My Thoughts on Beauty Reward Cards

If you live in the UK, you'll have heard of these four cards before. Boots have had an Advantage card since before I can remember, I think I got mine when I was about 14. That means it's almost a decade old...Probably shouldn't dwell on that so much! I've had two Love Your Body cards from The Body Shop, I've had the Debenhams Beauty Club reward card for a couple of years and I've also got Superdrug's reward card offering.  In this post I'm just going to tell you what benefits you can get from using these cards and which ones I like best. 

First up is possibly my favourite card. In fact, I think it is my favourite. This is Debenhams' Beauty Club reward card. You get points credited to your account when you present the card in store or enter the details when shopping online. In store you will receive 3 points per £1 when you spend over £25 and online you will receive 5 points per £1 plus free delivery. Debenhams regularly run offers for extra points when you spend over a certain amount; they usually offer an extra 500 or 1000 points when you spend over £40. Sometimes this is specific to certain brands and other times it applies to any beauty and fragrance products. Each point is equivalent to 1p but credit to spend in store is only loaded onto your card in £5 increments. £15 in rewards is the maximum that can be given each month but any extra points are carried over to the next month's balance. So, for example, if you gain 1765 points one month, you'll get £15 credited to you reward card at the end of that month and 265 points will be carried forward and added to any points you gain in the next month and so on. 

My top tips would be to shop online where possible as you get more points that way, try to shop only then the bonus points are available and if you're spending, say, £80, split it into two orders to get the maximum amount of points. The only downside to this card is that the credit you receive can not be redeemed online so if you don't live near a store this might be frustrating. However, the advantage is that your credit can be used  as part or full payment on any purchases so you don't have to save up enough points to cover the entire cost of what you want to buy unlike with the Boots Advantage card.

You can get a card from beauty counters in any Debenhams stores and immediately start collecting points. Once you've registered it online you can check your balance and will receive monthly statements letting you know how much credit you've accumulated.

Reward Card Rating - 4.5/5

Next up is Superdrug's Beautycard. This annoyingly shiny card is my least favourite of the four that I have. For every £1 you spend in store you will receive 1 point on your card. You can use your points as part payment for your purchases but only once you've earned at least 100 points and only in increments of 100/£1. So if your shop comes to £3.50 and you have 400 points, you will still have to pay 50p. You can also earn points online. Superdrug sometimes run promotions offering more than 1 point per £1 and I remember there being lots of those when the card launched. At one point you could earn 10 points per £1 if you shopped online so it's worth watching out for those although they definitely don't happen as regularly these days. There are also occasional in store offers of bonus points on certain products or if you spend more than a certain amount on a particular brand. Again, these offers have been much less frequent in the past eight months or so.

My main issue with this card is that I'd have to spend £100 in order to get £1 back. Let's be honest, who spends hundreds in Superdrug? Boots offer 4 points per pound so if something is the same price in both stores, you're better off buying it from Boots. As I mentioned, the offers for bonus or additional points per £1 have not been as forthcoming since the hype around the card's launch died down which is a shame. The system of using the points as part payment is annoying too because it's so specific. If you have £20 of points on your Debenhams card, you can buy something at £17.50 and essentially get it for free or if you're in Boots and have enough points to cover what you're buying, you can also walk away without having to spend anything whereas in Superdrug you always have to pay something. Once I had to hunt around in my purse for 22p, it was annoying.

This card gets a thumbs down from me. I still use it if I'm in a Superdrug but I've not built up enough points to get money off my purchase for a really long time as it takes so long to get anywhere near 100 points these days. It's worth having if you shop in Superdrug a lot and you keep an eye out for the elusive bonus offers but I'm not telling you all to rush out and get one if you haven't already. These can be picked up from any Superdrug store and can be registered either online or by post.

