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

[OvaHere]

New thread as the old one is almost full.

All welcome to chat about beauty purchases, upcoming beauty boxes/GWP and to share your bargain finds.

I think I'm going to have to keep a record of purchases this month as I go, rather then putting it all together at the end. Maybe that will stop me from going OTT this month 🤔 since we've only made to the 3rd until I've caved. I'm sure I made it to the 8th last month 😬🤣

Thanks @BlueLimes - I shall have a look next time I am in Boots.

Thanks @keepincool - I almost bought one of those infrared things on BF but chickened out. I shall give it some more thought.

I don’t think the M&S Glow Up edit is bad for the money - £24 with the 20% discount. I prefer it to the LC edit, tbh!

Not sure if I will regret not getting a case. I have one with another shade so can swap them out. If I find it to be a massive pain I'll just buy an empty case at some point.

Regarding postage, I've actually had this conversation with the Perfume Society in the last week. They've hiked their postage charge to a £7.20 flat fee. I had a couple of edits in my basket but the mailing costs put me off and I didn't go through with the purchase.

I then had an email asking why I didn't purchase my basket contents so told them it was due to the high postage costs. I also mentioned that I'd purchased a sample set from Miller Harris the same day, at £17.50 with free postage. PS argument is that perfumes are dangerous goods therefore postage costs are higher. PS then went back and totted up the weight of perfume from my abandoned PS basket compared to the weight of the Miller Harris set and responded as follows:

"The Miller Harris discovery set contains 16ml of fragrance and has an RRP of £35. You bought it at a 50% discount. We note that the two boxes you were wanting to purchase Niche Dawn and Femme Fatale combined contain over 40ml of fragrance. Your order would have been £35.20 including postage - just 20p more than the full price for Miller Harris. Hopefully viewed in that light - over 2.5 times the volume of fragrance - you can acknowledge our boxes are really good value for money, despite the delivery charge."

My argument (similar to yours @JoRaRaRa ) that psychologically I'm more likely to spend £70 with free postage, than £17.00 with postage over the £5 mark fell on deaf ears I think.

I seem to have somewhat got a handle on not buying skincare, edits and even perfume I don't need but I'm failing badly with make up releases at the moment.

That’s a very stroppy and defensive email from the PS imo @keepincool - I have now added them to my list of companies never to buy from, so thanks for the heads up.

A far more sensible response would have been: Here’s a code for free delivery. We hope you will shop with us soon

The Next luxe Edit is now £40 , although it shows initially at £45 if anyone is still interested
I can’t link though as it keeps sending me to the app!

@keepincool oh yes! TPS postage charge put me off too. I wanted to buy the new extravaganza and splendid boxes but I abandoned it when I saw the postage on top. I don't want to spend the best part of a tenner on postage 🤨

@OvaHere makeup seems to be my downfall right now too, especially eyeshadow palattes. I've recently bought the Tom ford one from Harrods, the 2 d&g ones, the chantecaille flamingo and now the vb one 🙈 oops!

Ooh, if you get the luxe edit and another item from a select list you get a free gift of a full size Liz Earle toner, 10ml Moschino Fame in Love perfume in a little red pouch, an eye pencil and a 40ml PK elasticizer. I've sold the Dermalogica on vinted for £40, so you'd make your money back.

I would find being contacted about an abandoned basket very annoying. Adding to a basket, sitting on it, deleting, going back and adding again etc. is just an internet thing that everyone does.

I get wanting to find out why people do or don't buy but far better to to send out a generic questionnaire.

About 18 years ago when online shopping was in it's infancy I abandoned a basket of cloth nappies at the last minute (can't remember why) and the shop actually phoned me wanting to know why. I hated being put on the spot and expected to justify myself. I might have gone back in a day or two and made the purchase but didn't after that.

I’m putting them on my no buy list too. That’s a very rudely worded response, and as you rightly say, a one time free delivery code would be far more effective.

Next freebie pic:

Fab - thank thank you! Just ordered and they added the valentines freebie :)

They're now on my [s]hit list too. Once my annual box subscription is up that's it.

Well I was just about to buy the two Lip Definers I wanted from VB using @OvaHere‘s code but thought I better double check which one it is I already have. Just as well as it turns out I have two, one of which I was about to repurchase! Now to find it 🙈

Rabanne perfume, not Moschino...

@keepincool I’m very tempted to buy this - I wanted the cleanser anyway - not sure what else to get to trigger the free gift. I might be restrained and just get the set ..

I purchased a Rituals candle (£25) and a YSL blue eyeliner (£26) to get the gift recently.

ETA - but the set on it's own @ £40 is really good value, especially if you want the face wash.

I was going to get the set when it was £45 / it’s a great deal. I think I’ll get a candle - they’re helping with February.

no buy not going well.

I’m very tempted by the VB palette too, but going to hold off given the vast number of eyeshadow palettes I own already, and that I might well cave and get the LE Betty when it is re-released (Not to mention there is another 18 shadow Byredo palette out soon that is also very tempting)

It’s odd how we respond to postage costs (myself included). Selling on ebay, I used to always sell better if I set a higher price and “free” postage rather than a lower price and an explicit postage costs. It’s a bit more complicated now with the new postage options, though. In reality postage does cost £4+ when you include the cost of the packaging itself and that for perfumes you have no choice but to use Royal Mail as the others exclude perfumes in the T&C.

That's great re cleanser. I bought one and im using the cleanser. When I sell i get silly offers. My feedback is good. Im tempted to get another now 😄

How is your Byredo Bibliophilia faring? Is the outer case still nice looking? Do you use it daily? I have the Lisa Eldridge Cinnabar which is now discontinued. I bought it in 2024 and use it daily, I should probably chuck it out now. Is the new one called Vesuvius?

I had no idea about the C T&C on perfume delivery, thank you.

If I can't stick to low buy Feb then I'm taking you all down with me! 😂

I don't think I need any help with that 🤣 It's only the 4th Feb, I think we just start again. So it's no buy Feb from..... Now!! 😍