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. 🤗

Good morning, there are some bargains Floral Street perfumes on TKMaxx:

https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/search?st=Floral%20street&sort=&facets=Brand:%22Floral%20Street%22&page=0

I've picked up a few plus a couple of items i had on my watch list. Its scratched an itch for now, really hoping someone gives us a good perfume edit soon though!

Ooh thank you @OvaHere. I just checked and apparently:
“breakthrough formula powered by pioneering Prismatic PDRN and a restorative Triple Exosome Complex. Discover a serum rooted in real skin biology, designed to deliver visible, full-spectrum results.”
What exactly does this mean? I hope they do a sample version. That’s how I got hooked on Advanced Liquid Peptides serum - nothing I tried comes close to it.

I took one for the team and did order the new Paula’s Choice CellularYouth serum (that nobody heard about). It does absolutely nothing for me so I’ll stick to medik8.

At the opposite scale I also tried Babaria Botox Serum because I read somewhere that everyone loves it and it turns back the time with glorious reviews. £4.99 (plus postage) from Savers. Pants! It’s a generic serum, heavily fragranced, I might use if I was 22, no ageing skin issues, on a budget and wanted to use a serum for the sake of it.

Oh and I also tried Volulift, as an experiment, despite advice on here that ingredients are not spectacular. I am not sure what I wanted from it, maybe marginally slightly plumper cheeks? It is aimed at slacking skin, loss of volume after weight loss. Although I don’t have this problem yet, I am sure it is something I will experience through getting older in a decade or two. I am the right balance now but I know it will only go downhill and I will loose the little bit of cushioning in my face as I will get older. Anyway, it didn’t do anything for me, I used it every night for about 10 weeks for a proper trial.

Three new LF edits are out on early access for Beauty + members

https://www.lookfantastic.com/c/offers/beauty-box/gifting-edits-uk/?trk_msg=IFE27FQ4NDU4V0E319PV9CNDRG&trk_contact=VBJ98KTMMFN2E9PG1JFLB27RD0&trk_sid=PRC707R26VTHCN8ML3DR014SE0&trk_link=DQCQ1SHUM0LK910GC840ENJBL4&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SHOP+THE+EDITS&utm_campaign=08052026-fri-bb-ea-gifting-edits-loyalty-uk

25% off everything at Escentual with the code MEMBER25

@TreesinthePark got me going down a fragrance TK Maxx rabbit hole and I'm tempted by this for the gorgeous bottle and fruity notes -

https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/men/mens-fragrances+grooming/mens-fragrance/la-petite-robe-noire-intense-edp-30ml/p/42130702

Anyone recommend?

I have this, which I bought from Escentuals before Christmas (along with 3 other perfume sets), but haven’t tried it yet! Unhelpful, I know. But I got it because the description sounds lovely.
And that is a great price so definitely worth taking a chance!

Great, I'll order it then. It sounds right up my street. I absolutely do not need it but there we are, I won't tell my spreadsheet yet...

Regarding CB, I checked my account last night and it’s showing -126 points.
So I presume that means that anything I order and collect points from, will go towards clearing a deficit. I don’t know why though. Unless it’s to do with my Gucci blush saga, but I wouldn’t have gotten that many points for it, so if it’s that then they must have done it based on my whole order not just that one product that I was refunded for.
I did also receive a refund for my mask order that didn’t arrive when the bonus points offer was on, but again, the points value isn’t adding up.
They continue to confuse and frustrate me.

Thanks @MrsBnow12 and @namechange0998776554799000 my oh my cream goodies arrived this morning. I’ve had a brief look (it’s for my birthday so need to keep the somewhat look of surprise when my DD gives it me) and it looks wonderful! Really lovely packaged and 4 samples included to try. I only ordered this yesterday and it was delivered this am by Royal Mail. The Tata harper stuff looks lovely too. I’ve never ordered from them before but I’m impressed and will def order again. Thanks for the enabling!

They have great customer service. I ordered an expensive hair brush from them once and they sent the wrong size. I contacted them and they sent the right size but told me to keep the wrong size (which was worth £80ish!). They’re great with sending out samples too. I’ve visited their store in Notting Hill as well and the staff are lovely.

The waiting list for the Look Fantastic 2026 Beauty Advent Calendar is open lookfantastic
https://beauty-detective.com/lookfantastic-advent-calendar-2026/

Good to know @Beautyfox- I've never bought from them but they stock the violette makeup that I like the look of so I will definitely try them out at some point

Soon they'll be open in January. I don't really see the point of these wait lists opening so early. Besides we all know what happened with Harrods fragrance calendar (which is the only one which truly sells out in minutes) yes that's right loads of people on the wait list werent' even told it had gone on sale and missed out!

Liberty, LF etc may sell out eventually but not straight away, as the buyers haven't done a very good job if they don't have enough to meet demand.

I wonder if it's just a way of getting an idea of who's interested. It was only cult beauty which I saw a benefit of for joining the waitlist and that's because they sent out emails with sneak peeks, which would be good for people not on insta or here. But you're right, if it hadn't been for someone on here alerting is all, there's no way that most of us would've picked up the Harrods fragrance calendar.

@Beautyfox I’m tempted to buy this. Glad you like it 😊 are the bag and sarong thing nice?

I just found out today Lookfantastic have 2 physical shops (near Manchester and Bristol) where you can in effect buy a mix and match beauty box of 6 products for £15. I'm so jealous!!!!! Why isn't there one in central Scotland, the real centre of the universe ?😂 it'd be great to go and get e.g. 6 of the best things from one box! Grrrrrr but hopefully near for some of you

Ugh!! I need to cheer myself up from all the political malarkey 🤢 I was hoping the independents would stay in in my area but it's not looking that way. They're the only ones who have been fighting with us against a massive Amazon warehouse taking over farmland right by my house. It's been 5 years of fighting (the Tory MP and then the Labour MP have not been interested in it, the Tory MP then went and protested at another constituency against a big Amazon warehouse there after saying she doesn't get involved in planning matters 🤬😭). We've just done a very expensive kitchen extension but I don't want to live here with a warehouse, the size of 3 double deckers sat on the hill above my house with light and noise from vehicles 24/7. I'm not sure what it means now that we have no councillors on our side. I need the Harrods thing to come available so I can buy stuff and make myself feel a bit better. Or maybe I should start house hunting instead 🤣

(By the way, I'm not against warehouses for creating jobs etc, it's just that we had a massive industrial area built not far from me and most of the warehouses now sit empty and it seems a shame to ruin this gorgeous green land which attracts foxes, deer, red kites, and other wildlife, plus provides scenic walks for all. If it's to be built on, I'd prefer to make homes for the next generation so they don't need to move out of the area).

Thanks so much for the shoutout on the previous thread @BakeOffRewatch .. I’ve been on a social media ban and have only just logged back on
I so fondly remember starting this thread back when DC was tiny. As a lifelong lover of all things fashion and beauty I was so excited to have received a CB gift but had no one to share that excitement with! In fact I was a little worried having been criticised in the past for being an ‘airhead’ for liking these things (which were not deemed important or worthy enough when I was growing up). It’s just so wonderful to see all the fun, chat and connections that have been made 5(!) years on xxx

The Boots SPF Beauty Box is now £49 and code SPF20 takes it down to £39.20.

https://beauty-detective.com/boots-spf-skin-beauty-box-2026/

If you pay via the Klarna app you get 7% cashback.

It has a good range of products including SPF creams, sprays, serum and self tan. I do have loads of spf stuff, but I'm still tempted 🌞

The bag is lovely, very large, bit floppy but would make a perfect beach bag as you can fit quite a bit in. I haven’t opened the sarong because I need it to look like I haven’t seen it prior to being given it on my birthday 😬. However, it’s a lovely colour and feels like there’s quite a bit of material. The toiletries come in their own drawer string bag which is terracotta in colour which I thought was a nice touch.

Beauty Works in a Harrods GWP?? Easy pass for me x

It was a pass for me pricewise anyway - but the inclusion of a Beauty Works product would have put me off even if I could afford it.

That’s so weird @Thelifeofawife - I have never heard of minus points!

@JoRaRaRa - that’s awful. I hope that something can be done to stop it.

Thank you @Beautyfox sounds lovely, I think I’ll wait to have a better look at Harrods GWP before I decide …

I’ve not had anything from besuty works. Is it elasticizer level ?!