🎄 2025 Style and Beauty Advent Calendar Discussion ***SPOILERS*** THREAD 8

[BakeOffRewatch]

New thread!

Ah sorry I missed a whole page of discussion on here about the empties/accountability thread. Everyone has been busy posting today so I’ll make a new thread soon else I’ll go out and it’ll be full. Happy Saturday!

Yes it’s interesting the various vibes across MN. I don’t like AIBU vibes either and they do pop up in inconsistent places. I don’t get why there can sometimes be such grief here on purchase volume when the Christmas Bargains thread is pretty AIBU free, and a glitch is part of the normal sharing - probably it just moves so fast there isn’t time for aggro.

@BakeOffRewatch yes I'm a regular on there. I don't think it does much to keep me accountable as I like the reviews and recs. Although it does de-influence sometimes if someone has tried something and it wasn't what they hoped.

Ah you’ll stop me buying spacenk with talk like that 🤣

I’ve just got the Liberty subscription, but the John Lewis boxes were great and I got a ‘few’ of those..

last year I did well, by September I had less than 30 minis and 30 full sizes ( plus probably about 20 opened).

I think I’ve doubled my items in the last month so I shoujd probably stop. Maybe I can 😳

🤣
You’re such an enabler!

😂😂😂

Ive been really good this year apart from advent calendars. I’ve not bought a single beauty box or GWP and the only things I’ve had have been the Beauty Box and Liberty fragrance edits, and the recent Selfridges fragrance box that I bought myself for my birthday next month. But I made up for it with advent calendars 🤣. I bought the HN and SNK fragrance calendars at full price because they sold out so quickly last year, and am a bit irritated, but then I think they are very good value at the full price anyway and have no regrets at not waiting. I don’t think I will ever need to buy perfume again if I live to be 100!

I got told off last year.
I hadn’t been on any of the purchasing threads and it was my first year with a fancy BAC. I was so excited to open it and wanted to share it so found an opening thread on here and posted. Unfortunately my usual posting time during the week is before 6am and I didn’t realise there were rules or that there were separate threads for different calendars and somebody told me off on both counts so I didn’t post again.
I had to put my brave pants on to first post on these threads this year but you have all been very nice so I’m glad it didn’t put me off forever!

So much for me reining things in 🙄 - VB beauty have 20% off this weekend so I’ve just spent more than I should on eyeliners (I love the satin kajal liners- I know they don’t suit everyone) and a shadow palette. My good intentions lasted all of five minutes 😂

How hard it will be if you don't spoilers before 7 am not to open the thread before 7 am? Some people get up earlier and leave for work early. It sounds like someone insist on being the first every morning. It's very off-putting to me. I just avoid them, people have been doing them for years like that so clearly some enjoy that type of thing. I am not fan of people being told off on advent calendar threads - so I don't play part. I don't miss out, the perfume beauties are my main crew anyway.

I haven't jumped on any of the SpaceNK gwps recently for that reason. The last one I got I think was a haircare one they did in early 2025.

It's not that they are no good for discovery purposes - they are if you don't already have a giant box of minis but I've learned a few things in the last year.

Teeny tiny haircare and body care samples are useless. 7ml of body cream that covers one knee tells you very little (looking at you AB). Same with some haircare - single use shampoo/conditioner or masks are fine but recently I had a tiny sample of the Dyson hair serum, it was only enough to cover a piece of fringe. Yes you can get an idea of texture and scent but that's about it. A waste of time and I'm none the wiser about whether this performs.

Some small samples are impractical. I have 10 ml of a gel face cleanser I really like and want to use up but they put it in a tiny glass bottle with a screw top - it's too thick to release from the bottle no matter how much you shake it. Also see tiny pots that are just about finger width - you just end up with product under your nails or have go hunting around for some sort of spatula. Worth it if you really badly want to test a particular product but otherwise annoying.

I have enough full sizes of things I know I love using so I feel like I've got to the point where having a lot of minis stops me using what I enjoy in the effort to use up said minis.

I have found things I love in gwp minis so it's not all bad. I just need to find a balance.

