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

[OvaHere]

Beauty addicts assemble.

A new thread as we are powering through them at quite a rate now.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to the beauty chat and we are always happy to see new posters.

Join at your peril. It can get spendy. 😬

@MrsBnow12 SpaceNk were good when I had the lip liner missing from the AC. But when I returned the flamingo palette, they received it and said they were processing my refund, but then after 10 days, it wasn't in my account, so I contacted them, and apparently human error, it hadn't been processed, fine, but then 10 days later, still no refund, apparently my bank had rejected it but they'd not thought to put it through again. And I'm sure I had to chase again after that but maybe it was only those 2 times. But it felt like I was never going to get my money back.

Thankfully, I've never had an issue with cult beauty touches wood. I really need to decide if to return the WA edit or not 🤔 it's 2 weeks on Monday so I don't have long to decide.

It's bad that we're having to fight these companies for money they owe us! 😡

I ordered a perfume recently that was from Debenhams and meant to be delivered by Evri and then got a “damaged beyond repair” email from Evri. Tbf to Debenhams they refunded me straight away but I do wonder how it could have got so badly damaged and whether someone just saw the perfume label on the box and took it.

Just had a ‘failed delivery’ Evri message for my CB perfume edit so worried that might not arrive and it’s sold out now 😐 There was no attempted delivery so not sure what that’s about. Hopefully it’ll turn up soon.

It’s annoying isn’t it when there’s issues with orders.

Ps thank you to the person who shared the JL charity box 😊 I’ve used the Elemis cleanser before but never the rose scent and it’s even nicer. Think I’ll have to get a full size when it runs out 😬

I had to chase Sephora for a refund recently. I don’t think they had any intention of refunding me if I hadn’t chased them. Just lucky I remembered.

I’m wondering if all this theft during deliveries is putting people off shopping online. It seems to be getting worse and worse.

Surely at some point, the companies are going to have to look at making their packaging more secure 🤷‍♀️

On a related note: Adult DS2 got a parcel from a tech company last week that wasn’t even sealed, and it was obvious from the helpful pictures on the packaging what was inside. Rather incredibly it arrived intact!

I’m also annoyed that LF didn’t send me the very generous samples/trial sizes I was entitled to get with my order. I thought at first they had been stolen from my opened box, but looking at my order confirmation I think they just didn’t send them.

It annoys me when companies do this - if they have run out of samples/trial sizes, they should pop in some substitutes.

I've ordered the J L charity box. First beauty buy this year I think. They have some other good half price offers on left over store stock, the only drawback is you have to pay postage on each item.

Hello lurker here with a little contribution -

If anyone has a Blue Light Card, they're offering 20% extra discount which stacked with the other code given up thread ( which I now don't remember) and worked on the perfume samples. I got a Laura Mercier eyeshadow, B ofJoseon triple mask pack and the samples plus delivery for £29.50.

I’m am not sure how successful I’d be at claiming my money back from my bank now that CB have sent a replacement out.
I was so annoyed last night that I reported them to trading standards. They probably won’t care any more than CB will 😵‍💫

If they had given the refund and offered a measly bit of account credit by way of an apology, I’d have just chalked it up to a bad experience and I’d have given them another chance in future. But it’s shocking how slack their customer service has been, I clearly stated in 2 messages that I wanted a refund. And now they are putting me through all of this rigmarole again.

@JoRaRaRa I contacted SNK regarding my Betty palette refund as I wasn’t sure how long to expect to wait, and because of the instore purchase glitch I couldn’t track it on my account. They responded promptly to inform me that they have a bit of a backlog and they gave me a timeframe (can’t recall now but I will need to check my email again). I don’t mind waiting for my money as long as I get it, it is all of the messing around and stress I had with CB that was my issue.

You are not alone. I loved worzel gumming as well. 🤣
Im also still resisting the fragrance and my 15% voucher runs out tomorrow. Meanies!
Could have let it work for at least a month. 🤣

The ASOS bridal beauty box arrived today, incoming report:

For £25 with code you can't go wrong with this one

Gisou Peach lip oil - nice, nothing to write home about. More of a gloss than an oil
Laura M translucent setting powder. It's ok for a basic setting powder, ideally I'm after something a bit more glowy but this will do as I go from spring to summe (my skin shade changes dramatically the minute we get some proper sun)
Sculpted by Aimee Mascara - says it's lengthening and volumising, doesn't have a very bristly brush which is what I prefer. Does the job.
Kayali wedding silk santal- lovely but a tiny sample
Revolution pink seduction highlighter. Not a highlighter fan but it's ok as an eyeshadow. quite pigmented
Le monde gourmand confetti perfume. This is quite sickly, not a fan. Smells popcorny. Will probably give to the charity shop.

Ok so nothing in here will set your world alight and some of the products are a bit kiddish but it's ok for the money, cheered me up on a saturday morning.

