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.

I was trying to get this for my Frankenstein, but I couldn't get it for a good price on vinted. Let me know what you think to it 😊

Do you have the No7 24-day or 12-day calendar? I think the 12-day has just make-up.

Boots premium is the Lancome Génifique Ultimate Serum in mini size - bit of a meh for me as I’ve had so many free samples of it.

OK today is 5ml Commodity Milk Expressive. I'm going to be honest, I expected to hate this, but I quite like it. I wouldn't repurchase and tbh 5ml is probably enough for me, but it's not as gourmand as I expected, I'm not smelling the milk or marshmallow strongly (fortunately!). I didn't like the initial spray but it's dried down quite nicely. Warm and cosy, bit sweet. For me it would benefit from a spicy note.

Glamour is a DOD for me. A Good Squish £35 enormous scrunchie... It's apparently a small business using dead stock, so nice ideology, but also wtf. There's also a little card encouraging you to go and speak to people who are wearing the scrunchie. Nightmare. (I knew this was coming so I'm not really disappointed, but definitely have had better drawers).

Sylvan Glow today is a Haruharu black rice hyaluronic toner. Good one for me as my vast stash is toner free.

Forgot photo.

ASOS is L’Occitane cherry blossom hand cream. Ok but can’t get excited about hand creams.

@JoRaRaRa if anyone judges you they're in the wrong place !

Non judgemental breakfast (advent opening) club ✌️

In L'Occitane I also got hand cream but the Neroli White Orchid one, which is not my favourite scent, I'd have preferred the Cherry Blossom!

I will use it up easily though, which was the reason for picking L'Occitane calendar.

A tube of Growus Seasalt Therapy Scalp Scaler in StyleKorean today - sounds lovely! Googled it and it seems to be a scalp exfoliator containing seaweed, sea salt and sea water - I have visions of turning into a mermaid with this one!

Morning, today’s Rituals is a washing scent booster. It’s a very odd thing to put in a calendar but I actually found the last one that I got in a Rituals a/c very useful. Just occasionally DH’s stuff comes clean but still smells of DDog and goodness knows what else. A splash of this in a second wash does the trick!

DIY was a SFriday lip balm and a mini SR tonic thingy. I have never tried SRiley stuff so shall use this with the mini moisturiser and serum that I had already put in a Liberty DOD and opened on Day 7.

So tired of the tiny crackers that don’t even taste very nice - thank goodness I only paid £12 for the cheese an/c all in! Very pleased with the tiny fudge, (my favourite), and a new flavour teabag to try.

In my darker moments I genuinely wish I had just bought a couple of the tea calendars - I am loving this Twining bargain!

And Lumene Day 9 is the matching conditioner, as predicted.

Yeah it's the 24 day one but when I read the contents (very briefly so as to keep some element of surprise 😂) there definitely seemed to be more makeup than skincare.

I'm more wondering if it's badly curated...in my mind it's some blokes in a team who just throw it all together without much thought 🤣

The blush in that exact shade was in the calendar a couple of years ago. I didn't like it at the time (couldn't get the hang of applying a cream blush) but went back to it when I realised we were getting it again and it's now my favourite daily blush so I'm pleased to have a back up.
I like the eyeshadow stick too but just slightly annoying that the shade is really similar to the Trinny one we already got. Only slightly annoyed as it is a very wearable shade and I like the Laura Mercier sticks as they are so quick and easy to apply and last well.

For anyone thinking of supplies for Frankenstein next year (or Jadvent - ooh now that’s a thought!) Boots £10 Tuesday has some great deals today https://www.boots.com/tuesday-offer

@Roundaboot how do you apply the BB blush ? I also have another one and really struggle to apply it without looking like Aunt Sally

@Caramelandsalt I was also getting the Aunt Sally look if I applied with my finger but I've found using quite a dense brush gives a better result as I can build it up gradually and blend in

@Roundaboot, thank you, I'll give it a try at the weekend when I have more time .

Morning, today’s Rituals is a washing scent booster. It’s a very odd thing to put in a calendar but I actually found the last one that I got in a Rituals a/c very useful. Just occasionally DH’s stuff comes clean but still smells of DDog and goodness knows what else. A splash of this in a second wash does the trick

I was quite intrigued with this , I might give it a try when I'm washing "nice" things .

Ive used it a couple of times today, i think its an okay product. It plumps my lips and enhances my natural lip colour, and i do like the results it gives. Would say it lasts around 15ish mins.
I dont think it's worth the RRP though, So if you could get it cheaper, no harm in trying it. Just cant see it being something i use daily!

Ooh I'd love this. FdP is my fave too. I got a bottle of the scent when Liberty had the members week.

I love FdeP too. I find that the Diptyque hair perfumes are strong enough to use as proper perfume, not just on your hair.

Day 9 for me was the Laneige Cream Skin and a scent from the LF Advent.

I passed on the SNK Body Lotion that was also in the drawer. I'm not very good at getting through body lotions and I have quite a pile as it is.

Day 9
Brown Thomas
Colour wow shampoo and conditioner
75 ml each
Handy travel sizes

Day 9 LIB Stylist - set of 2 Mykitco mini hyper blenders. Basically small finger tip blenders for small areas. Quite handy, will use
Overall really happy with this BAC so far, overall value approx £216 to date (based on rrp's)