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.

Vogue was the Isamaya face gym sculpt ‘thing’ - it is a fancy gua sha
My DIY was Augustinus Bader eye masks and a Kevin Aucoin black eyeliner

Brown Thomas today
Aveda damage remedy 100ml
Love this product

And a picture from Vogue

I think that would be preferable!😄

Today’s cheese was a hard Spanish goats cheese called Macebo el Vino. I really enjoyed this.

Brown Thomas is still the pick of the calendars I think - I’ve never been to Dublin but perhaps a BAC get together next year would be a great excuse to finally go!

I’m really enjoying my Brown Thomas one it was bought in Cork though not Dublin 😃

The real capital.

Very very late updates on my lovely Nivea calendar 💝 (pic attached)

Day 8 were two face masks;

Day 9 was a full sized Soothing Micellar Water (so happy about this as it's something I use every day and it's so nice and soft on my eyes/skin compared to my Aldi one which irritates my eyes);

Day 10 were cleansing wipes (also very useful).

Very happy with my calendar 😍 Had the year from hell (worst year of our lives by a country mile) so like posters above - opening an advent calendar every morning is my little pleasure

I hope 2026 is better for you @XelaM , and for everyone else who's had a tough year ❤️

Happy day 11 waifs!

Another double drawer. Rodial lip oil. My lip oil drawer runneth over. I shall be slathering this on to compare with the Terry one from a few days ago. And a Kate Somerville exfoliate (I may put this in my share/charity box) as I’m not a big exfoliator of my skin as it usually says hell to the no.

Morning.

Day 11:

Selfridges was a big box which looked exciting. Contents were a bit of a let down. A Maria Nila scalp serum and scalp brush. Despite the smallish bottle the serum appears to be full size. It’s for itchy or flaky scalp problems. These aren’t really a concern for me, so not sure this will be used.

Jo Loves is another bath and shower gel in a scent I haven’t tried before Black Cashmeran and Tonka. Look forward to trying it.

The bath cologne from a few days ago was a disappointment, the scent disappeared almost immediately after putting it into the bath. Think I’ll stick to my bath oils instead.

Im already trying to think of ways I can get my hands on a Brown Thomas one next year 😁. Today in my frankenstein was jecca blac glow drops. It's a highlighting primer that I was looking forward to trying but ive tried a bit on my hand and it's VERY sparkly. Think I might put it in dds stocking.

@dc82 My skin tolerates most products really well - but the Kate Somerville Exfolikate was really strong, stung really badly and left my face red when I tried it, so good idea not to use it if your skin is sensitive to that sort of thing.

@dc82 & @aprilladymay be a little bit wasteful, but if the exfolikate is too strong for your face, it works fabulously on your feet!

Thank you @AprilLady and @Defiantly41, that’s really helpful to know. I’d not even thought of putting it on my feet either - my feet have definitely seen better days 😆😆

Morning everyone!

LF Fragrance Calendar

Day 11 a Neom Luxury Cented Candle

Yay! A candle. I couldn’t remember if there was one or not, so I am happy with this.

Day 11 LIB Anastasia Brow Freeze Gel 7ml. Probably 1st item in this calendar that I won't use as eyebrows so thin.
But so far think this is very well curated BAC, so happy with it. Loving this thread and already making a mental note of the ones that I will purchase for next year 🙄

Day 11 Lumene, another little moisturiser, this one with SPF. I like to use a separate sunscreen (Altruist Face Fluid) so I’ll probably give this away.
To all who’ve had a difficult year. DD (16) is very mentally unwell, so I’m trying to find little moments of pleasure/joy like opening my advent calendar.

Morning everyone, feeling a little tender after a work xmas do yesterday. Today in Ditptyque I discovered a 10ml bottle of perfume, Lunamaris. It's got a strong scent of incense, not my cup of tea so I will probably sell this on Vinted.

Sorry to hear what you're going through @ChannelLightVessel. Hope next year things are better.

My Frankenstein 🧌 calendar had the Gisou lip oil from the SNK calendar in and the Amika dry shampoo from Sephora 😍 I can't wait to try both of these. I don't use dry shampoo that much and sometimes just use it for texture, but it'll be nice to try a different one.

I've yet to open my Frankenstein fragrance one, I'll back later with the contents of that one 💃

Sorry not posted but my homemade AC has this week yielded a BeneFit mascara and two drawers of eye masks (! I clearly didn;t check dates when filling). I tried one - by Murad - last night and wow it was amazing.
It was a retinol youth renewal one and it really made a difference so I may RP.

ETA: Today was a big hitter - large bottle of Sunday Riley vit C serum which I love.

Cherry Blossom Body Lotion in L'Occitane today. I think that range vies with the almond range as my favourite.

I've been using the Imortelle reset serum since I got it at the weekend and had forgotten how nice it is - don't think it will make me change from my beloved Centella cream, but I'll see how I get on!

I hope you like it. If not you can sell it to me 😄

Day 11 Jo Loves: Black Cashmeran & Tonka bath & shower gel.

This smells lovely and I think it will go really nicely with my Jo Malone Myrrh & Tonka perfume so it might take it away with me next week (would like a matching body lotion too though!).