The Best Beauty Advent Calendars to Gift in the 2020 Holiday Season – WWD
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There’s truly no better holiday gift for a beauty lover than an advent calendar. No matter how old you are, opening up a new tiny door every day to reveal a present is just as exciting as when you were a kid. Whether you opt for a skin-care-, makeup- or fragrance-themed beauty advent calendar—or a mix of everything—they make the perfect opportunity to play with new products the recipient might not have tried otherwise. The variety ensures that there will be at least a few things they love. Another perk is if you added up the retail price of each item, it would surely exceed the price of the advent calendar.
What makes beauty advent calendars one of the best holiday gifts for 2020 is that due to COVID-19, people couldn’t go into their favorite beauty stores to play with products and explore new brands, so this is a fun, safe alternative to make up for that. Get ready to scratch a few names off your shopping list with the best beauty advent calendars to give this holiday season.
1. The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar
Liberty London can be credited with sparking the holiday beauty advent calendar craze back in 2014 when the retailer premiered theirs to celebrate the relaunch of their beauty hall. People lined up outside the store to buy them. The Liberty London team spends a year carefully curating the assortment of luxury goodies. Now their 2020 edition is the largest one yet and expected to break sales records. The decadent package is adorned with the Liberty Regent Street façade and the interior is lined with the Standen Manor print from the Liberty Fabrics FW2020 collection. It has 25 drawers and 19 of them have full-size products, including a bonus gift on Christmas Day, filled with in-demand brands such as Le Labo, Augustinus Bader, Susanne Kaufman, Diptyque, Herbivore and Hourglass, to name a few. It’s clean beauty at its best and the packaging is recyclable to go with the mindful theme. Though it’s valued around $1,000, it only rings in at $275.
2. Benefit Cosmetics Shake Your Beauty Travel Size Set
Pretty in pink, 12 of Benefit’s best-sellers in travel sizes are wrapped up in this charming limited-edition advent calendar. The set includes everything needed for a glam look, including plenty of the brand’s coveted mascaras. Count down to the holidays with Benefit’s Precisely, My Brow Ultra-Fine Shape & Define Pencil, Hoola Matte Bronzing Powder, Dandelion Brightening Face Powder, 24-Hour Brow Setter Shaping & Setting Gel, The POREfessional Hydrate Face Primer, The POREfessional Face Primer, Roller Lash Curling & Lifting Mascara, They’re Real! Lengthening & Volumizing Mascara, BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara, Gimme Brow+ Volumizing Eyebrow Gel and Roller Liner Matte Liquid Eyeliner.
3. Olive & June Advent Calendar 25 Days of Mani Magic
This year Olive & June introduces their very first advent calendar. The nail-care brand that’s all about getting salon-worthy manis at home is making that even easier during the 25 days leading up to Christmas. Behind each door is a mini version of one of their most popular polishes, tools and products. The set includes two Mini Poppy, nine Mini Polishes, one Mini Cuticle Serum, seven Mini Nail Art Sticker packs, one Mini Top Coat, one Mini Remover Pot, two Mini Nail Files, one Mini Buffer and one Mini Clean Up Brush.
4. Kiehl’s Limited-Edition Skincare Advent Calendar
A gift that gives back always brings extra holiday cheer. Kiehl’s continues its partnership with Feeding America and will donate a minimum of $100,000 to provide one million meals to families in need this holiday season. Plus, their holiday gift sets are the most eco-conscious yet, made with zero plastic and 100 percent previously recycled paper with fully recyclable gift boxes. Kiehl’s tapped Lyon-based illustrator Maïté Franchi to adorn the packaging with her ebullient art. The advent calendar features a month’s worth of their most beloved skin-care products, including cleansers, face masks, facial serums and moisturizers. With stars like their Midnight Recovery Concentrate, Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado and Lip Balm #1, the advent calendar has a $207 value, but the price tag is only $98.
5. Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte’s Bejewelled Chest of Beauty Treasures
This glimmering advent calendar will bring even more joy to the 12 days of Christmas. Each bejewelled drawer holds one of Charlotte Tilbury’s iconic makeup or skin-care products. The chest contains travel sizes of the Goddess Skin Clay Mask, Serum, Charlotte’s Magic Cream, Wonderglow, Supermodel Body, Setting Spray, Rock ‘n’ Kohl in Barbarella Brown, Pillow Talk Push-up Mascara, Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk and Pillow Talk Matte Revolution Lipstick, as well as full sizes of the Beauty Light Wand in Spotlight and Colour Chameleon in the limited-edition Copper Lights shade.
6. Sephora Collection Wild Wishes Advent Calendar
The countdown to Christmas will be even more fun when you have 24 beauty presents waiting for you inside this festive advent calendar. There’s a range of full-size, mini and exclusive items from Sephora Collection, including two Fizzing Bath Stars in Moonlight Swim, Cream Lip Stain in Always Red, Eye Pencil To Go in 09 Intense Black, Coconut Lip Balm, Shea Lip Mask, Charcoal Nose Strip, two hair ribbons, a nail file and pocket mirror.
7. Ciaté London Mini Mani Month Nail Polish Advent Calendar
A holiday party-ready mani is a must for the season. Give the gift of festive nails with Ciaté London’s Mini Mani Month Nail Polish Advent Calendar, which has everything needed for festive fingertips. Behind each pretty door is a total of 22 mini Plant Pots nail polishes in a range of hues, one full-size Plant Pot nail polish and a deluxe mini Watermelon Lip Oil. The new plant nail pots are made with up to 80 percent natural ingredients, such as bamboo and bakuchiol extracts and biodegradable glitters.
8. NYX Professional Makeup Diamonds & Ice, Please! Holiday Countdown Advent Calendar
Everyone could use a little sparkle during the merriest time of year. Aptly named, NYX’s Diamonds & Ice, Please! Holiday Countdown Advent Calendar will help you create the holiday beauty looks that will let you shine at the season’s soirees, even if they’re on Zoom. The set features 24 of the brand’s best-sellers in mini and full sizes, including Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator, Soft Matte Lip Cream, #THISISEVERYTHING Lip Scrub and Lip Oil, Butter Lip Gloss, Pore Filler and Hot Singles Eyeshadows.
9. ESPA No Place Like Home Advent Calendar
Getting a spa treatment isn’t exactly the experience it used to be—and it still isn’t an option for many. Instead, bring the spa into a lucky recipient’s home with ESPA’s No Place Like Home Advent Calendar, where they can Zen out in the comfort and safety of their own abode. The gift includes 25 luxe samples for the face, body and home. Worth $450, it sells for $189 and includes their Tri-Active Resilience ProBiome Eye Cream, Lift & Firm Neck and Décolleté Balm, Soothing Bath & Body Oil, Pink Hair and Scalp Mud, and Winter Spice Votive, to name a few.
