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

[OvaHere]

Sorry everyone! I didn't realise how near the end of the old thread we were.

What on earth have you all done with yourselves for the last few hours? 😂

As always everyone welcome to join in and hopefully this is the thread we see the first 'big' BAC reveal. 😍

In the interests of full disclosure - here are pictures of the card and the underwhelming drink!

@IlovePond I don't think there was ever supposed to be a Kerastase freebie despite it being a partnered brand - it wasn't in any of the reels. I hadn't even realised that GWP was all the brands ( except Kerastase) that had a cabana though!

Makes sense @LightandBreezy - Kerastase were obviously too mean to add any freebies.

I see you went Option D too!

Your picture is so cool - rather more professional than mine 😹

I love your bag charm - it looks like sweeties.

The freebies are pretty impressive when set out like that!

Even though it was by all accounts a shit event, I confess I’m a bit jealous of the samples and GWP… that’s the inner ten year old in me 😂.

I didn’t get tickets because I had a dental implant and upper wisdom teeth extraction yesterday morning and thought I’d be in agony all weekend. Thankfully, I appear to be absolutely fine and was kicking myself for not booking.

I also didn’t book JL beauty event because I thought it was a school day only to realise (now it’s all booked up) that it’s on an inset day which I have already completed the hours for. Serves me right for not being organised! Please post how that goes as well please. I’m intrigued to see what £35 gets you in JL promo day terms.

And here's what I bought in total - 2 from featured brands (CT and Elemis) and a random one. Ironically I'd have spent more if they'd been properly stocked.

Glad you are recovering well @Addictedtobeauty

Rather weirdly, the HBeauty staff were encouraging all customers to pop along to the pop up today, which makes me wonder if everyone else who had booked in advance was also only spending five minutes in there as it was completely dead!

I will be very interested to know what the other beach club events are like elsewhere.

Looking at my booklet again, I can see it does say that you only had to buy one thing to get the samples 🙈

I think subconciously I was trying to make it look like a bounty of goodies to justify having zero willpower and spending £100 🙃 The cleansing balm will be sitting in my cupboard a looooooong time. You got a lovely haul, that purply SDJ lotion smelt amazing, I'm not a fan of the classic Yellow one sadly so the freebies will be given to Niece or Goddaughter.
What colour blush did you get? I got the same product in Berry Glow and love it, I normally get light pink blushes as I'm pale, but the tiniest bit of the dark shade is way more flattering on me than paler shades.

I got CT Rosy Glow @LightandBreezy. I really like those blush sticks!

I’m quite pleased with my SDJ bag - it will definitely come in handy

I love this 😍

I think it’s a really lovely haul for £100

I do like the bag!

I have no idea why I made my own purchase pictures hidden - they don't count as a spoiler at all😂

Lovely treats 😍

Berry Glow - looks terrifying here but it's quite sheer and blends out really well

There was a lot of scent in the various GWPs so I've just put it all into last years Harrod's BAC box with the ones I got in the Selfridges edit and a couple of others from other edits this year and I've almost got a full homemade fragrance calendar. Also discovered one of the drawers still had stuff in it, how on earth did I do that?

That’s like finding a tenner in an old coat pocket! Winning!

The blush looks lovely-it all looks lovely and definitely worth the £100 spend. May any guilt slink away and wither in the glow of your beauty haul.

@Addictedtobeauty these events and GWP's are addictive and really do bring out our inner children - I was a bit embarrassed at how sulky I felt when the things I wanted were OOS and I couldn't leave without getting the gift. But the other thing to remember is they are pretty much endless- in a couple of months they'll be doing the carnival thing again so you can have way more fun at that.

Thank you for @OvaHerefor the new thread!
Catching up on all the informative and amusing updates on here.
The Harrods event feedback is interesting. They used to have a bus beauty event but I don’t know if that’s still something they do, a reasonable price for the ticket from memory but I never managed to book.

@SheilaFentimanI know the feeling. Tell DH anything on the skincare/beauty topic and there’s that blank disinterested look about him. Same with DD and DS.
I did the same when I tried my first ever sheet face mask years ago. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. I worked it out by the 3rd mask.
I know sheet masks are a bit marmite in terms of delivery system. I love them for ease of use but worry a bit about environmental impact. Some sachets have a lot of product and I usually close the bag with a bulldog clip and put it in the fridge. I use the leftover serum with spare dry sheets. You can buy really big packs from Amazon. I often make my own face masks and that’s how I discovered you can buy dry sheets. I also use a silicone mask on top with loops over the ears to keep it in place.
Not the best look for sure, and I would never do it when there might be chance of anyone in the house seeing me 😁

Someone mentioned Takami coming to SNK.
The PR machine is in full force and today’s Sunday Times Style skincare feature article was about J Beauty. Disappointing to see the brand has been acquired by L’Oreal. These guys are buying everything that is successful.
I’m attaching pictures of the article here, just need to remember how to do it!

I never quite got into K Beauty because I find it overwhelming. Although I have used a few products which I thought were very good. In particular an amazing face exfoliator I received as a gift from a very brave friend. So K Beauty is still a big mystery to me.
I’m mainly old school with trusted French brands, which I absolutely love. And I find a few British brands to be exceptionally good as well, notably Sarah Chapman and Medik8.
Japanese skincare is a different league. Most of it is so expensive for me that, although I loved the few products I tried, I can’t yet bring myself to throw myself into it and embrace it. I intend it wouldn’t disappoint, but the expense is too high. I have a big box full of Shiseido sample sized products which I am saving to use in one go. As a treat to me for saving them and to have a proper trial. I think they’d probably last me at least 3 months of regular exclusive use. I still don’t think I’d re-buy at full price. At it’s not even the most expensive Japanese skincare line.

This is the article

@LightandBreezy - did they give you the GWP even though part of your purchase wasn’t a featured brand?

I wish I had tried that, (although I do like what I got, I would have swapped out the Kerastase for something more exciting from another brand if I had thought it was possible 🙈)

@IlovePond, thanks for the comprehensive review.

I love the bag - but don't need £100 worth from those brands. I was hoping to get a Dior palette. I'll still go, but a bit deflated now.

@Cyclingmummy1 - as long as you buy something from one of the specific brands, they might still let you have the GWP if you make up the spend with the Dior palette. It didn’t occur to me to try doing this.

On a related note:

H Beauty had a few things elsewhere in store that were reduced which seemed good value. They were also selling a Harrods bag, (same style, different colour to the one I got), as a mystery bag for £50. I would have loved to know what was in there but had spent quite enough money already!

Someones selling the H Beauty Goody Bag already🤣 I do like the bag though!