🎄 2025 Style and Beauty Advent Calendar Discussion ***SPOILERS*** THREAD 3

[BakeOffRewatch]

Annual Style and Beauty Advent Calendar discussion thread. First AC reveal this year was 23rd June. First luxury reveal was 2nd July.

Thread 1: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5360770-2025-style-and-beauty-advent-calendar-discussion

Thread 2: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5388836-2025-style-and-beauty-advent-calendar-discussion-spoilers-thread-2

The regulars on the thread mainly discuss luxury BAC and this dies down by September when everyone has purchased and forgotten the contents. Then it goes into discussion on what’s selling out, what hasn’t and what deals and discounts to be had on ACs in the lead up to December. Then in December we move onto AC opening threads!

There’s a separate thread for GWP, discounts and other deals here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5338957-beauty-chat-freebiesgifts-with-purchaseoffers-thread-three

A thread for the Liberty Beauty Drop here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5253698-liberty-beauty-drop-spoiler-from-the-despatch-date-part-9

MN has a great Christmas board for deals and early gift buying here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas

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LUXURY MULTI-BRAND

Cult Beauty - partial reveal so far beautyadventcalendar.net/cult-beauty-advent-calendar-2025/
£265 Fortnum & Mason - full reveal www.fortnumandmason.com/2025-fortnums-beauty-advent-calendar
£250 Fenwick - full reveal beautyadventcalendar.net/fenwick-advent-calendar-2025/
Flannels - only a cracker so far beautyadventcalendar.net/flannels-beauty-cracker-2025/
£250 Harrods - full reveal www.harrods.com/en-gb/p/harrods-of-london-the-harrods-beauty-advent-calendar-2025-000000000007826118
£250 Harvey Nichols - full reveal www.harveynichols.com/harvey-nichols/harvey-nichols-beauty-advent-calendar-2025-42956-232485/
John Lewis - later in the year probably October
£275 Liberty - full reveal https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/pre-order-liberty-beauty-advent-calendar-2025-000839831.html
£250 Selfridges - full reveal cloud.mail.selfridges.com/beautyadventcalendar25
£260 Space NK - full reveal beautyadventcalendar.net/space-nk-advent-calendar-2025/
Vogue - later in year probably September issue, £350 last year

HIGH STREET
Anthropologie
ASOS
Beauty Bay
The Body Shop https://www.thebodyshop.com/collections/beauty-advent-calendars
Boots
Elle
French Pharmacy
Glossybox
Holland & Barrett https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/info/beauty-advent
Jarrolds
LIB Latest In Beauty x Stylist
Lush £125, £179, £205, https://www.lush.com/uk/en/c/christmas-advent-calendars
L’Occitane
LookFantastic £105 https://www.lookfantastic.com/c/waitlist/advent
M&S
Next
Revolution Beauty £50 https://www.revolutionbeauty.com/uk/en/gifts/advent-calendars/revolution-beauty-makeup-advent-calendar-2025/1868648.html
Sephora https://www.sephora.co.uk/c/beauty-advent-calendar-waitlist
Ted Baker
The White Company

BUDGET
Aldi
Sainsbury’s

SINGLE BRAND BEAUTY
Arran £85 https://arran.com/products/advent-calendar
Charlotte Tilbury
Elemis https://uk.elemis.com/advent-calendar-2025-sign-up
e.l.f.
Gruum
Jo Malone
Liz Earle
Lumene
Neom https://neomwellbeing.com/pages/neom-wellbeing-advent-calendar-sign-up-page
Shisheido https://www.shiseido.co.uk/gb/en/newsletter-advent-calendar.html

BATH & BODY
Ciaté
Cowshed
Rituals

JEWELLERY
Oliver Bonas
Liberty
Accessorize

FOOD
Bonne Maman jam
Degusta
Paxton and Whitfield cheese
Fortnum & Mason Tea and Biscuits

MEN’S
Liberty

FRAGRANCE
Acqua Di Parma
Diptyque
Fragrance Shop
Harrods fragrance
Harvey Nichols fragrance
L’Artisan Parfumier
Jo Loves https://www.joloves.com/pages/advent-calendar
Jo Malone
Penhaligons
Perfume Shop
Sniph
Space NK fragrance

K-BEAUTY
Stylevana
Yesstyle
Stylekorean

You can customise your palette. I’m fair, had the lighter set last year..it was the snake/dragon one. If I was getting one it would be the medium shades as I don’t think they’re hugely pigmented and found the light one a bit lacking.

I’m liking those HG palettes too, but I only use eyeshadow and blusher, so I don’t think I would get much use out of them!

Quidco seems to be suggesting that there is a reasonable cashback on the LF calendars today, but it’s not clear 🤷‍♀️

TCB are still offering 2%, I think.

I am still wavering over getting the LF fragrance and opening 12 days this year and saving the remainder for next Xmas. (I do know I definitely don’t want 22 fragrances and 2 candles all at once!)

Liberty is still my favourite, but if I was going to get it I should have used TCB’s gift card offer yesterday, (but I chickened out - it’s far too expensive for me!)

The HG palettes look fab
I got the evil eye one last year and I use it every day and have barely made a dent in it. Still doesn't stop me from wanting a new one though but I'll probably refrain

The only 2 that are getting low are the bronzer and finishing powder. I might just replace them when I need to.

To those of you who sell pieces you don't like/need
What kind of price do you set.
Like the AB serum for example is £150 at SNK but I'd have no clue how much to list it for and where (probably vinted)

As I'm now wondering if i should get the CB as there are a few pieces I want from there
And the SNK as pieces I want from there too.
And create a kind of hybrid on just for me.
But concerned I'll just be adding to the DOD if things don't sell.

