Beauty Advent Calendars Thread 12 - reeling in the aftermath of SFAC, we soldier on... 💄💋

[LightandBreezy]

Welcome to the 12th thread, we still have 50 days till the daily unboxing officially starts, although I very much doubt any of our calendars will remain untouched until then 😂
Still time for lots more friendly chat, tips and discount codes - to cut down on links as a poster requested, here's link to some very comprehensive run-downs of the calendars https://beauty-detective.com/category/beauty-advent-calendars/
When enjoying those breakdowns please remember that some are OOS already - Harrod's Fragrance, Harrod's Beauty and Selfridges Beauty to name a few.

Fugazzi has two versions - there is Vanilla Haze EDP, which is soft and creamy, and smells like edible vanilla. And there’s Vanilla Haze Extrait which is woody and musky and a bit sharp, I’m guessing you’re sampling the latter. It’s very confusing and people often get mixed up when reviewing. Same with Angel Dust 🙂 this year’s Liberty calendar contains AD Extrait, which is more peppery than EDP.

I don’t understand why Selfridges is cancelling genuine orders if they’re planning third drop.

Following the absolute carnage and chaos of the SFAC release yesterday morning, I’ve had two incredibly intense and long days at work, and not been able to follow any of the usual threads, let alone check in or post anything!

I’m so saddened by the misery caused all round by the whole SFAC experience, it feels like the extreme opposite of what the whole advent calendar buying experience should be all about.

I’m also a bit embarrassed that as a calendar newbie, who wasn’t buying anything, I’ve ended up with Liberty and BT BACs and JLFAC(first release) and SFAC (second release). I am very appreciative of all the advice and guidance from these threads. Until 6 months ago, I had no idea that there was any way to purchase bottles of perfume other than paying full price for a full size bottle. If I got some sort of GWP, that felt like a real win: I’ve spent over 30 years paying hundreds of £££s, and it never occurred to me that you could find travel sizes if you wanted to try something before committing to a full bottle. So this is all super exciting and a massive game changer. (I’m sharing all of this to explain how much I appreciate my good fortune!)

I went into Selfridges Oxford st in person at 6pm last night. The staff all looked totally shell shocked. The assistants on Mind Games, Thameen and Ex Nihilo all told me that the whole day had been spent dealing with hordes of angry customers furious about not being able to buy the SFAC in store. They all seemed really shaken and worn out. I did manage to check out all the SFAC perfumes I hadn’t tried previously: absolutely loved MG Queening (and loathed the Jayne!!)

I’ve just received the dispatch notification from Selfridges. My last 2 orders have gone missing between the store and DPD, so to be honest, I’ll believe in the whole thing when it turns up (hopefully intact) at my front door. Until then, it’s just the stuff of fairytales (or nightmares??)

Nothing from Brown Thomas/Arnotts new offering yet?

I hope Selfridges advent comes today, partly dreading the state things arrive in as contact them for potential issues will be pointless. I am using forwarding service, they will blame that. Party even if I get it, with so many of us having issues the shine is bit gone to be honest. Being part of this community the shared excitement is huge portion of the overall experience - and this is just disappointing.

I understand what you mesn by the shine is gone but I would rather at least some us were successful.tham none!.im sure most on here would.

I think I paid more to have it delivered tomorrow, when I'm working from home. Hopefully it's on track for that. My order status just says delivery by 16/10/26.

One of the reasons why I chose Pick up in Store

Would the forwarding service be responsible for damage though? I mean we all know it's Selfridges shoddy packaging but presumably if you have paid the forwarding service fee that covers insurance for damage? And they may be nicer that Selfridges.

Crossing my fingers they all arrive safe though.

I bet Selfridges are regretting not packing them in their individual boxes now, must be loads of complaints.

I don't think it will be fair on them, they are small business and I have never had an issue. What are they suppose to do, look and repackage? If there is breakage I will just take the hit and that's the end of it. Hopefully not one of my favourites.

true. Boxes would have helped eliminate at least some of the tsunami of ill feeling ! They are remaining very stoic and tight lipped about the whole thing. Saying absolutely nothing publicly in response to the social media and bad PR backlash . Poor staff in store, as a PP said are bearing the brunt.

Still nothing on BT’s next offering! Maybe today

Both my selfridges fragrance calendars turned up absolutely fine. I was more worried about the one coming from eBay as it was then going through the transport system twice. Thankfully no breakages.

Most retailers won't accept that they're responsible for the damage if you've used a forwarding company. I paid for insurance when forwarding my BT parcel.

The Selfridges reviews on Trustpilot are awful at 1.6*. Lots of people complaining about the FAC. Ryan seems to be the bot to reach out to. Poor Ryan.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.selfridges.com

Probably learned from Harrods to keep quiet. Last year everyone was furious at them when they dropped the advent secretly a day before the date they announced. This year I've seen loads of SM posts saying how Harrods know how to get things right. 😂

Will be interesting to see if they do it again next year and if so what they change about their process. Boxes would be a good start.

Yikes! That is bad reading!

Selfridges are just taking the piss with this one...

ETA - I no longer have any sympathy for Ryan the bot!

Oh gosh, next year! Arrrrrgh!

Oh for the love of……😩

Well done on beating the system! The Selfridges corporation, the online sellers, the couriers, the forwarding companies! You nailed this advent season xxx

Gosh the reviews on Trustpilot for Selfridges are so bad, and deservedly so. Wow.

I had a text this morning to say that it will be delivered today! 🥳

I feel genuinely sorry for the staff having to put up with that. I can obviously understand people's frustrations and anger at Selfridges but for shop floor staff having to bear the brunt of it, face to face, continually all day must be really tough.
Not their fault. 😢❤️
I do wonder if higher up they realise the damage this has caused to their reputation.
I never shopped their much. Bought the odd edit but this has definitely left a negative vibe re them.

Do you see this 👀 S fac

That image is quite appropriate, chaos with everyone heading in different directions going up or down the queue list.

Me too. It was a lovely calendar last year sonIm really looking forward to having it again.

The new and sealed eBay one my husband got me arrived yesterday. It was in reasonable condition although one of the smaller perfumes had a smashed bottle and no perfume, guessing it leaked out into the box as there's water marks on it.