Now that the most wonderful time of the year, Beauty Advent Calendar Season, has passed, let’s talk about what we thought of this year’s crop. And – more importantly- what would we like to see in next year’s boxes of delight?
I bought the Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar, and this is what was inside the 2017 edition:
- Day 1 – Aveda Volumizing Tonic (40ml sample worth £7.20)
- Day 2 -Dermalogica Superfoliant (13g travel size RRP £17)
- Day 3 – Hourglass Girl Lip Stylo in Influencer (1.5g sample size worth £15.60)
- Day 4 – Margaret Dabbs Nourishing Nail & Cuticle Serum (Full size 15ml RRP £12)
- Day 5 – Omnorovicza Moor Cream Cleanser (30ml sample size worth £10.40)
- Day 6 – Espa Pink Hair & Scalp Mud (30ml sample size worth £5.67)
- Day 7 – Malin + Goetz Lip Moisturiser (Full size, RRP £10)
- Day 8 – Aromatherapy Associates Revive Morning Roller Ball (10ml full size, RRP £18)
- Day 9 – Skin Laundry Skin Purifying Cream Cleanser (65ml sample size worth £6.50)
- Day 10 – Laura Mercier Caviar Eye Stick Colour in Amethyst (Full size, RRP £23)
- Day 11 – Liberty London Small Washbag in Strawberry Thief – (Approx £18)
- Day 12 – NARS Orgasm Blusher – (3.5g sample size worth £18.67)
- Day 13 – Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream (Full travel size 75ml RRP £18)
- Day 14 – Eve Lom Cleanser – (30ml sample size worth £16.50)
- Day 15 – bbrowbar Nourishing Brow Oil (Full size 11ml RRP £16)
- Day 16 – QMS Medicosmetics Activator Mini Travel Mask (10ml sample worth £6.60)
- Day 17 – Surratt Smokey Eye Baton in Enticelle (Full Size, RRP £34)
- Day 18 – Aurelia Probiotic Skincare Cell Repair Night Oil (30ml sample size worth £37.20)
- Day 19 – Davines Oi Shampoo (90ml sample size worth £5.30)
- Day 20 – Dr Sebagh Serum Repair (20ml full size RRP £69)
- Day 21 – BYREDO Hand Cream Bal D’Afrique (30ml full size, RRP £24)
- Day 22 – Trish McEvoy Liquid Lip Colour in Power Red (Full size, RRP £33)
- Day 23 – Votary Cleansing Oil plus flannel (50ml sample size worth £22.50)
- Day 24 – Diptyque Pomander Candle (70g full size mini, RRP £24)
- Day 25 – Le Labo The Noir Eau de Parfum (15ml sample size worth £36)
What a fantastic collection of loveliness, all the way from meh (lip balms! I have a million of those!) to overkill (three cleansers! but I only have one face!) to absolute treats (the amazing perfume! red lipstick – the star of the show!).
There were lots of well known brands, plus plenty I’d never encountered before. Who knew that Bum Bum cream could keep you smelling amazing all day long? Or that eyebrow oil could prove to be more necessary than you might think?
There were a few duds, in particular the Surratt eyeliner which is simply too soft to use, and the aromatherapy rollerball that manages to smell of nothing within 5 minutes. But there were far more hits than misses and I’m really happy with the final haul.
The full value of the contents is £504.14. Liberty advertised this calendar as including “15 full sized products” but as you can see, there are only 13, and 3 of those are travel sized minis. I don’t mind that so much; there’s a limit to what anybody can put on their face. Though if you were intending to recoup the cost by selling some of the contents on eBay, as many people do, you might feel shortchanged.
I paid £175 plus £4.95 postage, so £179.95 in total. The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar sold out within 3 days, as it always does. So if you are reading this with an eye to buying it next year, bear in mind that you’ll have to be very quick off the mark.
A common complaint amongst purchasers this year was repeats – both the Marks and Spencer and Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar were seen to contain too many products which also featured last year. But these are both department stores with relatively small beauty departments, so 25 brand new items every year is always going to be a bit of a stretch.
If you see these calendars as a way to try out new products, as I do, then the smart thing seems to be not to buy the same one every year. The most positive word of mouth this year seems to have been for the Look Fantastic beauty advent calendar, so I’ve already got that in mind for next time.
Speaking of word of mouth, I think Liberty missed a trick social media wise by having a less than exciting first week to this calendar. If that red lipstick had been in Day One then we would all have been sharing it on Instagram. As it was, the level of buzz was quite low, as evidenced by the fact that the top Insta pics under #libertyadventcalendar are still from the 2016 version.