Beauty advent calendars 2022: the year’s best, from Liberty, MAC, The Body Shop (2023)

The Liberty Advent Calendar is beauty lovers’ heaven, and sells out every year, for just cause.

The contents is carefully curated luxury - this year a delightful 30 gifts are contained behind 30 doors, 20 of them full-sized.

We don’t need to hype this one - it will sell out again - but if you want a taste of it’s contents, this year’s promises bounty from Sunday Riley, Le Labo, 111 Skin, and Kate Sommerville.

Oh, and in a delightful, Willy Wonka touch - one calendar will contain a golden ticket, promising the recipient £1,000 to spend in the beauty halls.

Far more thriftily (well, in the comparitive realm of Beauty Advent Calendars) the M&S option is great if you want to try out some terrific products without re-mortgaging the house.

It costs £40 when you spend £30 on clothing, home or beauty in-store or online - but that nets you 25 products, worth £300.

This year’s offering contains cult items from Emma Hardie, Nuxe, Lumene and Philip Kingsley (he of the Audrey Hepburn-endorsed elasticizer hair conditioner treatment).

A fabulously luxurious option that won’t break the bank.

Ah, we loved this option - it gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling to trial it. Suitable for vegans, and missing the chemical nasties that some beauty brands contain, it’s a lovely selection - erring heavily on the skincare side.

With offerings from Q+A, Evolve and Ethique, including 14 full-sized products. There are bath salts, face creams, hair masks and face masks. If your idea of a treat is skin care and facials, rather than a plethora of slap, this is the calendar for you.

This is a prime option. With 24 products, many full sized, we’re seriously impressed with how well curated it is.

From Mac’s velvet teddy, to Charlotte Tilbury’s facial oil, Bobbi Brown mascara to Revolution palette, there’s not a dud product therein.

ASOS’ calendars are typically snapped up fairly quickly - this would make an amazing gift if you have a beauty loving teen in your life.

The box is recyclable and it comes with a handy tote, too. A great choice.

This one is impressive - 37 products from, as you’d expect, cult brands, including Sunday Riley, Biossance, Augustinus Bader, Hair by Sam McKnight, and Medik8.

The calibre of the brands here is extraordinary. Some days there are multiple products included in the box - a delightful little treat.

There’s also a Day 25 present (not always the case) that we won’t spoil here, but it’s full size and a beloved product. The whole package is impeccable, and while we can’t say it’s a bargain, you are definitely getting more than your money’s worth.

Additionally, the retailer is donating £75,000 to Mental Health UK and it is also working with (more:trees) to plant one tree for every advent calendar sold.

Sign up to the waitlist below.

Benefit are known for everything brow related - you’ll have walked past their counter in Boots or similar and noticed women exiting it, their brows fully on fleek.

Benefit devotees are rightly fanatic - the brand makes some of the best bronzers, blushers and mascaras at mid-range price.

This year’s advent offering will feature 12 miniatures of the brand’s cult products: from ‘they’re real!’ magnetic mascara, hoola travel bronzer, and a brow pencil. It’s a great selection if you like a high impact, ‘made-up’ make-up look.

If you adore the Body Shop, you’ll adore this. It’s crammed with a mixture of full-size and mini bestsellers, ideal for pampering.

It’s skincare and body care focused, rather than make-up focused, so don’t expect oodles of slap.

There are some seriously impressive products, though, including new, full-sized Moringa Shampoo and Conditioner, their best-selling Sleep Pillow Mist, mini, skin-tingling Himalayan Charcoal and refreshing British Rose face mask

You’ll smell and feel amazing.

Here we go again in ‘crazy money’ territory, but if you’re amply furnished in the cash department, this is a dizzy delight.

With 24 treats, including Dior’s renowned make-up, fragrances and skincare. With their most popular products - including the diorshow iconic overcurl mascara and J’adore Eau de Parfum.

Personally, if we had this kind of money we’d be opting for a calendar that went across multiple brands, but if you j’adore Dior, this is your buy.

When it comes to scented candles, you’re either an acolyte or a denier - believing them a senseless waste, literally burning money (we won’t argue, but you are missing out).

If you’re the former, however, French perfumier Diptyque makes the best in the business - opulent, lush scents, with plenty of ‘throw’, that only require ten minutes burn time to fill a room with a delectable fugue.

Their 24 window advent calendar is a posh paradise, a mixture of perfumes and candles, full-size and minis. For the ultimate in Christmas cheer, this calendar will feature three limited-edition Christmas scents: a small pine tree scented candle and miniature neige, and an étincelles candle.

Delicious - and our choice of the perfume options.

This is Flannel’s debut advent calendar, and to mark the occasion they’ve crammed their compartments with a who’s who of what’s hot right now in the beauty industry: 111Skin, Sarah Chapman, Patrick Ta and Pat McGrath.

It’s a terrific offering - 18 full-sized products - and we wouldn’t surprised if this expensive calendar joins the hallowed ranks of Liberty and Cult Beauty as a Christmas sell-out.

British brand Elemis is a skin-care nirvana - we always treat ourselves to their buttery cleansing balm (in pint size) when at airports, as it’s ideal for scouring off the sweat and grime that comes with international travel.

They’re not, however, a bargain brand, so the opportunity to nab £400 worth of products for £180 is a good deal (relatively speaking).

25 little boxes, including the pro-collagen marine cream (ideal for crepey, dehydrated skin) and the afore-mentioned cleansing balm. Skin-care your high? This advent calendar will give you a lovely buzz.

Another luxury department store, another luxury option - though we’ll concede Fortnum & Mason have done themselves proud. It’s not cheap, but the 25-day calendar contains a generous 21 full-sized products, four deluxe and three travel-sized products. The brands are reputable and high-end, including Aromatherapy Associates, Cult51, ESPA, Olverum, Bramley and Elizabeth Scarlett.

Highlights for us? The Aromatherapy Associates light relax bath and shower oil and the deliciously-scented F&M four seasons spiced Christmas candle.

Another debut from a luxury department store - and Harvey Nichols must have been looking at our wishlist.

With a La Prairie art of beauty facial treatment voucher worth £150, a mini of Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s hugely popular baccarat rouge 540 eau de parfum (our favourite perfume in the world, hands down), Augustinus Bader facial oil, and La Mer crème de la mer moisturising cream - this advent calendar contains all the skincare you’d buy if you won the lottery.

Mac is one of the superlative make-up brands - impressively creamy lipstick formulations, inclusive colour ranges, fashion forward products and stone-cold beauty classics all sit side-by-side at a Mac counter. And their 2022 beauty calendar is a doozy.

16 full size products, and 9 minis and and samples, including their fabulous new Stack mascara, and matte lipsticks aplenty. Want to look party ready come holiday season? The Mac advent calendar will do you proud.