Reward Card Rating - 1/5

The Boots Advantage card; it's an oldie but a goodie. As I said, I've had mine for a long time and over the years have used my points to make 'special' purchases, usually from Chanel! For every £1 you spend you collect 4 points. Boots often run promotions for extra points on certain brands or specific products. To benefit fully from your Advantage card check for offers at the in store kiosks and keep an eye out for vouchers sent in the post. There are lots of opportunities to earn 250 extra points on a £25 spend, 150 points if you buy three products from 17 or whatever. One thing I would warn you about is not to get sucked into buying things you don't want just because there's an offer of extra points, it probably won't be worth it. However, if you were going to buy those 17 products anyway, for example, it's nice to get a little extra back in the process. 

You can spend your points whenever you like but the issue with this card is that you must have enough points on your card to cover the cost of your purchase. You can not use these points as part payment, hence why I don't use the points on this card so often. You can spend your points in store and online which is handy if you're a fan of online shopping.

You can pick up a card (if you don't have one already...I imagine almost everyone does!) online, over the phone or in stores. 

Reward Card Rating - 4/5

Finally, I have a Love Your Body card from The Body Shop. This card works differently to the others as you don't gain points when you shop. You pay £5 for the card but there's usually some sort of free product worth at least that value if you buy the card so it's usually technically free or almost free. Look out for a sign up incentive that you actually want. I believe I got one of their sulphate free shower gels and it was lovely. For your £5 you get 10% anything you buy for a year. The discount is applied to full price items, items in multi-buy offers and items in the sale. In fact, during the most recent sale (still ongoing, I believe) I had an email offering Love Your Body members an extra 20% off sale purchases and if you scroll down the blog a bit, you'll see a bargainous haul! In addition to the discount you get a stamp for each £10 you spend and once you've spent £40 (i.e. have four stamps) you get a free product worth up to £5. Once you have eight stamps you get a free product worth up to £10. You also get a free product worth up to £5 in your birthday month. There are also offers of freebies or extra discounts throughout the year.

When it comes to online shopping, you can still get your 10% discount but if you want to have the stamps added to your card for each £10 you spend, you have to take your receipt into the store and have them do it for you which is a bit of a faff. It's not the most online-friendly reward card out there.

I would recommend this card to anyone who thinks they'd spend around £80 in The Body Shop in the space of a year in order to take advantage of the freebies. However, since the card usually ends up not really costing you anything, if you want the free product that comes with signing up, I'd say to just get it. If you never, ever shop in The Body Shop then this one obviously isn't for you!

Reward Card Rating - 3.5/5

Phew...that's it! Sorry it was a long one this time but I hope it was helpful and that if you don't have some of these cards, you'll be able to pick them up and start saving a little money.

Stace xx

September Empties: Quick Reviews!

Boots Botanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover - I love this eye make up remover - it's the best I've tried. I realise that the oily feeling this leaves can be annoying for some but I'd rather have that than really irritated eyes. I solve the problem by removing my eye make up first, then my face make up and then sweeping a teeny bit of toner over my eye area to get rid of the oiliness. This is the only eye make up remover I've tried which takes off all my mascara without me having to rub half of my lashes off. I will definitely be repurchasing!


Liz Earle Brightening Treatment Mask - when I first got this, I loved it and would have given it a rave review. I used it a couple of times a week in the shower after exfoliating my face with the Gentle Exfoliator from the same line. My skin looked brighter and felt amazing. However, I feel that this stopped working as well for me over time. After the first month I found it began making less and less difference and that my skin went back to looking a bit dull and breakouts kept popping up. Also, when I got to the end of the product the texture went very strange. This product has a funny texture anyway but it seemed to separate a bit and wasn't fun to use. I might buy it again in the future but will only use it occasionally rather than every week. 


Liz Earle Gentle Exfoliator - this is a really nice product and I think it did a good job of exfoliating my skin. I'm not entirely sure it's as good as my HG scrub (The Body Shop's Vitamin C Microdermabrasion) and I think it began to become less effective the more I used it, like with the Brightening Mask. I will probably repurchase this in the future but I have another scrub waiting in the wings to get on with right now.


