Advent Calendars 2025

[itsfi]

We're less than a month away from the start of unboxing season when comes to advent calendars. Excited to see everyone's unboxing!

In the meantime, let's share news and other information about advent calendars (beauty or non-beauty) as they continue to become available.

Feel free to use this space to ask questions, get ideas or recommendations for picking up an advent calendar for yourself or someone else, etc. while we wait for December 1 to roll around.

from Charlotte Tilbury

from Jo Malone

from See's Candy

[missjeanie]

I've actually found moving all my stuff from one house to another to be good for my beauty spending @itsfi .  Cause I've realized that I will order things... and they don't always come out of the box and I move the box and forget that I now have these things.... Seeing everything together.... yikes.  Maybe I need to shop my stash a little more.  I'm trying to be good with my advents/sales this season so that Im not adding to the chaos and just adding to the joy.... If that makes sense. 

[itsfi]

Neiman Marcus has posted their advent calendars. Both are beautiful and tempting; a couple of the best ones I've seen from larger retailers/department stores. Tagging @Margalee but you may have already received notification of these.

25 Days Advent Calendar - a lovely mix of beauty products. 

12 Days After Advent - Fragrance focused

Image credit for all: Neiman Marcus

[danielledanielle]

This looks so good, kind of wish I waited for this one, but I'm enjoying all of these @itsfi 

[itsfi]

That Bloomingdale's fragrance advent calendar you picked up contains a bevy of beauties @danielledanielle! I don't know if it's that I'm paying more attention to advent calendars this year and am more aware of a lot more different ones on the market, but it seems that many brands/retailers are stepping up their game for the 2025 calendars. Not complaining as that's not a bad thing for us as consumers; just an observation. 

[Margalee]

@itsfi  I saw these. They are sooo tempting. Especially the beauty advent with Guerlain and Omorovicza. I will have to wait though if I want that. I was lucky enough to get in on the Bloomingdales calendar. It's much better looking than what I thought. It's actually not so flat looking on the outer finish. It looks like fancy wrapping paper. I almost didn't purchase it, but when I saw it on sale I figured it'd sell out. Only thing is four of the fragrances in NM advent are the same as Bloomingdales advent had so those would be repeats. But NM has brands and flavors in their advent I am keen to try and I don't think I'll be affording those full sizes any time soon. I did whiff Halfeti and Baciami early. