The biggest shopping event of the year will soon be here, with Black Friday 2024 now just two weeks away. And among the retailers who have already gone live with their deals and discounts include the likes of Dyson, LookFantastic and, of course, high-street favourite, Boots.
This year, Black Friday falls on Friday, November 29, but in recent years, more and more brands have launched their deals earlier and earlier to take advantage of the major event. Boots kickstarted its Black Friday event on November 1 with deals changing each week, giving shoppers the chance to snap up some serious savings on beauty, gifting and more.
The health and beauty retailer has slashed the prices of thousands of products across premium makeup and skincare, electricals, fragrance and more. On the Boots website, the sale promises ‘amazing savings’, but with so many discounts and price cuts to scroll through, we only wish there could be an easier way to know which ones are actually worth shopping - and luckily for you, there is.
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Before working at the Mirror, I was a customer assistant for Boots between 2015 and 2018, and during that time, I learned a thing or two about how to dig out the best deals and maximise savings. I’ve taken a look at the retailer’s Black Friday offers and selected what I consider to be the top picks for the season, and the ones that will offer the best value for money.
So, if you're wondering where to start looking, these are some of my top picks of the deals you can shop now, ahead of the big event.
Beauty box
As part of the latest Black Friday drop, Boots launched a new beauty box that gets shoppers £450 worth of best-sellers for under £90. Their Best of Beauty box is priced at £88 but worth £451.60, and is full of the best of premium beauty at Boots across makeup, skincare, and haircare.
The perfect gift for any beauty lover this Christmas, it includes some of the biggest names in beauty and cult favourites from iconic brands including Benefit, Fenty Skin, Elemis, Floral Street, Lancôme, and Byoma. The beauty bundle contains 26 deluxe and 15 full-size items, which is ten more than last year. And while the contents may not be individually wrapped and numbered, it does mean you could use it as an advent calendar.
In fact, it actually contains more products and has a higher value than the 24-Day Premium Beauty Calendar the retailer launched earlier this year. The Best of Beauty box costs £11 less than the calendar’s £99 price tag, which is worth £357.83.
One of the products inside the latest edit is Huda Beauty’s Empowered Eyeshadow Palette, which is worth a huge £62 alone. Another way to look at it, is to divide the price you pay by the number of products inside, with each one working out at £3.38 each.
Star Gifts
The first place I always look for Christmas presents is the Boots Star Gifts, but what you want to do to maximise savings is look for sets that are worth more than their retail price, which have been further reduced.
For example, the No7 Ultimate Beauty 9 Piece Collection is valued at over £135 and is already a bargain at £85. However, as part of this week's rotation of Star Gifts, customers can get it even cheaper with a discount code. After adding the highly-reviewed set to your shopping basket, Boots customers can add the discount code ULTIMATESAVE at the checkout, which will see the price drop to £39. This saves £96 compared to buying the products individually, and makes each item inside work out at less than £4.50 each.
Bargain-hunters can also enjoy a great reduction on the MAC Go For Gold Golden Heroes set. This set, packed with four MAC bestsellers including a setting spray, mascara, lip pencil and lipstick, has been cut from £94 down to £39.
Meanwhile, the The Too Faced You're So Jelly Star Gift Set was £78 but has dropped down to £38. The set includes three full sized products and a limited edition jelly bag. You can look forward to unboxing Better Than Sex Mascara, Kissing Jelly Lip Oil Gloss and Cloud Crush Blush in Golden Hour. With the products each typically costing around £30 this is great value for the brand and the box makes it easy to wrap up for Christmas.
Advent Calendars
Beauty advent calendars are a great way to top up your makeup and skincare collection for less, with many containing four times the amount of products than the price you pay - and Boots has got them aplenty. For fans of the brand No7, there's the £175 No7 The Ultimate 25 Day Beauty Advent Calendar valued at over £500.
It contains 25 full-sized products, including those from the popular Future Renew skincare range and the newly-launched Pro Artist collection. For a limited time, it's on sale for £122.50.
There’s also the two premium advent calendars for £99 , one being a 12 day offering, and the other a 24 day countdown. The health and beauty retailer is also stocking countdowns from the likes of Profusion, 17 Cosmetics calendars, Ted Baker and Soap and Glory, for those seeking a more affordable option - some of these are as little as £20 as part of the sale.
Three for two mix and match
Boots’ three for two mix and match offer has been highly popular with Christmas shoppers long before I had worked there, and in 2024, it’s still as much-loved as ever. I always recommend getting products that have a similar price to get the best savings, and if you’re placing a bigger order, make sure your basket can be divisible by three so you don’t miss out.
Boots will arrange all your gifts into a price order, from highest to lowest and give you every third item free. This means if you have 12 of the three for two gifts, then the third, sixth, ninth and 12th will be free when arranged in price order, so don’t go throwing money away.
Here are some of my favourite gifts that are currently in the three for two deal:
Together, you’d end up paying £65 for the beauty set and diffuser, getting the luxury spa robe for free.
Fragrance
When it comes to fragrance , some of these deals fall under Black Friday and others under Star Gifts, so be sure to check both areas to ensure you don’t miss out on a perfume bargain. One of the most popular fragrance offers this week is on the YSL Black Opium Eau de Parfum Extreme 50ml, which was £102 but is now half price at £51. It has base notes of black coffee accord, vanilla accord, patchouli essence, Tonka bean. The middle notes feature orange blossom absolute, jasmine absolute, while pear accord, mandarin essence, cherry accord make up the top notes.
Another popular designer perfume that’s been reduced is the Jimmy Choo Blossom Eau de Parfum, now down from £58 to £29 for a 60ml bottle. Touted as a 'bold bouquet', this fragrance features top notes of red berries, mid tones of sweet pea, and finishes with a white musk base.
And, for the gents, the coveted YSL Y Eau de Toilette 60ml is now £41.50 down from £69. But according to the retailer, it actually works out better to get the 100ml bottle for £60, which is better value per ml of fragrance overall.
£10 Tuesday
And finally, each week Boots hosts their £10 Tuesday event, which sees dozens of beauty products reduced to £10 on - yeah, you guessed it - a Tuesday. The products change each week, but generally contain anti-ageing heroes, moisturisers and more from brands like Olay, No7 and Nivea.
Some of the top deals we've seen in recent weeks include the No7 LABORATORIES LINE CORRECTING Booster Serum 15ml , down from £34.95, while the No7 Pure Retinol, Vitamin C & SPF 30 Day Cream Duo 2x50ml is usually £39.95. Down from £24.99 is the Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream For Dark Circles , but for something a little more gift-worthy, there’s also a Radley Bath Soak down from £18 to £10 as part of the deal.
More early Black Friday deals are available at Oodie, perfect for anyone looking to keep warm this winter. Currys has also kicked off a massive sale ahead of November 29 for tech enthusiasts. Alternatively Superdrug has also now launched it's deals too - with plenty to tempt beauty lovers as well.