Beauty chat - freebies/gifts with purchase/offers THREAD FOUR

[OvaHere]

New thread for beauty bargains, edits, boxes and general chat.

Everyone welcome. 😊

Now we are in advent season there are separate threads running for beauty advent calendar discussion so check those out too.

Which boxes are these MrsB?

This was The Bridal Beauty Company Mystery Birthday box, various people (me included) have had issues with their boxes so they are generally not mentioned on here or promoted.
The boxes can be very hit and miss along with the customer service, and people have received out of date products so always a risk ordering from them.

Ah, they are the ones that must not be named... I'll give them a swerve, although they do look good.

They have a regular habit of sending 1 marketer in to talk about an amazing box they got, then others pop in sounding really interested asking to see the contents, and commenting about how great it looks basically creating hype. Have been doing exactly the same thing for a number of years. When they get called out they stop and try again a few weeks.

If this was aimed at me you are very much mistaken and I have nothing to do with them, I first came to hear about them from this site. I am just a beauty enthusiast who buys (and sells) edits and advents.

I will send you a private message as really take offence to being accused as a marketer so will be removing my post.

I’d also love to know please @MrsBnow12

@MrsBnow12 has been on these threads for a very long time. A regular user doing the usual girl math, getting carried away with all these fantastic offers and sharing good and bad shopping and products experiences just like the rest of us. A solid user as far as I'm concerned, looking for the holy grail of beauty care with specific and general beauty care concerns. Exactly like me. And like a lot of other users.

It’s always good to be astute though and do your own checks on TrustPilot etc. Things like expiry dates, misadvertising , inaccurate listing details. On the Christmas bargains thread, there was a sweetie company recommended that wasn’t fulfilling orders the past month. Things can change. These threads are very popular, lot of lurkers and it wouldn’t surprise me if influencers and marketers were positioning items, or they were incentivising regular posters. @JoRaRaRa was it you who said you were approached for a pamper session in London after making a thread about Olaplex hair damage? So they’re clearly active here.

I second what you’ve said about MrsBnow. We all come to these threads to share our good and bad experiences and to find bargains based on the information that other people share. I can remember several discussion about BB over the last 18 months or so. The first couple of boxes I received were wonderful and I can remember singing their praises on here. Then I had a couple of boxes which really didn’t live up to what I was expecting and with products with very short or expired dates. I was fortunate with customer services and got a quick refund for the boxes I returned but I don’t think everyone was as fortunate. But I still find myself drawn to. Bb’s boxes and think the latest one looks really good value. But the fact that I was delighted with my first boxes and wanted to tell everyone about them didn’t mean that I was one of their marketers any more than MrsBnow is

Thanks @MrsBnow12 for your message with the contents. Also hope you are not upset.

Thanks for the info @MrsBnow12 . I'm sorry that my Q. led to a response that upset you by the other poster. This thread is a nice place to be in general and hopefully we're back on track now x

It was on Instagram where I'd put something and then Philip kingsley invited me to go down the following Tuesday to their London head office for a pamper session. But as I'm in Leeds, it was too expensive for the train fare at such short notice 😔 But it does show that they are monitoring and I think a lot of brands do it, I've noticed when things have been posted on this forum, within a few minutes, influencers on Instagram are posting the exact same content, sometimes word for word, so I think you're right. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few influencers on here trying to get us to use their links. I do sometimes feel rushed to buy stuff from being on here but I think that's my own fomo too 🤣

Aaah thank you for the clarification @JoRaRaRa . I thought you had been contacted through MN. Ah really, that’s interesting about stuff being regurgitated. I do sometimes wonder how much revenue I generate for MN in clicks and views

The trouble with these threads is that a) I’m a sucker for a bargain and b) I keep finding things that are really good but expensive. My latest discovery’s are the dizziak shampoo & conditioner from Liberty and the wow volume mousse from the M&S icons box.

As @BakeOffRewatch said it's best to research various beauty box companies. They can be hit and miss especially BBC, that doesn't mean nobody should ever buy from them. Just do so knowing you're taking a chance on something not being as described/expected. I've bought twice from them I think - one box was fine but the other I wasn't happy with (others weren't either).