Lush Tea Tree Toner - I don't have the packaging for this as the spray had broken so I'd put it in a different bottle anyway. This is a nice toner; I initially thought it would be a bit harsh for my skin but it was fine. I would sweep it over my t-zone after cleansing and it left that area feeling fresh and oil free. I might repurchase but I'm going to try using a cleanser which needs to be rinsed off so won't need a toner with that.


Superdrug Cleanser for Sensitive Skin - this thing lasted forever! It does a good job of removing make up but I'm not sure how suitable it is for sensitive skin. I normally use it once to remove my make up and again to cleanse my skin in the evenings before bed. I find that quite often after the second time my skin feels a bit stingy. I don't have particularly sensitive skin so I'm not sure how it would feel for someone who did have really sensitive skin. I probably won't be repurchasing this.


Origins VitaZing Moisturiser - never fear, I have a back up! This is my go to daytime moisturiser as I find it helps to even out my skintone before I put on foundation so I don't need to cake on the foundation as much. Sometimes I can just wear this with concealer on spots and under my eyes and a bit of my MAC Natural on top.


Barry M Toffee Lip Gloss - my boyfriend threw this empty in the bin because Teddy (the cat) was playing with it...anyway! I can't believe I've actually used up an entire make up product! I love this lipgloss though and if I'm wearing any sort of nude lip this is always my go to gloss. It does have some shimmer particles which can be annoying but it smells good and isn't sticky at all. I will be repurchasing once I've made my way through a few of my other nude glosses.


Aussie Mega Shampoo - I won't be repurchasing this as it gave me a horribly dry scalp. I do love the smell and it cleans my hair well so I do recommend it if you don't have a sensitive scalp like mine!


Boots Nail Varnish Remover - It's a decent remover and I would repurchase if I was in Boots. I don't really have any issues with polish removers!

Bioderma Ceraline H2O Sample - I really like this! I'd love to track down a full size bottle because it's so easy and quick to use.


No7 Cleanse & Care Eye Makeup Remover - This was an okay eye make up remover. I've already repurchased the Botanics one so won't be picking this up in a full size. It did the job but you do need to use a lot of it.


The Body Shop Body Butter in Blueberry - I have zillions of these! I will always repurchase them. 


NARS Eye Makeup Remover Sample - This is nice, it's very similar to my Botanics remover but it doesn't feel quite as oily. I probably won't purchase the full size though!


Jergens Naturals Firming Body Lotion - This is a nice product and it has lasted me a very long time. The pump means I don't use too much. I will probably be picking up another at some point.


Origins Mega Mushroom Cleanser - I tried this when my skin was feeling very irritated


Random foundation/skincare samples - none of them are anything to write home about!

Soap & Glory Clean, Girls, Clean Shower Gel - I liked this but found I needed a lot of it to lather up well.

Soap & Gory Clean On Me Shower Gel Mini - I much prefer this S&G shower gel! I'm using up all my mini sized products because I never remember to take them when I travel anyway so I might as well use them up.

Origins Perfect World Cleanser Mini - This stung my eyes so much, even when I kept it as far from my eyes as possible so I will not be buying this in a full size.

Origins Modern Friction Scrub Mini - This was also very harsh on my eyes. It was a weird texture and I don't think it worked very well at exfoliating my skin.

Bath & Body Works Pocketbac in All Star Apple - I love this! It smells amazing. I love most pocketbacs and have a nice stock pile of them!

Liz Earle Intense Nourishing Treatment Mask - This smells pretty awful but I could deal with that at the beginning as it was nice and moisturising. However, it seems to be a common problem with Liz Earle products that once you get to the end of a tube, something goes wrong. In this instance, this mask started stinging my skin. It was horrible. I'll not be buying this again either!

Clinique Pore Minimizer Thermal Active Skin Refiner Mini - This isn't really an empty - I just can't get the product out! I got some out eventually and it was way too hard to smooth onto my skin.

Woah! That's a lot of empties - it has been a month of using up what I have already opened. I've also thrown out a few MAC paint pots/liquid liners which were past their use by date or dried up.

What have you used up this month? Do you keep a record?

Stace xx