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With two weeks to go before we open the first doors on our advent calendars, Marks and Spencer have FINALLY delivered their 2022 beauty offering. And boy, was it worth the wait.
I’d been holding out on spending on a beauty advent calendar this year until one that felt affordable and great value came along. Featuring brands I love and products will genuinely use, the M&S beauty advent calendar ticks all of those boxes.
The hotly anticipated calendar is priced at £40, which is cheaper than Revolution and PrettyLittleThing’s £45 calendars, and less than half the price of LookFantastic and Glossybox, who’s 2022 calendars are £95 and £99 respectively.
Inside the M&S calendar is a carefully curated edit of 25 products, including everything you need to look and feel your best this Christmas. The estimated value of the contents is around £300, meaning shoppers can save roughly £260 on the beauty haul, which includes brands like Clinique, REN, L’Occitane and Shay & Blue.
There is a slight catch though. In order to get the M&S beauty advent calendar for the discounted price of £40, shoppers will need to spend more than £30 on clothing, home or beauty.
It’s a total investment of £70 – but £30 worth of that could make a dent in your Christmas shopping, stock up on winter warmers, or use it as another excuse to treat yourself to those chunky boots or on-trend knit. Personally, I did some Christmas shopping and ticked some essential gifts off my to-buy list.
The calendar arrived on November 2 – just four weeks before opening the first door – meaning there was a little less temptation to ransack the drawers and try out all of the products and add them to my makeup bag ahead of the festive season. That’s not to say I haven’t had a peek, though.
Designed with reusability and affordability at the heart, this year’s Beauty Advent Calendar features a pink and gold chest design, ideal for storing all your favourite beauty products well after December. The lid lifts to reveal half of the boxes disguising luxury beauty products and a full-size mirror, while the other half are concealed in a pull-out drawer.
Some advent calendars often have dividers which make it difficult to reuse the box afterwards – at least not without some careful DIY – but this one is ready to repurpose straight away.
Beauty advent calendars are a fantastic way to explore different brands and discover new products, as well as old favourites for a fraction of the cost. It’s a much cheaper way of refreshing your cosmetics bag and skincare cupboard in one fell swoop, and provides the ultimate treat each day during the Christmas countdown to December 25.
The M&S beauty advent calendar contains a great variety of products this year, comprising nine skincare products, three bath and body, three makeup, two nail, two fragrance and six haircare products.
This beauty bargain works out at less than £2 per product, and offers the ideal opportunity to test out products you may have never bought individually, before committing to a full-sized version.
Here is every single product featured in the calendar .
- Origins Checks & Balances Frothy Face Wash
- This Works In Transit Camera Close-Up Moisturiser
- Emma Hardie Midas Touch Revitalising Cream
- Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel
- NUXE Merveillance Lift Powder Cream
- Lumene Nordic-C Sleeping Cream
- REN Radiance Brightening Dark Circle Eye Cream
- PRAI Beauty Ageless Eye Tight Uplift Serum
- Ultrasun Lip Protection & Care SPF 30
- Apothecary Meditate Body Wash
- L’Occitane Dry Skin Hand Cream
- Fragrance Society Hand & Nail Cream ‘Poppy, Peony & Pearl Barley’
- Clinique High Impact Mascara
- Eyeko Limitless Long-Wear Pencil Eyeliner
- Autograph Colour Balm Lip Shine in Peach
- Nails INC Be Your Inc.redible Self ‘Baby, It’s Gold Outside’
- Nails INC Be Your Inc.redible Self ‘Kensington High Street’
- Discover Warm Neroli Eau De Toilette 30ml
- Shay & Blue Black Tulip
- Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo
- Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Deep Conditioning Treatment
- Philip Kingsley Body Building Weightless Shampoo
- Philip Kingsley Body Building Weightless Conditioner
- Aveda Botanical Repair Intensive Strengthening Masque
- Percy & Reed Turn Up The Volume Volumising Mousse
I’m especially excited to try the Warm Neroli fragrance, as many shoppers say it’s a dupe of Paco Rabanne’s Lady Million. And speaking of perfume, Shay and Blue is one of my favourite brands, so I’m excited to see their Black Tulip scent featured, too.
Some of the higher value items in the advent calendar are the Emma Hardie ‘Midas Touch’ revitalising cream 30ml, which is worth approximately £26.40, based on the full-size 50ml version at M&S. The REN Radiance Brightening Dark Circle eye cream usually retails at £22.99 for 15ml, so you’ve already reached the amount paid for the box in just two products, which just goes to show how big the savings are.
In in no doubt that the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day will come in super handy over the festive season, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the L’Occitane Shea Butter hand cream, having only recently discovered the brand.
The M&S Beauty Advent Calendar has sold out online, but is available in-store now, but snap one up soon, because it’s certain to be a sell-out.
Oh wow, what a lovely calendar! I didn’t realise M&S were doing a beauty calendar with so many brands! Definitely a steal at £40!
Rose | Beauty & Lifestyle Blogger
@rosemaryhelenxo | https://rosemaryhelenxo.com