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. 🤗

@namechange0998776554799000 yes, I've got 2 of the lipsticks, I went for coral star and rosy Dior. They are gorgeous 😍

@Thelifeofawife my favourite Dior highlighter is a limited edition one that I bought a few years ago, the new daisy one is nice though. I did buy a pink one but I don't use it. I also have a bronze and muted champagne one which I tend to take on holiday with me. If I didn't have any, I'd buy one to the highlighter quads, I've seen them irl and think they're good value for money.

@MrsBnow12 that Dior gwp came out the day after my order which was v annoying. I'm trying to resist placing another order.

Oh thats always annoying. ♥️

Someone asked a while back about the JL reward of a free Chanel foundation sample. I picked mine up yesterday and it's a tiny sample in a pot, just enough for one face. The lady who gave me mine was quite rude (rare for JL, maybe they've had a lot of people in) and she only tried two shades on the back of my hand, one was ridiculous so she gave a sample of the other one. I've just put it on today and the shade is completely wrong. The texture is nice though!

i was just about to post about the Chanel sample. I pretty much had the sane experience as you- 2 shades on the back of my hand. I’ve tried the one she gave me today and it’s far too dark/ bit orange. She was quite lack lustre - couldn’t really be bothered.

It’s quite light coverage, I don’t think I like enough to go back and try another shade. It does feel nice on, I prefer to the new Estée Lauder double wear but will try another brand next.

I’ve now had two can’t be bothered experiences in different branches of John Lewis. The other was on the Estee Lauder counter.

I was also tempted to pick up the edit people have been pleased with but the box had been opened, went to ask if they had another, the assistant with a bit of a tone kept saying you shouldn’t open the box, I doggedly persevered with explaining it wasn’t me but by then had decided I didn’t want to buy it.

Same day went into SNK who were lovely as usual.

I think JL customer service both online and in store has been going down the pan for some time now. The rewards are paltry and dreadful too. I don’t shop nearly as much there as I did a decade ago. They became very arrogant and assumed endless custom without valuing their customers.

I’m tempted to buy one of the HG eyeshadow palettes at CB with 20% off and put it away for Xmas.

Of course, the only reason I am contemplating this is because there’s a free gift with a £50+ purchase, plus I would reach Gold status. (Is this worth achieving?)

I do use eyeshadow a lot nowadays and really like HG. However, I have an unused EL palette from the Xmas blockbuster still to open, plus numerous eyeshadow pencils on the go, plus four HG minis, (I these use a lot).

I therefore really shouldn’t buy anything, but if I do, I am debating between the HG Realist or the Idealist palette. Does anyone have either and would you recommend?

Thanks

Tbf I think beauty counter staff are employed by the beauty companies, not the department stores.

And in defence of JL beauty counters, a month or so ago I had a reward for a free sample of the Sisley black rose serum and face mask and a free mini facial. The lady who handed out the samples and then did the facial a couple of days later was an absolute treasure. So they are not all bad!!

@namechange0998776554799000 @SummerLimes thanks for the Chanel feedback. It was me who was asking. I probably won't bother going out of my way then.

I was pretty underwhelmed last time I was at a Chanel counter and with the online experience. Dior does CS much better but I slightly prefer Chanel make up out of the two.

I want to get a pair of the adidas Mary Jane Tokyo samba from Liberty. @Cyclingmummy1 @OvaHere @Fillybuster do you recommend sizing up or down? @TragicMuse did you end up buying a pair? I read this thread that it’s very dependent on your feet so might go into store anyway https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/5522411-which-adidas-trainers-are-most-comfortable-samba-spezial-or-paris

@BakeOffRewatch I haven’t tried the Mary-Jane style: in general I find adidas to be absolutely spot on for size. That said, I usually order from Adidas direct: they do free returns so you might be best off ordering both sizes if you’re not sure.

Edited to add: I bought the new Liberty print track top but didn’t love it enough to keep it. I’m still waiting for a a clothing release that ticks my boxes…

.

As it's not too difficult for you to get into store I would try on first.

Both my pairs are 6.5 which half a size up from usual but there was one particular style I struggled with the shape of the toe area, even though it was the correct size.

I got 5.5 sambas and I think they are a fraction too big, I'm generally a 5 in shoes and 5.5 in trainers and as I bought the juniors as they were so much cheaper, thought I'd need to size up.

I still really want those MJs too. Though I've been blocked from accessing the Adidas website 😆

I didn’t get them in the end @BakeOffRewatch and then the £30 off disappeared!

But I have a trip to London in a couple of weeks and might be able to squeeze enough time to go and try on.

I can’t wear Gazelles, they’re too narrow, but I can do Sambas and I have some Continental 80s which are good for width.

I might look at the Mary Jane’s, they’re very pretty…

Same situation @TragicMuse , I had had my eye on them but didn’t need them and then yesterday I had to throw out my trainers 🥲

Look fantastic are offering a Gwp on £75 spend but unfortunately it’s not adding to my basket so I presume they’ve run out. Very frustrating. They should take down the offer banner when they have run out!

Debenham’s female founders edit has gone up to £40! Pretty sure I only paid £27 for mine. Or did we have some sort of epic code?

btw I just spotted the BeautyWorks miracle spray is included in their beauty sale, down to £13, in case of interest

They reduced it for a while and then a code worked on top. I bought a 2nd one when it reduced.

free beauty bag worth £125 with £120 spend at Sephora. App only

I decided to sell two things (including a serum) I’d stashed away and buy another FTF Easter Mystery Bundle. I’ve been using the MZ serum for a couple of weeks now (day and night so making a proper dent in it) and I really like it. Three backups is enough though!

2 new boxes from Next.

https://beauty-detective.com/next-beauty-boxes-may-2026/

Quite tempted by the box with the bath and body works and aromatherapy associates products.

I went to the one in Manchester a couple of weeks ago - not a patch on spacenk and they refused to provide any samples (apparently they'd been advised they weren't allowed?). However I did get the 6 for £15 beauty box, and student discount applied to give 20% off. Had most of that month's subscriber box items plus some others, although they did say they expected to run out of some items soon (including the colour wow dry shampoo) 🤷🏻‍♀️

ETA: Also despite what they might say, it's in Cheshire not Manchester 🤣

The shower beauty box looks excellent value. https://www.next.co.uk/style/sv150072/y81485 £25 worth £114. The Christmas luxe beauty box was reduced a few times though which makes me cautious.

The box contains:

• Percy & Reed, Give Me Strength Strengthening Shampoo, 50ml (travel size)
• Percy & Reed, Give Me Strength Strengthening Conditioner, 50ml (travel size)
• ESPA, Positivity Shower Gel, 50ml (travel size)
• Brushworks, Bath & Shower Pouf (full size)
• Aromatherapy Associates, DES: De-Stress Body Oil, 100ml (full size)
• Bath & Body Works, Lavender Vanilla Body Lotion, 236ml (full size)

Do Space NK provide samples? It would never occur to me to ask but if they do that’s really handy

Ooh intrigued as to where it is now as I'm not far from either of those...