The best beauty Advent calendars take the thrill of Christmas morning and prolong it for days on end. With teeny gifts hiding behind whimsical doors—and the year’s most coveted launches tucked into drawers—Advent calendars offer the thrill of discovery leading up to the holidays. But beauty Advent calendars offer so much more. Bursting with palm-size (and full-size!) presents that range from the perfect red lipstick to candles that make staying home that much more luxurious, the collectible calendars never fail to delight. And this year, they’re infused with more magic than ever before.
Vogue’s Favorite Beauty Advent Calendars
For the 2024 holiday season, beauty brands seem to have peeked over Santa’s shoulder to see every beauty lover’s wish list—and they’re delivering all the items on it. Whether you’re shopping for a family member who’s fastidious about taking care of her skin or a fragrance snob who’s always sniffing out the next It scent, the best Advent calendars have your whole shopping list covered. This year, our favorite launches include Charlotte Tilbury’s bejeweled makeup collection, Glow Recipe’s glass-skin-enabling collection, and Dr. Barbara Sturm’s assortment of radiance-restoring potions. All this and more are ready to add to your virtual sleigh (okay, cart) ahead of the holidays. Happy counting down!
In This Article
Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte’s Beauty Treasure Chest of Love
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $220
- Best For: For the Charlotte-holic on your list, this heart-studded chest is full of treasure indeed.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: Everyone—from The Bear’s Molly Gordon to Billboard chart empress Sabrina Carpenter—loves Charlotte’s Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk. The pinkish nude hue was designed to flatter every skin tone, and the hydrating formulation lasts and lasts.
- Why We Love It: The jeweled box itself is sheer vanity candy, but what’s inside is even sweeter. The chest offers a beloved Charlotte Tilbury product for every step of one’s holiday-glam routine, from a firming rose-scented serum to a setting spray to lock your look in place.
- What’s Included: The 12-piece set includes a mix of travel- and full-size products, ranging from skin care to makeup. Items include lip liners and lipsticks, eyeliners and mascara, a serum and a face cream (not just any face cream—Charlotte’s Magic Cream), along with glowy blushes and more.
- What You’re Left With: When the last drop of gleaming makeup has been applied, you’ll still have the box it came in: Red, heart-shaped, and decked out with jeweled drawer pulls. The chest is a keepsake to be treasured for years.
Dr. Barbara Sturm’s Advent Calendar 2024
- Release Date: Sign up for the October 1 drop on drbarbarasturm.com, or purchase now if you can’t wait at Selfridges
- Price: $560
- Best For: Dr. Barbara Sturm loyalists will find a complete skin-care regime restock—plus, perhaps, a few discoveries—in this sturdy cranberry-colored set. The gift is equally suited for skin-care enthusiasts who have yet to discover the brand: The 24 products, which range from a gentle foam cleanser to serums packed with actives, give a solid sampling of the range. There are also specific offerings for men and melanin-rich skin.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: The Dr. Barbara Sturm Glow Drops, packed with powerful anti-aging compounds, do indeed help one glow—just ask product loyalists like Hailey Bieber and Adwoa Aboah.
- Why We Love It: Along with top-shelf skin care, the product comes with a sweet backstory. Dr. Sturm still remembers the Advent calendars her mother would make for her when she was a little girl; she invented this one to give her customers the same thrill of discovery leading up to the holiday.
- What’s Included: The set contains 24 Dr. Barbara Strum products that range from perennial bestsellers to the latest innovations; there’s also a mix of sizes, with full-size bottles, minis, and travel-size formats. As for the products themselves, you’ll find everything from her Lifting Serum and makeup remover to eye creams to face creams.
- What You’re Left With: From “vampire facials” to plasma-infused face creams, Sturm is known for her pioneering approach to anti-aging and anti-inflammatory skin care. The Advent calendar gives a taste of her youth-boosting innovations—without taking a single drop of blood.
L’Occitane 24 Days of Beauty Classic Holiday Advent Calendar
- Release Date: Available to shop now.
- Price: $115
- Best For: The Francophile in your life will be thrilled to receive a mix of L’Occitane’s most beloved products, which nurture the skin, hair, and body with ingredients plucked from the French countryside.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: The brand’s worldwide bestseller, its Intensive Hand Balm, is included in the set. The soothing balm prevents dryness and cracks with shea butter, coconut oil, honey, and marshmallow extracts.
- Why We Love It: The set offers winter skin-care standbys that we tend to hide—like little beauty elves—in several convenient spots. The iconic hand lotion comes to work, the Verbena soap spruces up the guest bathroom, and the miniature shower gels fit handily in a toiletry bag.
