As Christmas fast approaches and deadlines start to loom, a daily dose of positive distraction cannot be overlooked. Nowadays, Christmas advent calendars are widely viewed as a staple in many people’s holiday celebrations. Over the recent decade, the market for these calendars has expanded far beyond confectionary and now encompasses all manner of treats. One trend that has really gained traction is the beauty industry’s revitalisation of the tradition. Here, The Bubble has divided these advent calendars into categories to help you pick the best beauty advent calendar suited to you!
Affordability
Arguably, price is the most important factor when it comes to shopping for beauty advent calendars. Whilst advertised as a great saving, they are still very pricy to buy outright especially as they are not technically Christmas gifts but rather a pre-Christmas treat. These advent calendars chosen are the best for those on a budget, sitting at reasonable price points while still being good value for money.
NYX Professional Makeup Love Lust Disco 24 Day Calendar, £45.
Image available from https://www.superdrug.com
For a mere £45, equivalent to £1.80 a day, NYX is selling a fabulous disco-themed advent calendar. Products include eyeshadows, lipsticks, glosses, liquid highlighters and creative makeup tools. This box will fully equip you for festive fun, being able to create any makeup look using solely these products. For anyone keen on showing a statement lip then this calendar may be the one for you due to its vast amount of lip products. In total, the box is worth a massive £210 which is triple the price, so is definitely a purchase worth considering!
Revolution Vegan Advent Calendar, £30.
Image available from https://www.revolutionbeauty.com/uk/en/home
The Revolution advent calendar is very festive in appearance and the ideal gift. Included is various full-size makeup products as well as a few mini products but its best feature has to be one of the new and exclusive Reloaded Palettes, which makes a great gift in and of itself. For £30 on sale from £50 on the Revolutionwebsite, this calendar is the cheapest one on this list, making it an absolute bargain for any makeup lover.
Harry Potter Advent Calendar at Boots, £35.
Image available from https://www.boots.com
Accio bargains! Boots have launched a magical advent calendar with 24 days of Harry Potter fun. With enchanted colour changing lipstick and Hogwarts House themed presents, this advent calendar is the perfect gift for any Harry Potter fanatic (practically ALL Durham Students). It is only £35 and will provide a Christmas spirit every day during the build up to Christmas Day.
The Body Shop Dream Big This Christmas Beauty Advent Calendar, £45.
Image available from https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/
This is one of a whopping THREE advent calendars from The Body Shop and unsurprisingly due to its inclusion on this list, is the cheapest of the three. Although it is packed with miniature versions rather than the full-sized products featured in the other two, this calendar still comes with a large array of shower products and moisturisers, some of which being special edition items. I would even argue that it is better to pay £45 for products worth £81 in this calendar, because you can try out the decent size minis then use your Christmas money to buy your favourite full-sized versions! The packaging for this advent calendar is definitely the best I have seen and is exactly what you would expect from a typical advent calendar.
Beauty Enthusiast
Evidentially, one of the main reasons for interest in buying a beauty advent calendar is because of your love and enthusiasm for beauty. These following advent calendars are my top three for die hard beauty fans:
MAC ‘Starring You’ Advent Calendar, £129.
Image available from https://www.maccosmetics.co.uk
This 24-day advent calendar is perfect for beauty lovers who still swear by MAC. It contains a mixture of minis and full-sized products and is worth £265. Classic products included are the Velvet Teddy lipstick (which most people have had at one point), Strobe Cream in Pinklite and a mini Mac Fix+.
Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Advent Calendar Glittering Galaxy of Make-Up Magic, £150.
Image available from https://www.charlottetilbury.com/uk
The quality of this calendar is phenomenal and you would not expect anything less from Charlotte Tilbury. The calendar comes with four full-sized products and eight travel-sized products including the cult-classics Pillow Talk Lipstick and Magic cream. The products in the calendar all appear to be wearable for all skin tones with all of the make-up products being relatively neutral. The calendar does only celebrate 12 days of Christmas, rather than 24, but the quality of the make-up undoubtably makes up for this.
CultBeauty Advent Calendar, £195.
Image available from https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk
For CultBeauty’s first ever advent calendar, the site went all out with their launch. The price may seem extortionate, but the inclusion of popular brands like NARS, Laura Mercier, Natasha Denona, Too Faced and Anastasia Beverley Hills in this calendar makie it a must-have for all the beauty obsessed. As well as these high-end products, there is also an unusual 25th drawer packed with a massive ten products to open on Christmas Day itself. If this wasn’t enough, CultBeauty have also included a Golden Ticket for one lucky shopper who would receive £1000 to spend on CultBeauty Products. This for me is definitely the best advent calendar on the list, perhaps the best advent calendar of 2019, with it containing £680+ worth of products.
Environmentally Friendly
For those conscious of their carbon footprint during the ongoing climate crisis, these advent calendars are totally reusable and recyclable and can feature in your room at any time of the year.
ASOS Face and Body Advent Calendar, £70.
Image available from https://www.asos.com/women/
With a range of high-end skincare and makeup products including Clinique, Laura Mercier, Clarins and NARS, as well as interesting haircare products including the Wet Brush Mini, ASOS have created the perfect product. Whether you are feeling stressed about the essential Christmas shopping or essay deadlines have been getting you down, this advent calendar would be ideal if you are in need of a relaxation during the run-up to Christmas. As well as being the perfect pamper set, the box itself has the specific function to be kept and reused for storage purposes and would look great on your dressing table throughout all seasons. The box itself is printed with soy ink and is 100% recyclable for those who cannot find an immediate use for it.
Lush Beauty Advent Calendar, £195.
Image available from https://uk.lush.com
I feel like it is surprising that Lush has only just got a beauty advent calendar as it feels like receiving a bath bomb every day during the run up to Christmas should have always been a thing. This limited-edition advent calendar includes 24 full sized products, including makeup as well as bath melts, shower gel, and the essential bath bombs. All featured products within the calendar are both Christmas themed and vegan! As well as the vegan aspect, Lush have also made sure that the product is made entirely out of recycled materials, that can be reused once the advent calendar itself is done. This means as well as 24 fabulous gifts you also gain a new fancy storage unit for your make-up or jewellery that you receive over Christmas!
This comprehensive list should provide an insight into the wide variety of beauty products available in the advent calendar market and help you choose the one which is best for you.
Feature Image by Anders Ruff Custom Design. Available on Flickr under Creative Commons 2.0 license.