Nov
2017
Everyday surprises: Three beauty advent calendars you need for the holidays
With December 1 being this Friday, do you have your advent calendar yet?
I chatted about these last week (and am also giving one away!), but I’ve always thought advent calendars were such a cool idea, and there are so many brands that have hopped on board with this. Love coffee or tea? Beauty products? Socks? There’s an advent calendar for you.
Since I don’t actually celebrate Christmas I never had these growing up and I’ve only really ever opened them when they were gifted to me (note to self: create an eight days of Hanukkah advent calendar), but if you’re looking to pick one up this year, there are no shortages of ones you can buy.
Since this is a beauty blog, if you are in the market to pick one up for you or a friend, I have a few recommendations for ya, and unlike my last blog on them last week, I’ll ruin the surprise and even let you know what’s in them.
The Body Shop 24 Days of Beauty advent calendar
Housed in a purple box, this advent calendar from The Body Shop is one of many you can pick up. The 24 Days of Beauty set is on the more affordable side, retailing at C$69 (with a value of C$154). There are tons of minis behind those doors, including the following:
- Lip Butter Mango 10ml
- Shower Gel Mango 60ml
- Soap Frosted Plum 25g
- Shower Gel Coconut 60ml
- Nail File
- Shower Gel Pink Grapefruit 60ml
- Soap Frosted Berries 25g
- Hand Cream Coconut 30ml
- Eyelash Curler
- Body Lotion Mango 60ml
- Loofah White
- Soap Vanilla 25g
- Eye Definer Black 1.1g
- Facial Cleansing Sponge
- Shower Gel Strawberry 60ml
- Lip Butter Shea 10ml
- Gentle Eye Make Up Remover Camomile 60ml
- Hand Cream Almond 30ml
- Gloves Bath Red
- Body Butter British Rose 50ml
- Brush Brow/Lash Comb
- Born Lippy™ Lip Balm Strawberry 10ml
- Body Lotion White Musk 60ml
- Glitter Dust Gold 1g
I think that the variety of products in here makes this a nice set. Although there are some repeats just in different scents, you can totally split this up if you wanted (after you’ve opened all the doors obviously). I personally like having these small items on hand for travel. The only thing I would change are the bar soaps. Do people really use bar soap anymore? I’m more of a body wash and hand soap kinda girl, so these personally won’t go to any use with me.
This item is currently sold out online but may be available in store. I’m also giving one away (contest closes tonight!).
Sephora Collection Winter Wonderland Advent Calendar
For holidays 2017, Sephora Collection has released an advent calendar filled with makeup, skincare, bath and body, and accessories. As part of their cute Winter Wonderland theme, this calendar comes housed in a big pink box with tons of themed goodies.
Although anything from Sephora Collection is a good idea, I do wish that this advent calendar came with better items. Here’s what’s inside:
- 0.27 oz/ 8 mL Sleeping Mask in Lotus
- 3 x 0.26 oz/ 7.9 mL Creamy Body Wash Capsule in Cotton Flower, Lagoon, Peony
- 0.63 oz/ 18 g Fizzing Cube in Cotton Flower
- 2 x 0.0101 oz/ 1.87 g Express Eye Makeup Remover Wipes
- 0.06 oz/ 2 mL Fingertip Eyeliner in 01 Smart Black
- 0.025 oz/ 0.73 g Eye Pencil Liner to go in N09 Intense Black
- 0.07 oz/ 2 g Removable Eyeshadow Pan in N298 Tiramisu
- 0.089 oz/ 2.5 g Universal Brow Freeze in 01 Clear
- 0.12 oz/ 3.5 g Blush in N05 Sweet On You
- 0.025 oz/ 73 g Lip Pencil to go in N03 Classic Red
- 0.169 oz/ 5 mL Cream Lip Stain Lipstick in 01 Always Red
- 0.16 oz/ 5 mL Nail Polish in L43 It-Girl
- 4 x 0.09 oz/ 2.63 g Instant Nail Polish Wipes
- Ribbon hair tie
- Pocket mirror
- Ribbon
- Post-it stickers
- Badges
- Nail file
Post-it stickers? Ribbon? Come on Sephora, you guys are the queens of the beauty world, surely you could have thought of better items to put in here other than ribbon. There is a Party Piñata (C$38) as well, that’s totally fun and includes less items, but if you’re hosting a holiday party, you may want to look into that item as well.
Although there are way better advent calendars out there than this one, it is Sephora after all. Items aside, I’m sure anyone who receives this will absolutely love it. This retails for C$56, and although I can’t find it online, check in store, they’ll probably have it.
Hard Candy 12 Days of Eyes and Holiday Crackers
If you’re looking for something more affordable or for those wanting to build up their makeup collection, Hard Candy has a few options available.
The 12 Days of EyeShadow Collection (C$9.97 at Walmart) gives you 12 single eyeshadows, one for each day leading up to the holidays (Hanukkah starts on December 12… just saying..). Hard Candy also offers this set with lip products and nail polishes, so there are definitely options for whoever you may want to gift this to. Since it’s so inexpensive, you could totally pick up all three if you really wanted (the three of them would be cheaper than one of the other sets I mentioned).
Although this isn’t an advent calendar, Hard Candy also has a set of holiday crackers, which I think would make fantastic stocking stuffers or stuffer gifts for your friends (you know when you buy one expensive thing but you should really throw something else in the bag? These would be perfect for that). Each cracker contains a paper crown and a different full-size Hard Candy cosmetic item:
- Walk The Line liquid eyeliner
- Plumping Serum volumizing lip gloss
- Wet Ever lip lacquer
- Velvet Mousse lip colour
- Metallic Mousse lip colour
- Stroke of Gorgeous eyeliner
Since all crackers look the same it’s a total surprise on what each hold. Hard Candy is sold exclusively at Walmart and this set retails for C$14.97 (a total steal!).
I would love to know if you’re into advent calendars and the ones you hope to receive this season. Let me know in the comments below!
Please note, products provided by PR. All opinions are my own.
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