It's taken a lot of pondering and unpacking of my buying behaviours to reach some of these conclusions and I need to keep reminding myself of them as my default setting is that of a magpie.

I’ve always steered clear of the opening threads - I’m actually just too busy at work to keep up and regularly contribute and then fear I will feel the wrath for accidentally breaking rules if I try and join in. I like mindfully opening my advents too, to enjoy the process, and don’t want to be rushing to share thoughts when I haven’t fully formed them or get biased by others opinions. My obsessive Mumsnet stalking is definitely confined to these buying threads. The thrill of the chase and all that.

the rule imo should be - no giving out. Don't want spoilers open your day and only check the threads after you open it and lighten up no drama allowed on beauty advent calendar opening.

Yes, there need to be a degree of self policing on threads like that. If spoilers upset you don't go near the thread until you've opened your drawer and are ready to talk about it.

I love these threads - thanks, guys!

I have found the beauty chat GWP thread fun but terrible for my spending - I can’t resist a bargain 🙀

I have just joined the empties thread - thanks for the link @BakeOffRewatch

On a related note: I persuaded my very sensible and non-spending friend that she really needed the bargain Boots skincare a/c in her life and, much to my surprise, she has bought it. I now feel like some kind of pusher 🙀 as she is the total opposite of me and never buys anything for herself.

Don’t recall these being mentioned (brain like a sieve) so far - New Look has entered the jewellery advent space with gold and silver versions. Could be a nice extra for a teenager.

I found the empties thread a while back and was motivated for all of one month until I came across the beauty chat thread & BAC thread 🤣

I shamefully still have some bits from last years BACs and some from boxes from JL and LF (with Patrick Ta make up in - the reason why I desperately wanted it but still haven’t opened it!)

I was doing well for a while with the using up and recycling whilst you could get credits but the few batches I did actually failed to load the credits so I gave up.
I’ve got a bag of empties for recycling but not got a clue what to do with them.

Re the BAC opening threads, I enjoyed them a little but I was so busy that I often ended up not opening until later in the day or sometimes doing a couple of days together, so I missed out on the excitement of the thread. I have much preferred this thread 🤗

I appreciate the advent spoiler rule. It doesn’t mean much to say stay away from the thread until you open yours, say if your day ends at 4am and you’re winding down to read what people thought of the drawer before you go to sleep. So paces the conversation too. It works both ways and there’s people with lots of different lifestyles, and all over the globe, so it helps everyone enjoy it. It’s always annoying when people go off topic, or don’t read the OP before posting no matter the thread or board or forum. These are long standing communities, not debates or bulletin boards and I treat it like conversations, it’s not forum etiquette to come shouting in your own thing. It’s also good manners to be gracious with newbies and people learning abbreviations etc.

I’ve not seen that before @Talisin thank you

yes i feel she could get an episode all to herself …she text me this morning to say she has CB edits coming too !!…

That’s so sensible and helpful @OvaHere
I have started to make a note of things I love, so I should just stick to that.

Agree, the minis have at times been useful to try something I thought I’d love but then didn’t.

I’m definitely an emotional spender - something to work on !

@Thelifeofawife pop in the boots recycling even if you don’t want to do the points thing?

@BakeOffRewatch I also don’t mind the request not to post before 0700. It’s huge treat for a lot of people, May have saved all year etc

I love seeing what people have on the waifs and strata thread.

@ThelifeofawifeI think if she joined this thread she would be bankrupt ! 🤣 yeah i’d be annoyed about HN fragrance discount but it’s still a good calendar even at the full price …I didnt buy it originally as i had the harrods fragrance one and I still have loads of harrods perfume from last years harrods calendar untouched (which i may put on vinted at this stage tbh) i think there will quite a few discounts this year …there are so many BACS still available …Liberty fortnums , vogue and even jo malone (which typically always sold out quickly) are still available …suspect the discounts will come before BF ….I dont need another BAC but i do love a bargain 😜

It's an addiction. 🤣 A nice one though. ♥️

I have really enjoyed being part of this I have said before but it’s helped so much whilst I’ve been inbetween jobs. I’m looking forward to seeing the Black Friday deals as I would really like a January one 😂😂