Beauty chat - freebies/gifts with purchase/offers THREAD SEVEN

[OvaHere]

New thread for when the old one is finished. We rattled through the last thread being a chatty bunch.

Everyone welcome to chat about beauty and/or share bargain finds.

Happy Birthday @IlovePond , I imagine Harrods and Harvey Nichols would have been heaving with shoppers.

Happy birthday @IlovePond 🥳 hope you had a fab day 🎉🎂🎈

I watched a video of people just grabbing any perfume gift boxes in harrods, looked a bit chaotic. They weren't even reduced by that much 🤨

I don't know if it's just me, but I don't think there's been that many great beauty bargains in the boxing day sales. I did see a perfume that my sister really wants that was half price, but by the time she'd seen my message, it had changed to 30% off. I also picked up a nars blush reduced from £35 to £13. I have still bought quite a few things though 💁🏻‍♀️🤣

Happy birthday @IlovePond sounds like you had a great day.

Morning all! I was wondering if any of you would be up for some swaps. I've got the following scents which are just not for me (all have only been sprayed once). The scents I do like are: vine thief, vanilla powder, granado esplendor, or i would be open to other swaps with skin or haircare. Please PM me if you are interested or have any queries 😊

From liberty:
"Ianthe Oud" - 8ml
"Fleur Narcotique" - 7.5m

Free gifts from Jo loves purchase:
Jo loves - cobalt & patchouli & cedar 2ml
Jo loves - red truffle 21 2ml

Liberty Calendar 2025:
Fugazzi Purple - 8ml
Sparking jo - 8ml
I don't know what - 7.5ml

@ITookYourJoob a deal on the Lancome cream we chatted about on the other thread.
Code SAVE5 takes another 5% off plus free delivery. Makes it about £54
https://www.debenhams.com/product/lanc-me-renergie-multi-lift-ultra-hpn-300-cream-50ml-gift-set_ydd20477?colour=multi

Gosh I love the Fugazzi Purple but I don't think I have anything to swap with.

I've got almost a full travel size bottle of fugazzi purple, sprayed it a few times but it doesn't last longer than 5 mins on me so I'd be happy to send it your way. Pm me your address and I'll post it to you 😊

@JoRaRaRa You absolute beaut! Thank you!!

This Natasha Denona My Dream Pouch is 50% off at Look Fantastic the code LFTFBILLIEB takes another £2.18 off.

I thought this was way overpriced when it released but £41.32 is a fairly good deal.

www.lookfantastic.com/p/natasha-denona-my-dream-pouch/16871053/

Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone!

Re: HN and Harrods

HN was deserted at 2pm yesterday - me and DH were two of maybe five or six people on the ground floor. I’ve not been in for ages and they’ve done out the ground floor more like an art installation than a shop. DH actually laughed at it, which was harsh but fair. It was totally unwelcoming and very bizarre. The ladies on the HG counter were very nice, though I suspect it was more that they were desperate for a customer than excitement at my presence personally 😹

Harrods was very quiet in the luxury bags section. I really dislike how the shop has changed since the change of ownership a few years ago - it’s very sterile and unwelcoming throughout the store now, imo, and a lot of the old products have gone.

It was, however, heaving in the perfume section, but without any real reductions. Harrods have phased out selling any of what I think of as ‘real’ perfumes and it’s all ‘niche’ stuff now, (which, as you know, I don’t like 😹), so I went straight through to the beauty hall. This has also lost many brands and was very quiet. I went straight to EL, got the blockbuster set from the very helpful person on the counter, and was on the pavement again all within 15 minutes of entering the shop.

SpaceNK in CG was very busy, as was Uniqlo. London itself was rammed - much busier than when I went on my birthday last year.

I missed the code but had a £5 credit so picked this up for £38.50
LF rate at topcashback is 10% it has tracked but will wait and see if it pays

I think it all peaked before Christmas with BF. John lewis started selling things off at discount before Christmas day which thry never ever used to. I got a couple of things in the sales but its slim pickings, that's for sure.

Hope you like it. It's not one I'm getting as I don't see those colours looking great on me. TCB is so hit and miss.

@IlovePond thank you for the London shop review! I am keen to go but there’s never a good time to leave the kids and head out at this time of year. And I’m exhausted. I don’t mind going with them when it’s quiet and have done on weekdays when on maternity leave. Did you go to Liberty? Is the Christmas floor still open?