@Doglover73 Looks like it’s now or never! Not that I want to promote them now, but it is a good deal and if I wasn’t so enraged by them I’d have snapped it up straight away. I was tempted to order via another account so they don’t have the satisfaction of knowing it’s me 😅 but I did receive my SNK fragrance edits yesterday which I’ve not opened yet, so they have scratched the itch 😁

@IDontHateRainbows Thanks for the review. I nearly bought it last night but decided to wait until I saw some feedback. I think some of the products would be nice for DSD but I’ve loads of other stuff I can pass on to her so I’ll swerve this one. I was more intrigued by the fragrances. And despite me wanting the LM powder for ages, I got it months ago and still haven’t tried it yet 🙈 so I definitely don’t need another one 😅

@Fillybuster this may not help but re the ftf mystery box with the decree in i would go for it. The candle is nice,neom. It has an avant in which sells on vinted for at least a fiver. My skin is pretty unique, I think 🤣
Im fairish, have rosacea, acne scars or lack of collagen marks on cheeks depending who I ask. My skin is generally sensitive and likes something then doesnt within 48 hours which is annoying as ive then usually bought a full routine of said item. 🤣
I can fully relate to @user593. My stash is ridiculous.
I have a fair few decree. Bought several off ftf and now have 4 caroline hirons sets with it in as bought 2 full price then 2 reduced the other day.
My skin does love medik8 so has expensive tastes.
Sorry lots of rambling. 😍
But the decree leaves my skin lovely in the morning. Its not too harsh but must have enough of something in to actually do something overnight.
Ive nearly talked myself into more 🤣🤣

The Bridal Beauty / Morphe goodie bag arrived today - I am happy for the price as masterclass was £22
Goody bag has 4 products
Cheek thrills trio - unfortunately shade is a duplicate for me
Liquid bronzer
Gel lipliner
Eyeshadow primer

FtF have a Bioeffect set for £139, I know a few of you like their egf serum. I’m resisting as I still haven’t even tried the serum I bought off Vinted approx 4 months ago!

@MrsBnow12 Thanks for the goody bag info. I probably won’t bother with liquid bronzer but the rest I’d be happy with!
I’m not sure if mine will arrive today or another day - I couldn’t recall if I had given my address when placing my ticket order, so I emailed them just in case and they responded to say they will make sure I am sent one.

I do wish they wouldn't use branded boxes. Some like Liberty I think are more discreet but it's not helpful when the box has Sephora or whatever plastered all over it. At least with a plain box it could be anything inside so maybe less likely to be targeted for opening.

That's nice @MrsBnow12 I have a Morphe eyeshadow primer. It's good although I do forget to use it a lot.

The royal mail ones need a hazmat sticker which makes it pretty obvious there's perfume inside. Think thats how my escentual one was targeted.

I ordered an expensive set of headphones for my DS from Amazon a couple of Christmases ago, the box arrived opened but item still inside. I was really annoyed because it had obviously been checked to see if it was something worth taking (it wasn’t an ‘obvious’ expensive brand so they clearly thought no) - had DS been home to receive the parcel he would have seen his present. I complained to Amazon and they gave me a voucher, which was nice.

I don’t understand why people do this though, surely they know customers will complain, and where necessary get a refund, and at some point someone is going to lose their job.

Yes that's a good point. No avoiding it with perfume. I

've had a perfume I sold go missing on Vinted using Evri. Everything was fine, even showed as out for delivery then nothing. That was nearly a month ago. Hopefully we'll both be refunded soon. Annoying as it was the most expensive thing I've sold in a while at £35.

I do think plain boxes would help, but tamper-proof boxes are also needed - especially when hazard labels are needed. There should also be something set up whereby parcels can’t be delivered/put in the van if damaged.

Re: Why people take the risk of stealing at the expense of their jobs - I used to work with offenders, (some of whom were lovely people leaving aside their ‘day jobs’), and one common factor was lack of considering consequences/the ability to very much live in the moment and not think beyond. Some people were subsequently returned to prison for doing really ridiculous things that were of little to no benefit to them and certainly not worth being banged up for.

Or simple answer: Because they can, (or at least until if/when they get caught!)

On another note:

I opened a cosmetic bag today to check the contents and discovered a load of perfume samples I had forgotten about. I have put them into rotation but I am quite embarrassed as I now have quite a lot to get through.

I really must NOT buy any more perfume or skincare for the foreseeable future!

I went into SpaceNK this morning and didn’t buy anything! I wanted to swatch the LE Fawn palette but they didn’t have it. That said, the selection at my local SpaceNK is a bit limited otherwise I might have bought something. The Hourglass liquid highlighters are nice but I suspect I have similar at home.

I've kept eyeing up the new highlighters and was toying with buying one with my SNK vouchers but £38 is a lot for highlighter how ever lovely, so I'm trying to wait until a sale.

I've no idea what the psychology is behind it but I find it much harder to spend vouchers than real money. I think I have a fear of 'wasting' them only to have something better come along I could have used them for.