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If you’re looking for a beauty advent calendar that gives you the most bang for your buck, the Glossybox Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 is certainly one to have on your radar. At £90, the calendar contains 26 beauty products worth more than £645 in total, meaning you’re getting around £555 worth of products on top of what you pay.
The calendar consistently offers the biggest saving as a percentage, and this year, that figure stands at around 86% – head and shoulders above the likes of Boots, LookFantastic and Sephora, whose countdowns offer somewhere between 77-82% savings.
But a huge RRP and comparatively low price doesn’t automatically make an advent calendar worth buying, so I’ve been having a proper look through the Glossybox offering to see what’s actually inside and even after some critical analysis – I’m still convinced that this is one of the best well-rounded offerings for 2026.
There are 26 products behind the doors, with 20 of them being full-size – not the highest volume of products, but still more than 25 and a significant portion of them full sized. At £90 for the whole calendar, that works out at an average of just £3.46 per product.
There are some very high-end products doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to that impressive £645+ total value, such as Avant’s £89 eye serum and Rodial’s Collagen Drops worth £80. These are balanced by some much lower-value items like a £3 Makeup Academy lip oil and £4 SoEco hair wrap – and while cheap and cheerful, they don’t necessarily feel like ‘fillers’ either.
There’s a decent mix of skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare and bodycare, plus even a candle thrown in for good measure. And while the countdown is top and tailed by those premium and lower-end items, there’s plenty of variety in the middle, too with £16 makeup brush sets from Spectrum, a £28 cream highlighter stick and £12 Made By Mitchell mascara, too.
There are a few products that immediately caught my attention when I unboxed the calendar, with the standout being the full sized Commodity Milk Orchid perfume, worth £60. I’m a big fragrance fan and I’ve tried several Commodity scents before, so I was already excited to see this in the calendar.
Milk Orchid is a lighter, creamier fragrance, with notes of milk, white florals and skin musks. It’s the sort of scent I can see myself reaching for when I want something soft and easy to wear rather than a big, heavy perfume. It’s also worth £60 on its own, which is two-thirds of the entire £90 calendar price, meaning you’re already getting a pretty substantial chunk of the calendar’s cost back in one product.
On the beauty front, Huda Beauty’s Easy Blur Primer is another exciting addition. The primer is designed to smooth the appearance of pores and create a more even-looking base, and it’s formulated without silicone. I’ve heard plenty of good things about this one, so it’s firmly on my list of products I’m looking forward to putting through its paces.
Another of the products I’ve been wanting to try for ages is the Patrick Ta Major Headlines Double-Take Blush Duo. I’ve seen these blushes all over social media and the dual cream-and-powder format really appeals to me. The idea is that you can layer the cream and powder formulas to build up the colour and help your makeup last for longer, and the shade included in the calendar, She’s The Moment, is right up my street.
Then there’s Medik8 Hydr8 B5 Intense, which was another easy favourite for me. I’ve used this for years and, if I don’t have the Intense version in my skincare routine, I’ll generally use the original Hydr8 B5. I’ve built up quite a collection of Medik8 products over the years, so I’m always happy to see the brand included in a beauty calendar. If you have dry skin like me, you’ll adore this ultra-hydrating serum – particularly in the winter months.
Another thing I really like about this calendar is how balanced the contents feel. You’ve got skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare and bodycare, as well as a candle, so it doesn’t feel like you’re opening 26 variations of the same product category. And with 20 full-size products, you’re getting a decent number of products that aren’t just miniatures or samples.
For me, if your main priority is getting the biggest possible beauty haul for the smallest upfront spend, the Glossybox Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 makes a very compelling case. You’re paying £90 for 26 products worth more than £645, including 20 full-size products, and there are some genuinely exciting brands inside – it’s whether you’ll use the vast majority that counts.
