Beauty advent calendars have been available for quite some time now and I am not referring strictly to this year’s edition but in general. A few years ago I expressed my opinion on whether such advent calendars were worth purchasing. Sure, there are many benefits to these calendars, but at that time I was convinced that they were not the best option in terms of purchases. Has anything changed in the meantime? Do I still believe that advent calendars are not worth your hard-earned cash? Keep on reading to find out.
What are beauty advent calendars?
Beauty advent calendars are a relatively new phenomenon, but they’ve quickly become a favorite among beauty fans and beauty lovers alike. Essentially, they’re boxes or containers filled with small beauty products, with one product for each day of December leading up to Christmas.
While the contents of beauty advent calendars can vary, they often include things like skincare, makeup, nail polish, and body care items. For beauty enthusiasts, beauty advent calendars are the perfect way to try out new products and brands, as well as to stock up on old favorites. Plus, who doesn’t love getting a little something beautiful each day in the lead-up to Christmas?
Some popular beauty advent calendars include the Sephora Advent Calendar, the Liberty of London advent calendar, the Harrods advent calendar, and many more.
Why should you get a beauty advent calendar?
For beauty fans, the holidays are a time to celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than with a beauty advent calendar?
Beauty advent calendars are a great way to try out new products and find new favorites. Plus, they’re a lot of fun. There are plenty of beauty advent calendars on the market, so there’s sure to be one that’s perfect for you.
Whether you’re looking for skincare, makeup, or hair care, you can find an advent calendar that’s filled with goodies. And if you’re not sure what to get, beauty advent calendars make great gifts for beauty lovers.
Another key benefit to these calendars is that the value is usually higher than the price tag. This means that you are essentially getting your money’s worth and often more. Plus, advent calendars make it possible for you to discover many new goodies or even experience high-end products you normally would have not purchased.
So, if you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate the holidays and try out new beauty products, a beauty advent calendar can be a great option.
Why you should not buy a beauty advent calendar?
Of course, there are a few drawbacks to beauty advent calendars as well.
The beauty advent calendar is a beauty lover’s dream. They get to try out new beauty products, receive exclusive discounts, and have a whole lot of fun opening each drawer or box. However, there are also some good reasons why you should think twice before buying a beauty advent calendar.
First of all, beauty products are notoriously finicky. What works for one person may not work for another, and it can be hard to find the perfect match. Sure, many brands try to go for classics or iconic products or simply products that seem to have a wider base of fans in the hopes that they will fit everyone, but even so, it is nearly impossible for someone to enjoy every single product included in such a calendar.
Second, if you end up loving only a few products from the calendar, then it is very likely that end up spending more than you would if you just bought the products individually.
Last but not least, some people are simply not comfortable with the idea of spending a lot of money on products they do not know or are unable to choose themselves.
Whether or not you decide to buy a beauty advent calendar, always do your research first to make sure it’s the right decision for you.
Are beauty advent calendars worth your money in 2022?
For beauty fans and lovers all over the world, this is a tough question to answer. On one hand, beauty advent calendars are a great way to get beauty products at a discounted price. Many beauty advent calendars also come with beauty tips and tutorials that can be useful for beauty beginners. On the other hand, some beauty fans argue that beauty advent calendars are a waste of money because most of the products included are not full-sized or they could end up not enjoying many of the products included.
So, what’s the verdict? Are beauty advent calendars worth your money in 2022? Only you can decide.
So much is true. However, I would also like to add my personal opinion here. Sure, a few years ago I would have said, no, I actually said that advent calendars are not worth it. At that time I was convinced and still am convinced that given my personal circumstances, advent calendars available at that time were not worth my money despite ending up purchasing 10+ such calendars every year.
The main reason why I did not find advent calendars worth it despite them being a cool and appealing novelty is that there were so many alternative beauty offers that provided one with significantly mroe value. Such offers include, but are not limited to beauty gifts with purchase.
The value you receive with a GWP is often similar to that of a beauty advent calendar, but the difference is that you also get additional products aka your purchase so this makes the value even higher. In addition, your purchase consists of products you actually wished to purchase and try. You just get a goody bag on top which makes the deal sweeter.
However, in 2022 I am open to changing my view on this topic. If back in the day, advent calendars were not worth investing into, now it is a completly different story. As long as you are interested in the majority of the products included in a beauty advent calendar so basically if you can benefit from most of that huge reported value as in the case of some of the most famous advent calendars on the market and given the current situation with GWPs, you might actually be better off with an advent calendar than with a gift.
This was truly not the case years ago when gifts with purchase had a value of £600+ with some even topping £1000. Now that most gifts with purchase have values in the £300-£400 range and the threshold for the purchase is similar to the price of the advent calendars, particularly high-end ones, but since advent calendar values have not seen such big fluctuations or changes, you might just be better off with an advent calendar.
Conclusion
Advent calendars are a hot topic for beauty fans and with good reason. They are essentially a beauty lover’s dream, containing all sorts of beauty products behind each door, ready to be used and enjoyed.
But are they worth the hype? And more importantly, are they worth the money?
That is honestly down to you and your own personal circumstances. I know that there are many such beauty advent calendars on the market and they are all competing for your attention and a slice of your hard-earned cash, but do your research and make informed decisions and consider what is best for you. If you think an advent calendar will bring you joy and make your beauty routine more exciting, then go for it! However, if you’re on a tight budget or simply don’t have the space for yet another beauty product, then perhaps give it a miss this year. Whatever you decide, just enjoy the festive season!
