🎄 2025 Style and Beauty Advent Calendar Discussion ***SPOILERS*** THREAD 4

[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

Thread 3: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5396898-2025-style-and-beauty-advent-calendar-discussion-spoilers-thread-3

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/5389635-beauty-chat-freebiesgifts-with-purchaseoffers-thread-four

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

It really is 🤣 even if I go through the contents of a calendar and know without a doubt it's not worth it to me I still feel like I need it when it's mentioned. I can't explain it

I haven’t bought one yet @MentyB ! Though I keep looking at the CB classic one and then getting emails saying they caught me looking. Got one today with Louise Thompson content in it recommending the products.

I’m exactly the same. It’s really addictive!

@BakeOffRewatch I wasn't originally keen on liberty but watched an unboxing and actually there's only 3 makeup items I won't use. I like perfume but never actually buy any so that will be a nice treat and I love haircare and obviously skin care. Plus I had a fair chunk in beauty drop. I know really I should be one and done but I do get really bad FOMO. Plus beauty buys are my only vice/treat really. I am however quite proud I've resisted on others so far.

@Growlybear83 it really is! Plus anything that seems like a good deal or bargain makes it that much harder to resist. I have to rely on the mantra that it's not a bargain if I don't really want it 🤣

I was reading this and thought 'oh she likes mrryh and tonka, dorade and valaya so we probably have similar tastes and I'll like Bromptons and rude oud (not smelt them yet) but then it all went down hill 🤣 I really dislike Nishane, but I love Ganymede and Gris Charnel. I also like sand and skin, the creed and the roja - I don't love them, but they're nice and I will wear them. It's funny how you describe creed and how we all smell differently, to me it smells posh, sophisticated, clean and expensive. I'm not good at describing perfumes, but that's how I'd describe that 🤣

That's probably a good way to view it. I've just spent a lot on stuff from the cult beauty advent from vinted and ebay and probably should've, in hindsight, bought the calendar and sold off what I didn't want 😕

I've been wanting to pay around half price for the items, so I think I'd probably list them for that. I just hope I don't end up with a load of unsold tat 🤣

Thing is it might smell like that on you. My friend has perfumes I think smell lovely on her then I try them and smell minging or vice versa. It's impossible to go by other peoples likes and dislikes.

I'm the same, the fomo is real guys 🤣🤣

In the last week I have wasted hours literally mentally tying myself in knots over wether to buy advents.
I started the week with Look Fantastic fragrance ( I bought the Spacenk fragrance box 3 or 4 months ago and have not even tried any of them I do not need anymore fragrance .....except maybe the Harvey Nichols advent😂) that sold out quite quickly so I moved on to Selfridges this dragged on for a couple of days interspersed with buying Glossybox and rejecting Cult Beauty and then rejecting it again after there was a further gift voucher code. I only broke the Selfridges stranglehold by buying some of the items from it on Vinted over the weekend
This week's dilemma will be Spacenk (big yes at the moment so hopefully a straight forward buy) and possibly Holland & Barrett of they release details. With a side linger of Vogue which has been skirting the outside of my mind because I like the jewellery but hate most of the rest of it
This then only leaves John Lewis, Fenwicks, Marks and Spencer, Elle and You Beauty to ruminate over ( and Latest in Beauty if they release one but this brings it's own set of issues with tiktok versus website pricing)
Roll on end of October when hopefully they will have all sold out and I can sleep soundly again

“posh, sophisticated, clean and expensive” isn’t mutually exclusive of “bitter and unpleasant”!

I wonder why there’s so much dithering this year, that’s not like us

I've not actually sprayed any, except the BDK (well dabbed), on myself, so they could smell like crap when I do try them 🤣 I've bought an extra bottle of the Ganymede from ebay so I'll be trying that one soon. I did try Valaya in the shop, and I think I liked it, but by that point, I'd tried about a million others, so it could've merged. I didn't open Valaya in the advent calendar, so I won't know if I actually like it until December. When do you plan to open yours?

I've decided BAC take you to a really weird place in terms of thought processes. I've been thinking about ASOS since it went on early sale yesterday. Stupidly the biggest thing I was coveting was the marshmallow beauty sponge that costs a tenner. So I just bought one in Sephora today. 😂

@OvaHere oh🫣what didn’t you like about the Le Labo, it’s also a big reason for me loving JL! I love Le Labo though and regularly wear Santal, Rose and Matcha from them, but didn’t like eucalyptus which is why I ruled out whatever advent had that in it! How would you describe the perfume? I’m quite fussy about perfumes and have sold the vanilla from Liberty and Commodity from Glossybox, they’re not me. I didn’t like any from last years Liberty including the Ex Nihilo that’s in this years Selfridges, and only really like the Liberty one in this years! We are all so different!

Soon. Now I've decided what I definitely don't like I'm going to sell those on so I don't feel so bad about the next BAC I buy.

Good idea 😁
It's good that you like Bromptons and rude oud though. I'm really worried that I won't 😕 Maybe I need to open them tomorrow and find out so if I don't I can put them towards another calendar 🤔🤣 (Any excuse, I've been dying to open them 🤣)

If you like others then there's a chance you will like it. I can't really remember it well enough to describe, it isn't horrid just not my sort of scent - a bit sharp maybe? Sorry I'm not good at describing scents at the best of times.

I can only advise that in the remaining month before release you try to go somewhere for a sniff of it.

I do like the other scents in JL so haven't totally written it off. Portrait of a Lady is lovely and I already have a travel size in that. The Kilian scent is a nice one too, quite sweet I seem to recall from a sample I tried a while back.

I feel like quite a few of us will be after the space nk one on Tuesday 😊 but I think one of the main issues is that none of them are spectacular, we're just picking from a bad bunch 😭🤣

Rude Oud opens with a strong fruity, raspberry note then settles down into a woody oud. I'm surprised how much I like it as in some ways it's quite a male scent. I could definitely see DS wearing it too. Maybe we'll share.

That sounds really nice actually 😁

It really is. It's strong though. Don't spray a lot in one go!

Noted 😊 I think I'm going to check it tomorrow. I think I'm going to get the Harvey Nicks fragrance one too though and then decide which ones are my favourites from the 2 calendars and sell the others. Does that one sell out fast too do you know?

Maybe not as fast as Harrods but none of the fragrance ones seem to hang around long. Can't really remember from last year.

I also went shopping IRL today. I blindly bought Killian good girl gone bad so wanted to check it out before it arrives - at first sniff I hated it! But I sprayed it and once it settled down I really liked it.
I tried the rose one and I definitely don’t like that.

I don’t like the Le Labo noir or eucalyptus, or any of the other ones I tried from their range.

I like the Xerjoff Torino21.

Some I wanted to try weren’t there, but I enjoyed trying a few others.
I tried all of the Initio ones and like a few of those.

Now my problem is that my bank balance is going to take another hit.

Still don’t know what Space NK are offering fragrance wise, that could send me even further down the rabbit hole.

After years of the liberty one I got Sephora this year. Hoping I won’t regret it but after having a quick peek (which I never do!) it looked so samey!

Will get SNK tomorrow if thats when its going live! Got £15 in reward points so will take it down £245.
Would like to know what the fragrance AC contents will be, i dont need it, just curious🤣