Beauty Advent Calendars: Cloud10, Voduz and more Irish brands unveil their offerings
There is a slew of Beauty Advent Calendars on the market this year, but are they worth the money?
It's that time of year again — the shops are full of Christmas bits and bobs, and we're lusting over the beauty advent calendars.
This year, more than most, we know we’re watching our pennies along with many of our readers, so we’ve had a look at some of the most popular beauty and skincare advent calendars on the market to work out which are actually value for money.
Here’s our pick of the bunch.
€150 / €525
25
With one sold every five seconds last year, Boot's No7 Ultimate Beauty Advent Calendar is one of the *big* ones on the market. We were really looking forward to seeing what was in this year's box — and it hasn't disappointed.
The advent calendar includes a number of day and night creams from some of their most popular lines like Restore & Renew and Protest & Perfect, the Airbrush Away Radiance Boosting Primer and No7 LABORATORIES Firming booster serum (we're really looking forward to trying out this one). There are also lots of make-up bits and bobs like the Shimmer Palette in Caramel, a Trio eye Shadow in Burnish Bronze and a voucher for a full-sized No7 foundation.
A massive 23 of the 25 products on offer are the full-size versions. If we had to be picky, we were disappointed that the Pure Retionl 0.3% Retinol Night Concentrate was one of the only mini's in the calendar — a full-size of this would have really sold us.
If you've tried and tested No7 skincare previously and know your skin gets on with it, this is a great value offering. There's lots of make-up bits to try too.
- On sale now in Boots stores and from boots.ie
€89.95 / Worth: €400
12
One Irish offering to take a look at this year is Cloud10 Beauty. The Monaghan-based beauty, skin and haircare online giant is one of our go-to's for savings on top brands, so we were eager to check out their contribution to the advent calendar market.
There are 12 products in 12 Days of Slay, though just four of them are full-sized versions. These include Zelens Melatonin B12 Advanced Repair Serum, TAN-LUXE Super Glow Hyaluronic Self Tan Serum, Pestle & Mortar Vitamin C Phase Serum and Aveda Nutriplenish Daily Moisturising Treatment Mask Light.
There is also a week's worth of teeth whitening strips from Spotlight Oral Care in the box, perfect for the run-up to Christmas week, and a 50ml bottle of NUXE's Huile Prodigieuse Body Oil to throw in your carry-on for any winter trips away. The travel-size versions of Redken's All Soft Shampoo and Conditioner would also make a lovely addition to any weekend bag packing in your future.
While not our favourite offering on the list, at €89.95, it's at a much lower price point than many of its competitors. The full-size Pestle & Mortar Vitamin C serum is a great score, and the Emma Hardie and Alpha-H minis will probably get you hooked. Plus, we're still using our 12 Days of Slay box from last year to store make-up — it's sturdy.
€300 / €799
25
The most expensive offering on our list, the Brown Thomas Beauty Advent Calendar is on sale for a whopping €300.
So what do you get for your hard-earned cash? Luxury brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Olaplex, MAC, La Mer, Nars, YSL and Dermalogica are all in there.
Some of the stand-outs from what we've seen include a 30ml bottle of Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Serum, a 100ml bottle of Olaplex No 3 and a full-size Laura Mercier Primer Hydrating Primer. There is also a 15ml Le Labo Fragrance Santal 33 spray, and a 7.5ml Molecule Fragrance M+ Iris Scent spray in there.
For the price, we think there should be fewer travel sizes and more full-size products.
- On sale now in Brown Thomas stores and online at brownthomas.com
€45 when you spend €35 on clothing, home and/or beauty in-store or online / €400
25
If you're looking for an advent calendar that won't result in you having to remortgage the house, but also gives you a good mix of quality/luxury skincare, make-up, haircare, fragrance and nail products, you can't go wrong with M&S's offering this year.
Now, a big point to note is that from what we can tell (we haven't laid eyes on the actual calendar yet as it isn't going on sale until late October), it looks like almost everything in the box is a mini. So, that goes somewhat to explaining the much-cheaper price point than many of the other calendars.
The calendar has also been designed to promote reusability as it comes in a mirrored box design with storage capability, which we love.
For some customers, only getting travel size products might be a frustration, but if like us you love trying out a range of products from various brands before you invest in the full size versions, this is a great purchase. Some of our favourite brands you'll find in the advent calendar this year include Emma Hardie, NUXE, REN, L'Occitane, Clinique, Aveda and Living Proof.
- Available in-store and online from October 27, see marksandspencer.com
Reduced to €196, was €245 / €877
30
This was one of the priciest beauty advent calendars on our list, but it's recently been reduced to €196, making it even more tempting. We're conscious few of us will have the guts of €200 lying around this year, but, if you do, we have to say this advent offering gives you serious bang for your buck.
While many beauty calendars are full of minis and one-off products that may seem like afterthoughts, this one has lots of full-size products, and they’re all beauty classics or recent favourites.
Among the stars of this advent calendar is Paula’s Choice: Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant (full size), Charlotte Tilbury's iconic Pillow Talk lipstick (full size), Olaplex: No.3 Hair Perfector (full size) and Caudalíe’s Vinergetic C+ Instant Detox Mask (full size). The calendar also gives you a chance to test out some very pricey luxury skincare items that you may not be able to afford to test out otherwise, such as a sample of the ultimate luxury moisturizer, La Mer’s Crème De La Mer Moisturizing Cream (7ml) and Tatcha: The Dewy Skin Cream (10ml). These products retail at €170 for 30ml and €72 for 50ml, respectively.