- What’s Included: The set includes 24 miniature editions of L’Occitane classics for bath and body. In addition to the aforementioned lotions, soaps, and shower gels, the calendar includes the brand’s Reset Oil-in-Serum. Formulated with gardenia extract, the overnight treatment helps one wake up to smoother, more radiant skin—even after a long night of last-minute gift wrapping.
- What You’re Left With: Glowing skin, soft hands, and an enviable assortment of travel-ready products for your next trip to France.
La Mer The World of La Mer 12-Day Advent Calendar
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $500
- Best For: La Mer are two hallowed words among luxury lovers and some of the most glowy-skinned celebrities, including Kendall Jenner (who loves the moisturizing cream) and Usher (who calls the lip balm “very precious.”) Infused with anti-aging sea kelp and other active ingredients culled from the sea, La Mer’s skin care boasts rejuvenating properties that are particularly well suited to mature skin.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: A verified classic, Crème de La Mer moisturizing cream provides rich, decadent hydration to the driest of skin. Enriched with the brand’s signature Miracle Broth, the cream—rather miraculously indeed—makes the skin feel smoother and firmer in mere hours.
- Why We Love It: The ocean-themed set is filled with products proven to deliver anti-aging benefits—and one of the most luxurious skin-care experiences you can get outside of a Swiss Alpine spa.
- What’s Included: The set contains 12 La Mer products that cover every step of a skin-care regime, from cleansing micellar water and serums to an eye treatment, lip polish, and body cream.
- What You’re Left With: Smooth skin, an age-defying glow, and a newfound appreciation of ocean-to-face skin care.
Jo Malone London Advent Calendar
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $495
- Best For: Though any scent lover would enjoy sniffing their way through the brand’s coveted fragrances, we deem this the perfect hostess gift. The miniature lotions, body creams, and colognes are perfect for stowing in guest rooms, and the candles bring festive, flickering light to any home.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: The Lime Basil & Mandarin scent—sweet, zingy, and uplifting—is an enduring classic. In the hand cream, the addictive scent meets nourishing ingredients that soften and soothe the skin, including apricot kernel oil, clary sage extract, shea butter, and vitamin E.
- Why We Love It: The set is suited for any gender of fragrance lover, with offerings including body cream in the unisex Wood Sage and Sea Salt scent.
- What’s Included: Twenty-five tiny drawers, printed with jaunty images of candy canes and bows, hold beautifully fragranced gifts from the London house. There are classic colognes and scents just for the season, along with miniature candles and bath and body goods.
- What You’re Left With: A sampling of scents to spritz throughout the year—and a special seasonal scent to make the holiday season all the more fragrant.
Revolve Beauty Advent Calendar
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $150
- Best For: For anyone who likes to stay abreast of beauty-world buzz, this calendar provides a hands-on crash course. The assortment is heavy on celebrity-loved products and TikTok-famous goods.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: Color Wow’s Dream Coat—available here in a travel-size format—is a celebrity standby for smooth locks. Celebrity hairstylist and Trademark Beauty cofounder Joseph Maine tells Vogue: “The best product you can use to instantly transform frizzy texture into glossy hair is Color Wow’s Dream Coat. This will not only act as a thermal protectant, it will completely block out humidity, giving you long-lasting, frizz-free results. There isn’t a better product for reducing frizz.”
- Why We Love It: The celebrity secret for frizz taming is just one piece of the set, which has a plethora of A-lister-approved goods. There are hair oils from Olaplex (a brand that J.Lo and Margot Robbie happen to love), the Supergoop! sunscreen Brooke Shields and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan adore, and more.
- What’s Included: In all, the set contains 25 goods for skin, body, and hair from a mix of established and emerging brands (Tarte, Ouai, Oribe, and Tower 28 are all in the mix). Expect full-size products as well as travel-size goods.
- What You’re Left With: The full-size products—which have star appeal and lasting power—include Charlotte Tilbury’s TikTok-famous Pinkgasm Wand. Plus the Slip skinny scrunchies have no expiration date.
British Vogue’s Festive Calendar
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $465
- Best For: Those who eagerly await the delivery of each glossy issue of Vogue will love receiving an editor-vetted assortment of goods. With a highly curated mix of makeup, skin care, jewelry, and lifestyle products, the calendar brings the pages of the magazine to life.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: Every British Vogue editor has a favorite item amid the 26 surprises—for digital director Kerry McDermott, Verden’s Herbanum Bath Oil is just the thing for a seasonal soak. “The piney Herbanum scent is perfect for this time of year, and a little bit of this stuff goes a long way: just a couple of drops to turn an otherwise unremarkable bath into a spalike experience,” she writes.
