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

[OvaHere]

Easter is here and so is a new thread. Who needs chocolate when you can have beauty stuff? Or maybe have both. 💋🍫

Welcome to newbies and welcome back veterans of beauty chat threads.

PS. As a sobering thought we are maybe only 3-4 months out from the first advent calendar spoiler. 😂

I think it’s safe to say that we all have enough in our current stash to keep us with soft skin and smelling great for at least the next 2-3 years 🤣

I received samples of the Goldfaden MD Wake Up Call night cream with my 2 recent Face the Future purchases - has anyone tried it?

I reached for it last night only because I was too lazy to get off the sofa and the samples were nearby. It's really nice and made my skin feel lovely and soft.

I have £20 back on £100 and £1 for ready meals too so some look to be generic. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

I also dithered over the SNK gift & CB edit - bought the I Do edit from spacenk to get the gift and then returned it all the day after delivery as I can't take on any more things to sell 🙈😅 the CB edit has more I'm interested in for less money so I bought that on the end. Of course now it's delivered and I've had a rifle through, I want another... So much for not getting it 🫣

I was musing last night about maybe not getting a beauty AC this year, given the state of my stash, and maybe spending my BD credit on some of the Adidas x Liberty trainers.

My husband, bless him, said ‘don’t you have a lot of trainers?’ I laughed and gently reminded him that I literally have a chest of drawers full of beauty. He pressed a bit more saying that I still could get the AC because I enjoy it and I said ‘I have enough for at least a year or two’. So I might and I might not. But I really want the trainers!

@TragicMuse my DD loves the trainers. They often reduce them during events so it’s worth keeping an eye. I think the trainers would match the advent calendar beautifully so you need both 😂

🤣 I thought the exact same! I don't need it, yet I want more 🤭

Get both 😊

I'll probably get the Harrods one again this year, but it'll be OK if it's all small stuff in it again. In fact, that would probably be for the best. I say this whilst also knowing that I'm unlikely to stick to just 1 🤭

Oooooh - advent calendar chat! I expect I will get Liberty again and the Harrods and Harvey Nicks fragrance calendars. But I’m determined not to go as mad as I did last year! I suppose it’s only two or three
months now until the first ones are revealed.

It's coming around so fast! I think liberty normally release their contents in early July. Eeeek!!! I'd like to get the Harrods fragrance again. I probably won't open it at Christmas though, I felt like I didn't wear the fragrances enough and now I'm going into more spring summer scents. I'll probably open it as an edit instead so I can get more use of the fragrances. Saying that though, I am wearing Valaya quite a bit at the moment and I feel like i might want to start wearing sand & skin.

Ooh are we talking about ACs already. I’m not going to get a beauty one, I prefer seasonal edits, and I don’t like how they seem to offload old stock in DODs. I think I will get the Papier stationary one this year and the Treatbox one that someone had two years ago that looked lovely. It’s actually up for sale already! https://treatboxuk.com/collections/advent-calendar was it Treatbox or another company? As Treatbox website says it stated 2025 and it was definitely the 2024 waifs and strays that someone had one.

@Growlybear83 i also don't want to go as mad. With the ones I bought in Jan and Feb this year, I ended up with 12 😳 enough for the full year! Bad!

@JoRaRaRa that is impressive! I started the season with the intention of buying every beauty advent and then I dithered far too much and lots sold out so I only ended up with Liberty and Harvey Niks. Although I did also get the HN fragrance one when they reduced it so maybe I shouldn’t feel soo hard done by (especially as I haven’t even opened that one yet 🙈).

I have 2 pairs of those trainers. I love them. I would recommend if possible taking a trip to try on in store. I bought my first pair in store and I found some of the styles squeezed my toes so you might need to try on a few/different sizes to get it right.

I'm already excited for advent calendar season. I had Liberty last year, then bought Glamour when it reduced for January. I've got Lumene but Im saving that for my birthday month later in the year. I'll probably get Liberty again this year and I'd love the Harrods fragrance and maybe either SNK or another fragrance. For people that had a few calendars, do you open them all at once or spread them through the year?

We always start talking at this point in the year about how restrained we're going to be on BACs. 😂That's no shade to anyone else - my brain is telling me the same thing. I know I will struggle again though. 😳

Ideally I'd like to get SNK (or a different one should SNK be terrible) and Harrods Perfume then be done at two.

Will that happen? We shall see.😂

I am intending on retaining my status of never having ordered an advent calendar 😅

As I joined the BD to save up for 2026 Liberty calendar, and never buy from there in the normal course of events, I will be buying the a/c this year.

There were a few things last year I didn’t like, (and there were the TM balm and Jones Road mascara debacles), but otherwise I was happy with it.

Yes, I absolutely loathed some of the perfumes, but I sold a couple on eBay, along with the scary Paula’s Choice stuff and the La Mer lip balm, (admittedly - I sold them for peanuts), and I just really enjoyed the whole experience.

However, if the 2026 Liberty calendar is full of retinol products or lash serum, (both of which I do not, and will never use), stuff containing talc or emu oil and/or Discotheque, DS & Durga and Bibbi perfumes, I may change my mind and ‘rollover’ to the following year, (assuming that’s possible).

My refilled Liberty 25 calendar is almost full for Xmas 26 and I expect it will be finished tomorrow when my SK Bestie Box - hopefully - arrives.

I was pleased that I checked the use by dates of items yesterday as I did have to take some stuff out for quicker usage.

Given I made a silly second order with SK, I think I will probably have enough to mostly fill my old Shiseido 24 calendar too.

@ClutteredPalace I think I ended up with eight BACs and 12 day calendars, plus a couple of stockings and crackers. Im not good at being patient and I opened all the 25 day calendars during December, and started on the 12 day ones on Xmas day. I opened the crackers and stockings on Xmas day too.

A couple of MZ Skin items on TK Maxx have a double discount, the Calming Moisturiser is marked down to £24.99 if anyone is interested in trying it.

Get the trainers. I love mine and really want another pair. These - but they're OOS.

I’ve been searching for alternative products and suppliers and came across these people.

https://www.balanceactiveformula.com/pages/our-mission

Has anyone tried them out? The price is very, very low. But that doesn’t stop the product being good.

Ooh thank you, I'll consider this as I've been really enjoying the rich cream.

New Caroline Hirons kit is out.

https://www.carolinehirons.com/products/the-renew-and-glow-kit