For this reason (as the thread 'OP') I personally don't link to their mystery boxes anymore but that's not a rule. I'm not the boss of everyone, just my decision not to.

Can absolutely vouch for @MrsBnow12 as a fellow traveller, we've chatted and swapped products outside of this thread and she is lovely. As so many of you are. 😊

Back to beauty edit chat things have been very thin on the ground recently. Not a bad thing depending on your POV. I guess all BAC's and holiday sets mean edits are on the back burner.

I've not been inspired by any recent CB, LF or Boots edits. Maybe that's a me thing too, I went overboard after first discovering them and now I'm a bit more picky.

Only thing I've wanted recently and couldn't get was the Garnier Mask Essentials box that was on offer in Boots for £19. Sold out online and in store. Now it's back up to £38. If anyone spots it on offer again please post in here.

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments.

Back to beauty chat, on a recent US trip I picked up some Sulwhasoo minis to sample - has anyone used this brand before?
I ended up nearly being Rouge with Sephora US after my shopping and the Sulwhasoo was a points item.

I know @OvaHere ive been waiting for a lux retailer winter edit. I think I enjoy 5-6 items focused on a routine more than bargains in a bigger bundle. JL didn’t appeal to me.

I’ve been meaning to ask here if there’s any airport based buys people here would recommend? There’s brands that always seem on offer on the plane that I never hear of elsewhere like Egyptian Magic balm or Alpha H Liquid Gold. Never got them, as I think of them like Avant but maybe I am missing a trick!

Alpha H is often in M&S calendars/bags. I’m selling it right now on Vinted!

Hope you had a lovely trip. I really like Sulwhasoo but compared to the US it's difficult to buy their full size products from the UK. I've picked up quite a few travel sizes and minis from Kbeauty sites but even they never seem to do more than 30ml of anything.

That said you can get good deals on bundles of minis. I like their eye creams (ginseng and Ultimate S) and the Ginseng Overnight Mask.

StyleJolly is the best place to get them. The website looks sketchy but they are legit and they send loads of freebies. The Ultimate S eye cream I've bought in sachet bundles and squeezed into an empty pot. The ginseng one you can buy a bundle of 3ml pots for not very much.

Maybe Black Friday affects things at this time of year, less offers now so they can claim bigger discounts from previous listed prices when November comes around?

Black Friday has definitely ruined the post-Christmas sales, those are rubbish now!

@BakeOffRewatch I never bought things on a plane, if something looks interesting I take a picture and look for it online or in local shops if it is a regional brand.
Egiptian Magic ah! I first saw this in a pharmacy in a foreign country and was sooo intrigued, it promised the world and it was literally natural magic. So expensive back then so I didn't buy it. Still expensive when I first saw it in the UK. Many years later I found some deal (maybe Boots points and special offer? I can't remember). I bought a big pot and was very pleased with myself. It is absolutely useless and unpleasant to use. It does absolutely nothing whatsoever. I forced myself to use it on my feet, knees and elbows then gave up and threw it away.
You can't beat calendula cream for grazes or skin irritation. I even use it on my dogs.
I always pick up a small pot of local honey based balm if available when I travel, they are a thick oily balm which is marvellous for dry skin or on lips in the winter (I also put on my face on very cold and windy days when out walking the dogs).
Clean your hands with sugar mixed with lemon juice over the kitchen sink, rinse, pat dry and put some olive oil and rub your hands and over nails for as long as you can, wash hands and you end up with soft moisturised hands. Absolutely nothing else works as well.

I really like Alpha H liquid gold. Does a great job of exfoliating overnight leaving skin looking more luminous and alive. Having said that, I’ve never actively bought it. I’ve had a few travel sizes in edits and advents over the years and am always pleased to see it.

I’d love to see a pic of the BBC recent edit @MrsBnow12 . I have had a mixed experience with them myself so swerve their bags now, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious as to what people get. I love beauty products (a bit too much tbh- but it’s my only vice so no plans to curb it while I can afford it) and sharing that experience with like minded people. I’d hate for this thread to become censored. We’re all adults.

On that note, I have , for the first time, succumbed to the Diptyque calendar. I’m so excited! And I think that will have to round off my buying this year- unless Space NK knock it out of the park with their fragrance calendar.