- Why We Love It: This calendar gives back: British Vogue will donate £75,000 of its proceeds to charities that raise awareness for causes like domestic abuse, homelessness, and women refugees.
- What’s Included: The set features 26 products behind doors illustrated with vintage covers. You’ll find skin care from brands like Foreo, Tatcha, and 111Skin; makeup from Charlotte Tilbury and Laura Mercier; a paisley silk scarf from Lescarf; and (much) more.
- What You’re Left With: Along with the aforementioned products, the calendar comes with a one-year subscription to British Vogue.
Benefit Cosmetics The Gorgeous Grocer Holiday Calendar Gift Set
- Release Date: Available to shop now
- Price: $164
- Best For: The friend who helped you master your cat-eye and lent you her Benetint in high school will be giddy over Benefit’s cutely curated box, which contains the essentials for a full makeup look, from a face primer to a volumizing mascara.
- Vogue’s Standout Product: Said Benetint is a classic for a reason. An acclaimed lip stain, the brand’s first product, launched in 1976, is an enduring favorite for a just-been-kissed, rose-tinted flush on the cheeks and lips.
- Why We Love It: The set has all the fixings for a festive night, no matter the occasion. A swoosh of black liquid eyeliner and a pomegranate-hued lip tint are the perfect touches for a cocktail bash, while the pore-clearing clay mask is just the thing for a holiday movie marathon.
- What’s Included: The grocer-themed box contains 24 Benefit Cosmetics products—including skin care and makeup—in miniature, travel-size, and full-size formats. The mix includes foaming cleanser, powder blushes, lip tints, brow wax, and more.
- What You’re Left With: Once you’ve opened each drawer inside this grocery-style basket, you’ll have a new makeup routine—from skin prep to fluttery lashes.
When do Advent calendars go on sale?
The leaves have barely begun to change—is it too early to start your Advent calendar shopping? Trust us when we say no. The best Advent calendars go on sale months before the trees are trimmed, with the first ones hitting virtual shelves in August. After that, it’s a race to keep up with the festive drops, as brands and retailers release their anticipated offerings in a dizzying whirl that lasts through early November. And these are hotly anticipated. Wait too long to shop, and the best beauty Advent calendars will be out of stock, gone forever—poof!
Are beauty Advent calendars worth it?
Some beauty Advent calendars fall into the splurge category, but the truth is that the best of them vary widely in cost. In the past, Vogue editors (and all our giftees) have had our holiday seasons brightened by everything from Sisley Paris’s $780 calendar to Saks Fifth Avenue’s $225 iteration to Voluspa’s $75 offering.
No matter the cost, most calendars do offer a considerable value. For instance, Benefit’s Gorgeous Grocer Holiday Calendar Gift Set, valued at $322, has a retail price of $164. La Mer’s 12-piece gift set, with an estimated worth of $720, has a $500 price tag. And consider this: Revolve’s Beauty Advent Calendar, valued at $539, will set holiday shoppers back just $150.
In the end, though, worth is a relative term. Along with the price of each calendar, consider how many gifts it holds and what’s inside. (Will it make you or your loved one light up like a fully lit menorah? Then it’s worth it!) Finally, consider that some of the calendars come in keepsake boxes that last well beyond the calendar year.
What are the most popular beauty Advent calendars?
Judging from the excited squeals that come from our beauty closet this time of year—instantly signaling that an Advent calendar has arrived—every calendar on this list has the capacity to delight even the most seasoned industry insiders. But their appeal extends far beyond Vogue HQ. These limited-edition goods tend to sell out fast, and sets from brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Jo Malone, Sephora, Harrods, and Saks Fifth Avenue whiz off the shelves particularly fast.
What is the most luxurious Advent calendar?
When the world’s top luxury brands pour their savoir faire into Advent calendars, the results are—predictably—the height of luxury. To wit: In 2023, Dior’s $750 Le 30 Montaigne Holiday Advent Calendar was filled with the brand’s best-loved fragrances, lipsticks, and serums; it also featured long-wearing lipsticks that were fresh off the runway. Also rather luxe, last year Christian Louboutin’s $600 Holiday Advent Calendar held party-ready lipsticks, lengthening mascara, and twinkly keepsakes including lipstick and stiletto charms. This year, look out for luxurious offerings from these brands and more, including Sisley Paris and YSL.
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