In closing, I do wish to emphasize once again that for the first time advent calendars are one of the better beauty offer choices, at least given the state of the market right now. Things may change again in the future, but for right now I do believe you can benefit from advent calendars.
What do You think?
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I agree. I remember your post about GWPs back in the day and I totally agreed back then, GWPs were reeally great offers. I so miss those days! This year the offer doesn’t seem to have been so impressive overall as you mentioned, and with few shops having some nice sets and boxes.
I have a problem with the value calculation because most of this stuff in GWPs and calendars are free samples not for regular retail sale. I am amazed how marketing works that companies give as free deluxe samples ie. 15 ml of a product that is sold as 30 ml or 50 ml (Clarins for instance has a ton of this, but indeed there are lines that you never get a free deluxe sample of), you get 2 or 3 such small tubes and you don’t need to purchase a regular product. But yeah, these are usually cheaper lines. And there are products like Augustinus Bader creams that are so ubiquitous and I really don’t feel like it’s any luxury but this alone adds £60 to the theoretical value. Or like Lucia Magnani products in HN GWPs back in the day, one item retailing for £100+.
As for my assessment whether a calendar is worth purchasing for me is if I like and have use for at least 80%-85% of its content. If there’s included something I really want that normally would be quite expensive then I’ll be ok with just 80% of the content fitting my needs. Like you said, hardly anyone can be fully content with 100% of a calendar’s content. Probably would be much easier if I resold the products I don’t want, but that’s fair only for retail-sized products anyway.
Thank you for sharing your opinion and experience. 🙂 I miss the good old days as well but who knows if we are ever going to get them back.
Maybe better not. It’s so easy to buy way more than one needs. I still have stuff from 2 years ago and I’ve been a rather moderate buyer, giving stuff away and having a skincare routine. The other thing is that it’s super enecological. You’ve got a ton of plastic packaging, dozens of small items and what’s worst: 10 ml of a product in a 30 ml sized bottle which is a deliberate choice of companies as it might be cheaper to do that than procure dedicated packaging for free deluxe samples. All this cardboard and plastic packaging of parcels and deliveries in general are not that ecological as well.
So yeah, on one hand I’d like super offers, more bang for my buck, but on the other I make more informed decisions about my spending, select more carefully what I buy, buy less, focus on using what I have and try to give in less to brands’ hype. Let’s not forget Beauty Pie and NIOD and The Ordinary. Do I really get more bang for my buck if an average performing cream is priced for £60 but it really is average and doesn’t benefit my skin in any particular way.
It’s a valid point that there is a lot of waste when it comes to beauty products. However, I think it’s also important to consider the environmental impact of not buying any products. If we all stopped buying beauty products, the beauty industry would suffer, and that would have a much bigger environmental impact than just the packaging of products as it would generate a domino effect of sorts and impact way more industries and people. Sustainability is not just about being eco-friendly but also about people and even money by the new schools of thought.
I think it’s important to be selective about what you buy and to make sure that you are only buying what you need. However, I don’t think we should feel guilty for indulging in a little luxury now and then. The idea is to be mindful about your purchases and not buy more than you need.
There is also the issue that eco-friendly products underperform to this day and they do tend to create more waste in the long run. So it is a tricky balance.
Specifically, about gifts with purchase, this is also quite tricky. Yes, there are many products, and a lot of packaging but the amount of chemical waste is more limited. Now it comes down to the individual of course but personally, I get the gifts or advent calendars that I know I have a use for and do try to use every single one of the products inside. I do have a long way to go in terms of minimalizing waste, but I am confident that I am slowly getting there. Luckily, more and more brands also offer refillable products as well as recycling schemes.
Hope all of the above makes some sense as I am pretty sure I missed a few lines of thought 😐
I have to say that I don’t think that advent calendars that contain only (or 90%) deluxe sample sizes are worth it at all. The company seems to assign an arbitrary value to those products that is way more than what you can actually get them for. A lot of times the same products are available with points from places like Sephora or are free just by going to the counter at a department store.
The only advent calendars that are worth it to me are Avent calendars that either offer either all or a majority of full size products (like YesStyle and Stylevana) or brands where a sample size is good enough for me because I would never use up a full size anyway (like MAC’s deluxe sample size mini lipsticks).
It also has to be a brand I trust or like a good number of products from because I don’t like to know what’s in the calendar before I buy it. The department store ones where it’s a bunch of random brands I’m not familiar with don’t interest me as much. But for instance By Terry’s looks really good because I trust that brand’s line of products.
I also consider the fun of not knowing what’s inside and opening it every day to be worth some money as well. I’m paying for the entertainment.
All in all, I think they can be worth it, but I’m super picky about which ones
Yes, that is absolutely normal. And I do agree with you. However, I also see value in getting to try out a lot of products I normally would not purchase without getting to try first due to the high prices and being unfamiliar with the brands.
I am not exactly sure what are you referring to value wise. Most values are based on how much it would cost you to purchase the full size but reported to the size of the item you get. Additionally, I will assume you are US based or North American? In Europe samples are very far and few in between. In local Sephoras I have almost never received a sample and if you are to ask in department stores or even drugstores, they are very stingy about it. The only product I ever got in a deluxe sample size and not tiny pouch you get in magazines type was at a Dior counter in Boots.
Experiences differ 🙂 but That is exactly why I emphasized that a calendar or whatever offer you take advantage has to be first and foremost worth it to you personally.
Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your experience with us! 🤗