Hello, dipping my toe in this thread finally after lurking for two years!

I bought the GB calendar yesterday, largely influenced by the very enthusiastic YouTube lady linked above. I’m not sure I’ll be able to recreate her smoky eye look as well as she had done it, but for £81 I’ll give it a go. This BAC will be my Sober October calendar where instead of having a lovely glass of wine of an evening, I’ll open a door instead and get my dopamine that way. I did this last year with the LF calendar and I was actually quite sad when November rolled around despite being able to drink again!

My main BAC for December is going to be SNK again. I had this last year and loved it. I don’t think it’s quite hit the mark this year but out of them all, it’s probably the one I’ll enjoy the most. I’m tempted by Sephora and CB also but I think I’ll just stick with SNK.

Thanks, I was thinking this as although I'm fair I'm not very pale like the first model and I did wonder if it would be pigmented enough to make a difference. I think I might go for the swan colouring (custom palette 2) in the deer case. I use Luminous Flush blush every day (from last year's Space NK I think) and it's fab so I have high hopes, although I wasn't blown away when I last used the Dim Light finishing powder.

@NC543210 I look at what others are listed for and price around or below. I price to sell, I cba having things sitting on Vinted for months. I had a 15ml AB serum to sell. People were listing it for £50+ (in fact someone is currently listing it for £90!). I priced at £25, rejected a few offers of £15, and sold within a few days at £25. I would have accepted £20, but only after it had been up for a couple of weeks.

Am I right in thinking that Fenwick is early Oct? Also does anyone remember when Diptyque landed last year? (I've already signed up for waitlist, so I'll find out eventually) finally, was it also early Oct last year for the JL Home Fragrance?

You don't generally get anywhere near the RRP value on Vinted. Especially for things people know are from calendars. The £150 AB serum from a calendar I wouldn't pay more than about £30. I bought the AB Rich Eye Cream from the Liberty calendar there for £30.

I sell on a fair bit myself from edits or gwp and just try to view it as a bit extra cash towards whatever I bought. The key with Vinted is to remember that most people will offer lower than your asking price. So if I'm happy with making around £7 on an item I will list it at £10. If someone does buy it for 10 then that's a bonus. As a buyer Vinted fees and shipping add about £3-4 per item so most buyers will look at your asking price then offer a price that reflects that reduction.

When you list things on Vinted it does give you the average sale price for similar items so you can get a gauge on what something is 'worth'.

https://beauty-detective.com/lancome-advent-calendar-2025/

The Lancôme calendar looks quite nice. Not the best price/value ratio but £220 isn't a terrible price for one of the single brand designer type offerings. I wonder if it will stack with a GWP at some point?

Re: Vinted. I don't sell much any more but I do buy a lot. My rule is that I usually won't pay more than a third of RRP for a brand new sealed item. If I look and I can't see my favourite product at a price I'm willing to pay, then I'll check a few times a day and one will pop up within my preferred budget. It amazes me how many sellers list things like Neom Magnesium Body Butter, RRP £40 then try and make out they are offering you a bargain at £32 + fees + shipping. Often people even advertise above RRP. I guess they maybe think if something is a cupt product then people will pay it, but I'm often desperate to message them and say its still in stock and at a lower price with the manufacturer / retailer (I don't / wouldn't, but the pedant in me wants to!)

I agree @RainbowZebraWarrior - it’s weird. People do the same thing with Toast clothes - whilst the sale is still on!

I can’t have the HG palette unless it turns up in JL so I can use my gift card.

I actually do need a pinkish blusher, though, so have gone wild and ordered a sale one from Benefit with added freebies as a new customer. All will be going in my DIY calendar at a rather more reasonable £15.50 inc. postage 😹

I get that with Garmin watches @RainbowZebraWarrior - hello seller, it’s cheaper direct from Garmin!

@OvaHere we’re still filling up this thread!

Just posting to fill the thread.

I keep reading HG as Holy Grail @IlovePond

@owlexpress 😹- I guess Hourglass is sort of the HG of powders!

I’m moving over to the next thread as I see it’s on page 2 already!

The medik8 vit c was a pull for me. I can pay £60 for it towards a gwp or use discount codes rather than pay £250. I know there's a £20 gift card available but that was available for £100 spend the other day x

Just helping use the thread up...

Sends prayer to the God of BACs to make Fenwick do another stupendous GWP that stacks.

I am half wondering if there will be reductions this year? Not even Harrods has sold out yet. The limitations on the US market will have a ripple effect. That said they have all released very early this year so maybe by October there won't be a lot left?

That’s one reason I am holding back @OvaHere - I really object to paying full price for anything.

Last year I had Rituals for under £40 and the Shiseido with a third off.

It doesn’t sit right with me to pay full whack for something I absolutely do not need if there could be reductions available!

It's at the back of my mind that some may be reduced by Black Friday. Not Harrods/CB/Sephora/SNK they will probably all go eventually but there might be offers on others. There's a crazy amount of calendars this year.

It’s only September 3rd @OvaHere ! I think they’ll sell out by end of October. I also think the number of people buying has increased massively, it seems common now for the whole family to have advent calendar that are more than chocolate or pictures including dog and cat family members. So lots of stock. I think the luxury stores start marketing them in summer to catch the rich holiday-ing crowd in London. Thinking of Selfridges, Liberty, Fenwick, Fortnum, Harrods here. I’m in London and whilst the CoL crisis has hit the spending in these type of stores from visitors is insane. I find it funny when people say oh they need to do better - we’re not really where their margins are.

New thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5403558-2025-style-and-beauty-advent-calendar-discussion-spoilers-thread-4

Good points @BakeOffRewatch

New thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5403558-2025-style-and-beauty-advent-calendar-discussion-spoilers-thread-4