General “Waifs and Strays” Beauty Advent Calendar opening thread.

[AprilLady]

As in previous years, this a thread for those opening Beauty Advent Calendars not covered by specific calendar opening threads - though happy for those to be shared here too. Also looking forward to hearing about the “Frankenstein” curations.

Carrying on the tradition from previous years, it will also be fun to hear about other calendar openings - Degusta, jam, cheese anyone?

I know there are mixed feelings on this, but many of us would really appreciate it if spoilers are not posted before 7am on the relevant day, though if the consensus is this is too late we could
make it from midnight on the day? Please also avoid dropping hints or spoilers about future contents if you have opened the calendar in advance.

Posting pictures of contents is also always much appreciated.

I’ll be opening the Selfrdiges and Jo Loves calendars this year. Really looking forward to tomorrow.

Lumene Day 3 is Nordic C Glow Moisturiser, but only 10ml.

Morning! ASOS box of the day is a Caudelie moisturiser. Very happy with that. Smells lovely and I’ve used it to erase the wrinkles this morning already.
Yesterdays offering was a Sam Mc Knight hair serum, a bit meh but will give it a go

My DIY was the Merit Flush balm in Cheeky, excited to try this as have a different shade that I really like.
Vogue was the tomato candle, am on the fence with this one and may pop it on Vinted
Degusta was Hazelnut and cocoa wafer rolls - have enjoyed the Degusta selections so far and ended up ordering the treats one yesterday as received a code for it.

Boots Skincare -
Delighted with today's Q&A body exfoliator. I haven't tried it before but have liked anything from this brand I've tried before.

Love the Merit blusher in Cheeky. So easy to use. I bought mine from another BAC on Vinted and have used it daily. Shame about the candle- it had good reviews....

Day three from SNK was the K18 oil. I hadn't put anything extra in this drawer which was very remiss of me. Not sure if I'll keep this one. I have quite a stash of hair oils now.

Today in Diptyque I received a 10ml bottle of Lilyphea perfume. It's an absolutely beautiful scent so I'm very pleased.

Sephora day 3 was the merit blusher in cheeky. I've not tried anything from this brand so am looking forward to trying this.

JL 30 ml size Elizabeth Arden hand cream - just the job for my winter-suffering hands!

Those cocoa and hazelnut rolls look 😋

I've also got the merit blush in my diy somewhere, I can't remember what day it's in, but it looks gorgeous 😍

I have quite a bit of Merit make up. I really like a lot of their stuff. Their signature matte lipstick is my fave lip formula, unfortunately they've just discontinued them and sold the remaining stock off in their BF sale. I bought quite a few as back ups.

The cheek balm is nice but it doesn't last well, try layering it with some powder if you find it doesn't last on you.

LF today is a l'occitane hand cream. I've actually never tried any of their products, but I can always use a good hand cream in winter!

Jo Loves day 3 is a fragrance paintbrush in Golden Gardenia. I didn't expect to like this but it's actually really nice so I'll keep it and see if it makes it into my regular rotation (I have a lot of perfumes!). I'm not keen on the fragrance paintbrush format though. It's a great concept but I love the act of spritzing myself with perfume so using the paintbrush is oddly unsatisfying.

Hello @whatILoved I see you have the LF Fragrance calendar too 😄

I said yesterday that I would post pictures of the box as well so here you go!

And Day 3 - Perfect by Marc Jacobs that I am very happy with

@Tangomango1 that looks nice. When you open it, please will you post a photo of the actual bottle? 🙂

I tried this in the shower this morning and it's lovely. Not a very scrubby scrubby but it smells food and left my skin feeling soft. I really rate Q&A body care too

Day 3 for me:

Selfridges is a travel size Hourglass blush which I am really pleased with. Sadly they have discontinued my all time favourite shade (Incandescent Electra) but this one is pretty good too.

Jo Loves finally a perfume - as noted above, a paintbrush of Golden Gardenia. Like @AndeanFlamingo I’m not a huge fan of the paintbrush format, but am pleasantly surprised by this fragrance. I’d expected a straightforward white floral - but there is a definite woody, spicy element to it and it’s actually not heavily white floral at all. I like it far more than expected.

I’m another one who likes the Merit blush. I have had and used Cheeky for a while. I’ve also bought some of the solo eyeshadows, and rate them too.

@Seahorses12 agree Lilyphea is really nice - enjoy!

@JoRaRaRa For you! 😁

Elle has a L’occitane shower oil in almond. Not exciting but will get used. I bought this calendar for 3 or 4 things yet to be opened so I knew there would be lots of filler items.

I’m pleased with today’s haul. A nice good sized Aromatherapy associates shower gel in F&M, a little Ode a l’oudh in L’artisan Parfumeur, and an olive body cream in Korres. I dropped the korres calendar and all the boxes fell out everywhere - it took me ages to piece them back together again 😆😆

Very pretty nail polish in Boots No 7 beauty - pinky gold sparkly. I currently have shellac on my nails so I might pass on or keep for when inevitably decide I can no longer afford to get them done in Jan 😭🤣

DDs Sephora calendar was a slightly disappointing small eyeshadow brush 🙄

@AprilLady I love the Jo Loves golden gardenia but I agree with you about the paintbrush style. @Seahorses12I think Lilyphea is gorgeous too.

Living vacariously through the Korres calendar owners on here as I absolutely love their stuff. I have the Vanilla Cinnamon body lotion on the go at the moment and it smells gorgeous!

Oh that is such a cute bottle 😍 I love when you get a proper mini bottle.