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.

LF is a Ren eye cream. I don't currently have a day eye cream on the go, so this will go straight into my daily routine.

Boots No7 was a lip cream which I've bought previously and is a brilliant product. Happy with that!

DDs Sephora was a mini gel cleanser....I'm not sure if we have another calendar to other posters? It seems a bit disappointing so far although DD is ok with it 🙄

@dc82 The Ordinary lash serum is brilliant stuff! Really noticed a difference in my brows and lashes when I was using it.

Let me know what your thoughts are please 😊 I have this eye cream somewhere in my Frankenstein. Hopefully soon as I'm on the last bits of my eye cream, although I do have a clarins sample that could put me on 🤞

Sephora do a few different calendars, which one did you pick up?

I’m very pleased with today’s items again. I got a big pot of Cult 51 rejuvenating night cream in F&M, a Passage d’enfer body cream in L’artisan Parfumeur, and a conditioner in Korres ☺️

@itsnothingoriginal I have the Sephora favourites advent calendar. Sephora do a few advents so perhaps your dd has a different one?

I will - the last time I used eye cream was Sunday Riley autocorrect which people really rate but it made my dark circles look awful and everyone said how tired I looked, so I stopped using eye cream at all. Hopefully this will be better!

I had to throw that one away as it stung my eyes and made them dry at the outer corners 😕 I really like the clé de peau eye cream, but I'm not keen on the price 🤣

Oh fab! I slathered it all over this morning (along with the eye cream). Like a child im straight into all the new things 😆

I find their 35g candles to have good scent throw. I prefer the bigger ones but the small ones are more than enough to gauge whether you like a scent or not. They're also good if you just want to quickly scent a room because you don't have to wait long for them to burn across.

As expected, day four in the small Body Shop calendar was a shea intense repair conditioner mini (to match the shampoo from yesterday). Again, pretty happy with this and will definitely get used - the scent is actually really nice. Always find it a bit boring when you get the shampoo and then the conditioner the next day but I am nitpicking!

Day 4 Jo Loves is a With Love From Como shower gel. Smells very tangy and citrusy. I'm pleased with this. I don't tend to buy a lot of citrus scents but I love them in the New Year when I feel ready for something fresh and different, even though they're meant to be summer scents 😆

Most people find the run-up to Christmas really fun then find January depressing but I'm the opposite. I find Christmas stressful (though I enjoy the break and spending time with family) and the steadily decreasing amount of daylight really tough. Then when New Years' day dawns, the stress is gone, I've had a bit of a break, and the days are lengthening, and I get to start being on the look out for spring bulbs. Makes me so much happier knowing that spring is just around the corner.

I tried yesterday's layered votive last night (the scents are Snowflakes and Christmas Trees) and it was nice but noticeably less strong than my beloved Jo Malone candles. Does anyone know how the layering works? Is it just one layer of each scent or are there multiple layers?

We now have 6 calendars going as a family.

My Sephora one today had the face masks & a mini drunk elephant cream but no perfume
My younger daughter’s had a nice bronzer
Eldest daughter had some fluorescent spoke charms for her bike in her random homemade calendar and a can of passion fruit and mango fizz in the family international snacks/drinks
hubby got a brew dog beer and a chocolate (as he does every day)

I wonder where my Sephora calendar mini fragrance ended up. We did quite a few swaps to make sure daughter’s beauty calendar didn’t have any products unsuitable for her skin so maybe she has nabbed that for a different day

My Anthropologie was a set of scrunchies, but they feel really cheap. Big Made in China tag on them. Bird & Blend is Great British Cuppa.

OK beauty was a Leighton Denny nail polish in a nice sheer nude colour. I work in healthcare and rarely paint my nails because of it (and never get my nails done professionally), so this will be handy for Christmas, weddings etc. (RRP £12.99).

Glamour is the Anisa Sojka gold claw clip in a nice pouch (RRP £34), which is one of the products that convinced me to go for it, so I'm happy with today.

This sounds like a very luxurious day! Enjoy!

good morning I’ve been told to link my thread here
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5453095-is-there-a-look-fantastic-advent-calendar-opening-thread?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Glossybox is a hair mask, everything had been useful so far

I agree @WhatILoved it is quite masculine but it is in such a pretty bottle & the description sounds like it would be good for the summer. I am really happy with my calendar so far & it is great to test out new scents that I would never think of trying.

Would be interested to know what you make of it, I've never tried Cult 51.

@ChannelLightVessel not meaning to stress you out but garlic is quite toxic for cats, it's really good that he's thrown up already but keep an eye on him in case he seems to be getting lethargic. It's probably worth letting the vet know too in case they have further advice.

oooh Passage D'Enfer is one of my favourite perfumes. Very Christmassy.

Today I got an eyeliner in last year's No7 calendar and a gel cleanser in the Sephora favourites. I'm a bit underwhelmed.

I agree I’m really enjoying it too. First time I’ve had a perfume one

@WhatILoved It is the same for me. I have had M&S ones & I splurged on the Liberty Calendar once before, so this is the first fragrance one I have ever had. I used to end up with so many face creams that I didn’t use & red nail varnish & black eyeliners 🙄

If I remember correctly, this LF Fragrance calendar has some candles in it too but my brain is a bit fried right now & I might have got muddled up.

It is a real treat though and I look forward to opening a door every morning 😀