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

[OvaHere]

Time for a new thread, our first in a MN Community Group. We've chatted and purchased beauty bargains so much we've become a literal tribe! 😂

In other news PLouise was out of the gate with ridiculous speed announcing the first advent calendar waitlist in April.

In celebration I thought I'd try out a poll. It runs for 7 days, there was only 6 options so comment in the thread for those that come under 'Other'.

As always, welcome back long standing beauty bargain hunters and hi to anyone new who would like to join. Usual caveats about the threads being bad for you wallet still apply, but enjoy anyway. 🤗

Sephora have their Spin to Win on the app today, I got 20% so succumbed to the Hourglass palette I have had my eye on and the new Summer Fridays scent, I also got some lip balms which triggered the Sephora gwp and a SF one.

hi is the limited edition cult beauty advent calendar worth buying ?

Trustpilot is your friend.... I used perfumista. I think scent sample has bad ratings.

In case anyone misses it on the Sephora Spin to Win there’s a button on the bottom of the page to ‘try again’ so you can just keep spinning until you get 20% off.

Thanks for the heads up on the Sephora spin and GWP. I may have put another order in 🙈.

also Harrods have up to 20% off beauty. Those Dior palettes etc have 10% off if anyone is interested. I’m holding fire for the GWP which is usually around the May bank holiday.

@IDontHateRainbows last year I went to the festive gift fair and there was one of those perfume sample stores there. At first I was excited but when I examined more closer I would say 90% of them looked very fake. Misprints, poor quality boxes etc. one was a replica of an exact sample I had so I knew what I was looking at with that one. So I would be very careful because there is clearly a market for fake samples.

SpaceNK doing 20% off make up on the App today

I've never had a bad order from perfumista, and I think fragrance samples uk are ok. You just need to read the reviews carefully (not on their own site obviously, an independent site like trust pilot) I'd never buy off a market stall.

Can the sephora spin the wheel only be done once? Asking for a friend 🤣🥰

Also 'up to 20% off beauty' at Selfridges for 'keyholders' (free online membership) - just got an email.

I've spun a few times, in hopes of the £50 gift card - but no joy 😅

Now have several 20% codes in my email from it.

It sold out pretty much instantly, I think they didn’t have many. It’s worth it to me and I should have bought it when it went live as I will use everything in it. Contents of both are listed here with links to buy https://beautycalendar.com/cult-beauty-advent-calendar-2025/

I’m excited about the blushes, serums and lip products. And the Kosas dream beam and eyeshadows.

I woke up this morning and remembered I bought it and thought oh no that was impulsive! But I won’t regret it. I was going through my wish list to use the 25% off (was going to buy two of the Allies of Skin Daily Firming Treatment), saw the Limited Edition AC was in stock and went for it.

May is my birthday month. I never put my correct birthday in case of data leak etc but hopefully that also means that my ‘gifts’ from these companies are spread throughout the month.
first off the marks is Harrods with double points 🤷‍♀️. This may be beneficial if they also launch their gwp next week otherwise it will pass me by.
I think I recall last year liberty gave £5. I’ve only registered with snk and Sephora this year and I don’t think my birthday was inputted to cult beauty last year.
Which company gives the best birthday gift?

@Beautyfox - SNK give a gift that doesn’t require a purchase- it can be picked up in store.

I've just had my birthday in April. Sephora's gift was two glow recipe products, you have to make a purchase but no minimum spend. Also 15% off. SNK was a set of 3 minis, no purchase necessary. Cult beauty was £25 off minimum spend £100 (for gold). Boots was double points. M&S was free cookies or blueberries. John Lewis was a slice of cake. You've reminded me to chase Look Fantastic because I never heard from them and I wasn't signed up to Harrods or Liberty. Now I'm wondering if I missed any more 😆

There's a GWP coming to John Lewis in May. High spend of £200, but the box looks great. I really like the JL summer/winter boxes.
What’s inside:

• Laneige Bouncy & Firm Lip Treatment 12g Full Size worth £23
• L’Occitane Almond Hand Cream 10ml Travel Size
• Clinique High Impact Mascara Full Size worth £26
• Elemis Pro Collagen Energising Marine Cleanser 30ml Travel Size
• Sculpted by Aimee Liquid Lights Liquid Blush Full Size worth £18
• Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant 13g Travel Size worth £19
• Medik8 Daily Radiance Vitamin C C-Tetra Cream 50ml Full Size worth £60
• Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 75ml Travel Size worth £21
• Trinny London Eye2Eye Full Size worth £20
• Augustinus Bader The Eye Patches Single Sachet worth £20
• Initio Side Effect EDP 5ml

https://beauty-detective.com/john-lewis-summer-beauty-box-2026/

@namechange0998776554799000 it's not a gwp I want but I did think it was decent and the spend not too high. Liberty spend was £300 this year and I'm expecting Harrods to have gone up similarly.

I have a massive amount to buy as I need to get shampoo, conditioner, vitamin c and face moisturiser, so I reckon I'll hit than John Lewis spend easily enough.

There isn't loads I want in that GWP but I can see two things friends like, so I will maybe use most of it for gifts.

Btw - I haven't read the whole thread but saw on the last page mention of Dipytique Philosoky or whatever it's called. I have a travel size of this and don't like it. If anyone would like it, send me a DM and I am happy to post. It's just taking up space in my cupboard.

I am not on here loads, and don't DM much so bear with me if I am crap at it 😂

I just used some of my Liberty credit to buy the new Violette FR Plume eye shadow in Bronze D’or. No discounts or offers sadly but I am excited to try it!

@namechange0998776554799000 That looks great! Of course they finally do a GWP after me dropping just shy of £300 on them last week 🫠

M and s summer bag. Im not technical. Took screenshot 🤣

Another pic

Last year’s M&S beauty bag was great

I agree @BakeOffRewatch - I ended up with two of them. The bags are really useful too.

I was just thinking about this year’s M&S beauty bag @Doglover73 - thanks for posting. I thought last year’s advent calendar sucked, so let’s hope the beauty bag is better.

thank you @Doglover73 for giving me something to do

M&S summer beauty bag 2026

Looks like 11 items - sizes will vary, I wasn’t sure if they’re all minis and travel sizes.

1. Perfect Body Vit C Glow 150ml | This Works this is currently 30% off though so £28, £40 for 150ml
2. High Performance Nail Polish 13.5ml | Leighton Denny £13.50 looks like “Less is more” or maybe “I love juicy”
3. Color Wow Travel Color Security Shampoo 75ml £11.50
4. Sundaze Sea Spray Mini 50ml | Hair by Sam McKnight google image search did have to help me on that one £14
5. Perfectly Clean Multi-Action Foam Cleanser / Purifying Mask 150ml | Estée Lauder £35
6. Mini Prep Set Glow - Original 30ml | ICONIC London £14
7. Ultrasun Photo Age Control Fluid SPF50 - not in stock at M&S, £25 for 40ml at other retailers
8. Wonderland Peony Eau de Parfum 10ml | Floral Street £29
9. Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion SPF50 75ml | Clinique £37 for 75ml, but looks like a travel size included
10. Facial Moisturiser 50ml | Skinkind £12 M&S own brand skincare, is this a new thing?
11. Color Wow Dreaming Advanced Repair and Resurfacing Treatment 50ml the new PK elasticiser £12.50