🙂

Can you use a voucher on the same purchase as BD money? Last time I tried to do this it tried to take of the voucher but also the full value off the BD money so it was pointless - not sure if I did something wrong

Re the candle, as you can see from mine it's very sooty and it burnt really quickly. I often had to blow it out as lots of wax had melted and the flame was coming over the top of the candle.
I trimmed the wick before lighting each time to try and prevent the massive flame but I think it's too thick for the size of the candle

Ooh sorry @notnorman I hadn't seen your post before i posted my uneducated guess re the wick being too thick!
I wonder if they made a huge batch and thought ahh we'll get rid of these in advent calendars!
I'd be interested to see the size of the wick in another scent.

I’ve got a couple of travel size from other kits and the wick is noticeably thicker, the travel size ones are white too so might be a different material.

Thank you for sharing your expertise @notnorman , hot smashing glass that’s quite scary.

All the info about the candle wicks is really interesting thank you for sharing. I've just inspected mine the wick looks fairly normal to me maybe a bit thick and it's slightly off centre but not massively. @Wherethewildthingsfart thanks for the info on todays brand I'm really pleased with it wish it was bigger think it'll be a nice product I can use without fear of my skin reacting. I want a Holi stick now too!!! Maybe a use for my voucher!

Part of me also wonders if they waited until 19th as 7 days brings us to 26th - a lot of people would have used the gift vouchers on presents for Christmas Day. It would affect their headline takings. Just thought of it as I wanted to get something last minute!

Exactly and neither of those things should happen x

It probably took them a while to realise there was an issue and decide how to handle it. And we can hopefully use the voucher in the sale so get even better value!

I just got the voucher, it's valid for a year.