@DidILeaveTheGasOn you're welcome to my Purple Fugazzi too if you’d like, please PM. You’re probably flooded with them now.

I’m glad though I bought a few bits during Black Friday as it’s advertised as the best prices all year. I bought a pair of pricey boots with 30% off and they’re in 20% off sale. Just saw the Jaeger coat I bought 20% and was sold out at the time is now 50% off and there’s one left in my size - absolute bargain now! I’ve had 6 weeks of use of it though. The Garmin Watch I bought was definitely the best price during Black Friday as it was a recent release. I don’t think Black Friday is very good for beauty. Maybe because it’s not as seasonal or version related as clothes and tech?

The Slip sale is a lot better prices though and if anyone was thinking about that go have a look. I would have saved £14 per pillowcase. Again have had six weeks of use out of it, got the colour I wanted, and am happy with the products. I’ll remember that for next year.

@BakeOffRewatch - I forgot - I did go to Liberty for about five minutes! The ground floor was heaving so I went downstairs to the perfume hall, which was a bit quieter. No reductions there, so came back up. Ground floor stuff had 15-20% off prices. Didn’t get as far as the make up/skincare or Xmas, because it was miserably busy and I just couldn’t take the crowds. (Let’s just say: The Xmas Spirit had well and truly left the building 🙀)

I must confess also to not really liking Liberty very much as a shop. I find it pretty, but overpriced, and not very welcoming 😿

I forgot also to say that I went into Boots Piccadilly and Covent Garden. The CG shop had a lot of gift sets reduced, including premium beauty. This was in marked contrast to my local Boots the other day, which didn’t have any premium beauty reduced, (except for the usual 15% off this or that!)

@IlovePond Liberty is only pleasant when there’s no one else there 😂. The loos always have long queues and break down and are pretty gross and when it’s packed and tourist time people can be impolite or downright rude. When I went in August someone actually grabbed my shoulder as I went into a cubicle and pushed me out the way to go in first - they were in front of me in queue but didn’t want to go into the cubicle that freed up first. Guess they were desperate!

I went to our local boots today, I saw some brands like The Good Recipe, clearly emulating Glow Recipe. Garnier Mask Moments set not to be found did see it in there last week. Got some nice kids clothes 50% off - but that’s not the point of this thread! And recycled some empties for the £5 worth of points.

Thanks @OvaHere! I did same midnight shopping and bought it on Sephora sale - a bit annoyed now, that I could’ve gotten it cheaper. 🙄 Oh well. I probably will buy another set later as well, it works very well with the Lancôme serum. Last year there were quite a few serum/ cream combo sets to choose from, not so many this year.

I just had an email from Lancome to say they are doing 25% off their sets. Not as good as other offers around though.

I haven't tried the matching serum. Is it worth it?

Thought I saw a bargain on Vinted, two Glow Recipe and one LaNeige product £4 - but it was empty boxes advertised as “viral products great for display”. Is that a thing!? Wondering if it is a thing, which I doubt, or banking on people impulse buying without reading.

https://www.lookfantastic.com/p/beauty-box/the-roxie-nafousi-edit-worth-over-175/17311927/

This has 15% off with code SAVE. Someone was asking about a code for it a couple of weeks ago. Sorry I can't remember who it was.

@OvaHere I’ve only had some samples of the matching one and I thought it wasn’t that special. Difficult to tell with such small amounts. I use it with the original one ( Génifique 🤔) and really like the combo.

I will try and get some from Boots when they further reduce their sets or offer some gwp - Lancome website rarely matches the offers, I don’t even check them anymore.

Thanks. I checked out the ingredients of the serum and I can't really see what justifies the price. I have the Genifique one from the holiday set, I'll have to try them together.

@BakeOffRewatch - I loathe people who sell empty product boxes and bags on eBayVinted. (I DON’T mean advent calendar boxes or similar - of course, they’re fine).

They do it knowing that the people who buy them will either be using the boxes to sell counterfeit goods, (putting fakes into genuine boxes/bags helps make them look like the real deal), or will be innocents duped into buying empties.

I’m so glad you realised in time.

@OvaHere Honestly, I think those are the two best products they have. Eye cream and toner are ok too. The night creams (blue jars) are pretty bad imo. I’ll see how you get on with them on the other thread 😁

I got the holiday set too, and even though I’m not too keen on most of the products, the value was very good. I missed it when it was down to £65 a few days ago, otherwise I would’ve gotten another one, I think. Maybe it’s greed speaking 🫣