Beauty Advent Calendars Thread 13 - lucky for us, unlucky for Ryan the Bot

[SheilaFentiman]

Welcome to Thread 13 and happy unboxing to all who sail (sale??) in her as we swap tips, tricks, frustrations and joys of the BAC/FAC journey.

Not too long until Black Friday discounts so keep your fingers crossed and some room on your credit card

Key link for all the calendars via the very lovely MaryBD of the calendars https://beauty-detective.com/category/beauty-advent-calendars/

Though lots of ACs are out of stock already, so beware (and extra double beware of anything Selfridges Fragrance related!!)

My Vinted has been last this for the past 5-6 days. Nearly everyone reported today has been removed whereas previously they seemed more choosy .

No M&S beauty reward for me. I've got one on cheese though. I am wary of the Sparks things ever since it refused to let me count a fragrance purchase - the first reason they gave me was that purchases from the Food Hall weren't included, and when I said I'd bought it from their Beauty section, they said it was discounted, which it wasn't. They then apologised and said how very important transparency was to them, and they'd get back to me, but I never heard again, nor of course did I ever get the reward.

But speaking of M&S, I need some bright ideas. I've got M&S a few times for my MiL who is in her 70s. This year though the brands look like they've skewed a bit younger. Does anyone have any thoughts on an alternative? She's got a signature scent so nothing with too much perfume, she travels a lot so minis quite welcome, and ideally under £100. The year M&S didn't do one I got Soap and Glory, which she liked, and I'm now contemplating Body Shop, but am I missing anything good? Would also consider a good edit or box.

Humph about M&S - added the calendar and some trousers which came to £91 so free delivery. Then added £50 of sparks rewards bringing the price down and now it wants to charge me for delivery!

And I would collect instead but they won’t deliver the calendar to a store 😵‍💫

@Doubleraspberry - Liz Earle maybe if she doesn’t mind a single brand calendar, or possibly L’Occitane or Rituals

Not sure re costs but Liz Earle do both a 12 & 24 day one

@Doubleraspberry Maybe Glossybox? The box itself is beautiful and big, so it looks lovely on display.

I'm actually considering switching the content of the ASOS calendar into the Glossybox box for my daughter as I find the box so pretty 😍

Ooh excited for you! Mines not updated yet (purchased 9th October). I can’t wait to receive this one!

I just managed to get ASOS BAC for my teen with 20% off - couldn’t decide between that and LF but for ~£75 it’s a good buy.

How have you been trolling them? 😂

Sending them offers for actual Selfridges sale price. Undercutting individual bottles that are priced way too high, playing dumb, asking them a gazillion questions and so forth. Reporting their other Pokemon or new kicks as commercial selling. Wasting their time. It needs to be such a hastle for them that they will not buy advents again.

Fook scalpers. They ruin everything.

Dear group my name is not sunny moose it’s FOMO moose . And I have a confession . In my defence I was never ever going to purchase from Selfridges and I am still in a conversation with a customer service agent regarding my disappointment and then the crap reply I got .

that said I still really really really really wanted it .

now before you throw me out let me just say if it wasn’t for all of your hard work I would not have got the price down to 270 .

clearly people are getting desperate .

🙈🙈🙈🙊🙊🙊

I bought it . I think the seller only has the one to sell though so not a multiple mass computer hacker ( that’s what I’m telling myself )

there is nothing to add. I’m sorry I let you down. ……..☹️

but you do know it’s going to come with missing bottles or broken ones so I will be judged here and at the gates of BAC heaven where you will all be looking at me telling me I can’t come in , making me go down and sit with mortals who buy one perfume for life and celebrate Christmas with a Cadbury’s advent calendar. 😈

There’s 2.4% cashback on the M&S advent calendar with Quidco

So I've avoided all talk of BACs until this week ... just ordered my teenage daughter the Manicurist 'Time to Shine' AC that she decided she wanted instead of her usual Glossybox ... she has been working hard to keep her nails beautiful and says she'll use everything in the box, so a win.

As for me, no idea which calendar I want this year. Haven't had time to look yet

@Goldleafcat oh that’s v annoying, I always thought sparks spend was like a gift card used to part purchase rather than a discount!

@SunnyPinkMoose good for you, going for your dream and paying a decent price for it. 👏
I’m sure that most of us have thought about getting one, so enjoy x

No judgement @SunnyPinkMoose . Hope you get a perfect calendar and live it.

No judgement here. I might have done something very similar myself 😳

Genuine question from someone who knows the bare minimum about perfumes, but why has there not been the same fight over HFACs? Is SFAC that much better value than the HFAC?

I managed to get one of the HFAC when a few suddenly reappeared in store and a kind Mumsnetter posted about it on here. I'm super chuffed with it. ☺️ Just wondering why SFAC appeared to be more popular.

catching up again tonight …and i too spent a bit of time (or SFAC therapy ) reporting SFAC calendars on vinted …7 so far …

It’s a mystery to me @XelaM - but maybe because it’s new? Or because people who missed out on HFAC set their sights on this one? Or because the perfumes in the SFAC were more unusual/sought after???

I don’t know any of the perfumes in either of them - others will know more!

No judgment @SunnyPinkMoose & @pinkchampagne1 - delighted for you both!

I think the reasons the SFAC has become such an issue include:

• the SFAC had a more unusual set of scents, compared with those that have appeared in other boxes
• It also had a higher proportion of feminine leaning scents
• Harrods tends to be a bit heavy on oud scents, not everyone’s cup of tea
• The SFAC was higher value.
• Far fewer SFACs were available overall.
• The failed queuing system, which scalpers were able to bypass whilst ordinary people had almost no chance (other than those who managed the wish list trick in the first drop). In contrast Harrods was simply a direct link to the page, then straightforward basket and check out. It was available for a few hours - so anyone who had been actively looking out for it and found out it was on sale that day was able to purchase one.

It was ok in the end, got some bits for DH (which he needed) which pushed the total up for free postage.

It’s probably ridiculous how I resent paying for things like postage haha

That's excellent overview @AprilLady .

I bought Harrods once but it was simply way too much oud for me. I didn't keep one perfume from it. What I sold covered the cost of the advent and my son and husband kept some. I am not really interested in selling perfumes, so buying to sell when there is nothing for me to keep does not interest me at all. I am glad we tried once - but that's me done unless they change direction

How did you get the 20% off, please?

Hfac isnt amazing value this year, compared tp selfridges and harrods. It's barely better than the liberty scent kits or JL ones which came in around £100.
I'm hoping they'll be discounted like last year.

Also thanks to Mike Ashley delivery is no longer free its an annoying £7 and no delivery to store option.

Edit: thought you meant Harvey Nichols, not harrods.