There are no duds in this 24-day calendar. If there’s someone special in your life who is a beauty and skincare aficionado, and you have the money to spend, this is a gift that will definitely be well received. Or, if you’re someone who has lots of folk to buy for this Christmas, this is definitely a calendar that could be bought with the intention of splitting the spoils for numerous presents.
- On sale now from spacenk.com and Space NK's Grafton Street store.
€185 / €274
12
If you're a fan of make-up artist to the stars Charlotte Tilbury, you'll likely have your eye out for her holiday gifting specials this year. Her contribution to the advent calendar market is Charlotte’s Diamond Chest of Beauty Stars, which contains 12 make-up/skincare products. The chest is fairly sturdy, so it could definitely be re-used for storing your favourite products.
Five products are full-size including a Matte Revolution lipstick in Catwalk (a neutral nude peach shade) and a Colour Chameleon eyeshadow pencil in shade golden quartz. There are also some of the beauty brand's bestsellers in travel sizes versions including the Airbrush Flawless setting spray and Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes! mascara in Super Black. We're big fans of both.
We were disappointed not to find more of our favourite Charlotte Tilbury products in this one, namely some more from the Pillow Talk collection, and we reckon one of the quad eyeshadows would have been a great addition. But, the mini magic cream and setting spray are great additions to the handbag.
If you want to give a Charlotte Tilbury gift this Christmas, we'd personally go for something like the Pillow Talk Lip Secrets set instead. It contains a full size of the iconic Matte Revolution lipstick along with a travel size version of the lip liner, collagen lip bath and jewel lips lipgloss. This retails at €48, but you can get it in Kildare Village for €38.40.
- On sale now from charlottetilbury.com
€59 / €103
24
One of the cheaper advent calendars on our list, The Body Shop's Box of Wishes advent calendar comes in at just under €60. It features a number of full-size products, and those that aren't full-sized are still substantial enough that you feel like you're getting a decent amount of product — unlike some of the samples and travel sizes we've seen from other brands.
The calendar contains lots of our favourite The Body Shop products like Shea hand balm, Almond Milk shower gel, Mango body butter and Tea Tree facial wash. There are also some face masks, lip balms, cleansing bars and a hair claw thrown in there.
There isn't a single product we don't love in here, and at €59, it's one advent calendar we wouldn't feel too bad about treating ourselves to this year. It would also be another great one to pick up with the intention of throwing products into various gift packages for others this year.
- On sale now from thebodyshop.com
€295 / €1400
34, plus 5 vouchers
Right, settle in friends, we're going for a peek at what luxury looks like. The Harvey Nicholas Beauty Advent Calendar retails at €295, and is worth a staggering €1400. So, what the hell is in it?
Well, firstly, there are 34 products, the largest number of products we've seen in any other calendar on the market. There are a number of full size products from luxury beauty brands like Sunday Riley C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric Face Oil, Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer in Fu$$y and Charlotte Tilbury Eyes To Mesmerise in Chocolate Bronze, but what we really love about this calendar are the treatment vouchers. There are five in total, including a Dermalogica ProSkin 30 treatment voucher, an Environ Focus On Filler treatment or Focus On Eye treatment voucher, and a Fenty Beauty The Whole Shebang 45-minute colour masterclass voucher.
On top of all that, there's a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory element to this one, with one in ten customers also receiving a surprise Harvey Nichols voucher worth €58 euro.
We wouldn't spend €295 on a Beauty Advent Calendar, no matter what was in it. But we enjoyed oogling it from afar.
- On sale from Oct 7 in Harvey Nicholas Dundrum store and on harveynichols.com
€69.50 / €130
24
Rituals has three advent calendars on the market this year, the cheapest of which is its 2D Advent Calendar. While it doesn't look as impressive as its 3D counterparts (priced at €99.50 and €149.50, respectively), it has the same number of products. Inside, you will find shower gels, body scrubs, body oils, hand lotions and face masks from their classic ranges like Mehr, Sakura, Karma and Jing, as well as mini candles from the advent private collection range, exclusive to the calendars.
A luxury treat for less than many of the other luxury offerings, but we'd probably go for the cheaper The Body Shop advent calendar for similar products, despite how much we love Rituals.
- On sale now, see rituals.com
€169.99 / €324
15
Irish make-up brand BPerfect and haircare brand Voduz have teamed up to create the Checkmate Advent Calendar, which is retailing for just shy of €170. It includes 15 full-size products, six of which are completely new products including an exfoliating scalp brush and an exfoliating scalp scrub from Voduz, as well as a new lip liner and lipstick from BPerfect. In terms of bestsellers from the brand, you have Voduz's Defender Heat Protection spray in there along with their Cleanse It and Condition It shampoo and conditioner, as well as a new setting spray from BPerfect, the One Dew Three Longevity Setting Spray. One of our favourite things about this one is the packaging. Similar to the M&S calendar, this is designed to be re-used as it comes in a white vanity box, perfect for storing all your bits.
BPerfect is known for its bright and colourful eyeshadows, so we were disappointed not to see this represented in their advent offering. However, the fact that there are no minis or travel sizes in this is impressive.
- On sale from October 3, available for pre-order now. See bperfectcosmetics.com
- Or, see voduzhair.com
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