7 Beauty Advent Calendars You Need To Buy This Holiday Season
Once you are past the joys of childhood and move on to leading your very own adult life, the feelings associated with the holiday season can change rather dramatically. Suddenly, the weeks leading up to your winter gift-giving holiday of choice may no longer feel full of wonder and excitement but are full of stress and worry about shopping, budgets, and hosting instead. Thankfully, there's a way to get that childhood wonder back for you and those on your holiday shopping list. It comes in the form of an Advent calendar.
Advent traditionally refers to the four weeks leading up to Christmas. An Advent calendar features a series of small, often themed, gifts meant to be opened one at a time, each day for a set number of days before Christmas. While Advent and Christmas are traditionally Christian-centered holidays, the idea of an Advent calendar can be adjusted to suit the days leading up to any major holiday. Here at Glam, we're all about everything beauty — so, we've assembled a curated list of the best beauty-related advent calendars available in 2023.
How we selected products
Advent calendars bring so much joy and excitement to the holiday season that they've become incredibly successful commercial items. While this popularity means that they're widely accessible to most people, it also equates to an oversaturated market that can overwhelm shoppers with options. Nobody wants to feel so bombarded with choices that they put off their gift shopping until the last minute. Since an Advent calendar can include a few weeks of gifts, it's actually something you'll need to select a little early.
The products recommended by Glam are never taken lightly or chosen at random. We put time into researching each category and product included in our gift guides so that you don't have to. We've dedicated hours to scouring product descriptions and reviews, studying ingredient lists and price points, and searching for social media buzz. Our results have been compiled into this guide to 2023 beauty Advent calendars for your convenience.
Best overall beauty advent calendar: 24 Days of Revolve Beauty Advent Calendar
If you're in search of one Advent calendar that covers all your beauty bases, 24 Days of Revolve Beauty Advent Calendar is exactly what you're looking for. This impressive set offers six full-size and 18 luxury brand travel-size makeup, skincare, and haircare products — a $481 value — including everything from body butter, hair oil, and sunscreen to eyeliner and highlighter. "Absolutely obsessed," one reviewer raved. "My mom got this for my sister and I — it was the best!"
Purchase the 24 Days of Revolve Beauty Advent Calendar at Revolve for $150.
Best nail polish advent calendar: OPI Holiday '23 Nail Lacquer Mini 25 Piece Advent Calendar
It's no secret that OPI is a giant when it comes to classic air-dry nail polish. To many individuals and salons alike, the brand has been considered the best on the market for decades. It's likely that anyone on your holiday shopping list who is a nail polish fan has been coveting several OPI shades for years. The brand produces so many different colors that it's unlikely any one person has already tried them all. The OPI Holiday '23 Nail Lacquer Mini 25 Piece Advent Calendar features 14 limited-edition holiday colors and nine of the brand's most iconic shades, plus RapiDry Top Coat and Start to Finish 3 in 1 Treatment.
Purchase the OPI Holiday '23 Nail Lacquer Mini 25 Piece Advent Calendar at Ulta for $79.94.
Best designer beauty advent calendar: Charlotte's Lucky Chest of Beauty
For the designer-conscious beauty buff on your holiday shopping list, Charlotte Tilbury is offering its annual Advent calendar: Charlotte's Lucky Chest of Beauty. The set features two full-size and 10 miniature versions of 12 of the brand's most iconic makeup and skincare products — including Magic Serum Crystal Elixir, Matte Beauty Blush Wand, and Rock 'n' Kohl Eyeliner pencil — each tucked into one drawer of a reusable chest. This calendar is long awaited by Charlotte Tilbury fans each year and is frequently unboxed and reviewed by popular beauty vloggers on YouTube.
Purchase Charlotte's Lucky Chest of Beauty at Charlotte Tilbury for $210.
Best bath and body advent calendar: The Body Shop The Advent of Change calendar
For your loved one who just can't stop pampering their skin, The Body Shop The Advent of Change calendar has you covered. The set includes bath, body, skincare, and adjacent products to get even the most sensitive skin through the entire cold weather season. Featured are hand balms, shower gels, shampoo and conditioner, sheet masks, and even a hair clip and bath lily. The brand's ASMR-style unboxing video on TikTok has snagged over 1.3 million views and dozens of positive comments so far.
Purchase The Body Shop's The Advent of Change calendar at Ulta for $89.
Best budget beauty advent calendar: Wet n Wild The Wild List Advent Calendar
Not everyone who loves the idea of gifting Advent calendars has a budget to support buying them at $75 or more each. If you happen to fall into this category, you can still gift your friends and family members a cute beauty Advent calendar from a well-known and trusted brand. Budget beauty icon Wet 'n Wild has released The Wild List Advent Calendar for all those searching for an affordable option. Inside the cheerful packaging reside 12 Wet 'n Wild makeup products — including a full-size five-pan eyeshadow palette — all for under $30.
Purchase the Wet n Wild The Wild List Advent Calendar at Ulta for $29.99.
Best makeup advent calendar: Revolution 25 Days of Glam Advent Calendar
If you've got a hardcore makeup lover on your list, skip the mixed-beauty calendars and go for the Revolution 25 Days of Glam Advent Calendar. This beloved annual set includes nothing but makeup and makeup accessories. From the Pink Sponge and Fluffy Eye Brush to the Superdewy Blush, Pressed Contour Powder, and Matte Liquid Lips, it has nearly every item you need for a full-face glam look. As one reviewer put it, the set is quite simply "perfect."
Purchase the Revolution 25 Days of Glam Advent Calendar at Revolution for $50.
Best fragrance advent calendar: 24 Days of Dossier Holiday Perfume Advent Calendar
Dossier — popular with budget beauty vloggers on TikTok – has nailed the process of creating high-quality dupes for designer perfumes that don't smell like just another cheap knockoff. They also produce their own unique original scents in the categories of women's, men's, and unisex. The 24 Days of Dossier: Holiday Perfume Advent Calendar features a full-size bottle of the brand's bestselling fragrance: Ambery Saffron (a popular dupe for MFK Baccarat Rouge 540) plus samples of 23 additional scents from all three categories.
Purchase the 24 Days of Dossier: Holiday Perfume Advent Calendar at Dossier for $83.85.