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

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New thread. Everyone welcome to join to chat about beauty bargains or just beauty in general.

Thanks to everyone who regularly contributes and keeps us whizzing through these threads.

Now we're in June we might be seeing the first Advent reveal before the month is out! Exciting times. 😍

I have just gotten around to opening my Cult GWP from MHolt on Vinted - it’s a brilliant set, absolute bargain! And I got a couple of free samples thrown in too which was nice.

I also opened my candle lamp, it’s lovely and such good value. Only thing is that for some bizarre reason I ordered a gold one rather than a silver one, so it doesn’t match my decor 😅 And my cheeky DDog ran off with the box and used it as a chew toy 🐶
It’s in a dark corner anyway so it doesn’t look too bad.

I also opened my Regimes box, very happy with the contents for approx £35. I am keen to try the lip treatment, I think simply because I love crème brûlée, but I have too many lip products on the go currently so I’m going to be good and wait (for a day or two at least 😁😇)

I ordered the Aromatica shampoo and a lip balm from LF. Both look as if they have been tampered with. The seal on the shampoo had been partly removed and it looked like some product was missing. The lip balm box was open and the tube looked as if it had been squeezed.

I am not happy.

This is the company that rejected my last review for not meeting their standards because I praised the product but said the LF outer box had come partly open in transit. So, even though I should complain, I really can’t be bothered as I wouldn’t get anywhere and it’s stress I don’t need.

I won’t order from them again. (I might make an except they do the fragrance a/c again, but that’s it, really.)

Btw: The outer packaging was half open - again!

I saw an email about the Harrods sale when I was on lunch. I've decided just not to look. 😂

I looked at Harrods online - fortunately there was nothing I wanted. Has it started in-store as well?

I always used to go to the first and last day of the Harrods summer and winter sales because the first and last day bargains were spectacular. I haven’t bothered in recent years because I haven’t found the in-store sales worth the effort since the revamp.

🤣 best thing to do really, I've since deleted the emails from Selfridge's and John Lewis about their sales. I do not need anymore temptation 🤭

Tell her that you're going to cancel it, then cancel it as seller agreed, you won't get bad feedback then.

I'm too far away to get there for the sales. I'd like to go as I follow a few people who are London based and the bargains they get look great. I just shopped online.

@JoRaRaRa - first day bargains used to be spectacular- there would be 90% off reductions in most departments, (just a few - hidden in plain sight). You had to look carefully at EVERYTHING and be both extremely quick and very lucky. I got very very good indeed at finding the quickest way to the shoe floor as soon as the shop doors opened!

Best first day bargain:

Gucci boots at 90% off that I only found because a woman pushed me out of the way to get to the shoe rack. I fell and grabbed out at a boot to save myself. Size 5, perfect condition, 90% reduction. They came home with me!

Best last day bargain:

A Gucci belt that they were practically given away. Sadly it no longer fits 😿😿😿

Those days are long gone😿 but there are still some good reductions to be found, particularly in the beauty/perfume halls.

@IlovePond I love the Gucci boot story. Perfect! 😂

@IlovePond brilliant 🤣

I didn't even look at the clothing, shoes etc, just at the beauty. I'm tempted to go have a look 🙈 Quite pleased with my Sisley cream 🥰 that's going straight to the front of the stash.

It’s like something out of a RomCom 🥰

I do love a good shoe find!

My Cult Beauty First Class Edit just arrived. Used the Lanolips raspberry shortcake immediately. It smells heavenly. Got that proper caramelised sugar butter smell you get with a nice pastry or a crème caramel dessert or the topping of a crème brûlée.

https://beautycalendar.com/cult-beauty-the-first-class-edit/

I think they must have early access or exclusive access. You know it’ll be far more … belligerent if the AC queues and rush are anything to go by.

DH just said the Lanolips Raspberry Shortcake smells absolutely repulsive “like burnt waffles”. So mileage may vary 😂

Oh yeah, I don't fancy wrestling in the middle of Harrods 🙈🤣

🤣

Well, that was short lived 😅 Although, it could come in useful in place of a “headache” 😁

You're making me reconsider now and I definitely didn't want it yesterday. 😂

Oh, I used my WA butter powder bronzer today and it is lovely, it gives such a natural finish - thank you to the OP who recommended it when I was doing my Harrods order 🥰

I definitely want a crème caramel dessert now

I think it might have been me. I also wore it today with Ilia soft focus blush in Glimpse. It was a really lovely combination!

@user593 Thank you! Ooh, I’ve not tried the Ilia range other than a mascara I received in a BAC. I’ll have to take a look.
I wore my YSL blush in restless rose; I love this one, it’s a real spring/summer shade, but generally works well as an all year round blush.

Oh dear - having squirrelled away the stash/horde in multiple Stackers boxes and elsewhere a while back, I realised this week that I didn’t actually know a) what I had and b) which Stackers, etc. contained which items.

To help organise myself, I have bought a little set of four drawers from The Futon Company for my bedroom and spent hours emptying out Stackers and other storage and refilling them in some kind of order. (I’m not exaggerating- I have missed my dinner and everything- just finished putting stuff away and am quite hungry 😹😹😹)

It far worse than I thought - I have industrial quantities of just about everything, (except my anti wrinkle serum, which is about to run out). I have thrown away a few things that I dislike and have put aside some stuff to give away, but there is so much left.

I am seriously thinking that I should give the Liberty a/c a miss this year and carry my BD money over to Xmas 27. I already have my DIY calendar and the cheap S&G ready for Xmas 26 - I genuinely don’t think I should bring anything new into the house for the foreseeable future!

Oh @IlovePond I had the same thing recently. I got a few drawer sets and have filled 11 drawers with my stash, and still have more stash under my bed in various boxes. It took me ages to sort it all. But, I do feel more organised and know where things are now, so that’s something.
I remember you organising your stackers storage, it’s such a shame you had to redo it, but at least now you know where you’re up to.

I need to go back through my things at some point and list what I have on a spreadsheet so I can properly track what I’ve got and what might be best to sell if I’m not going to get around to using it in a reasonable timeframe

@IlovePond give it time. I reckon a week or two to recover from the shock and you’ll be ready to think about the ACs again 😂

@Thelifeofawife I don’t think I’ve heard of Regimes (or missed that convo…!) - the box looks great. I’ve been wanting to try Gatineau for a while. Its listed at £49.99 - how did you get it for £35? That’s an amazing price!

I had a little trawl through Harrods online but nothing really grabbed my attention. As a broke teenager, I used to find incredible bargains in their sales now and again: some really lovely clothes that were way cheaper than high street knockoffs. The Cult edit is still in my basket, as is the Debenhams one. I’ll get the new Boots box for sure, so just need to decide what else I want/need.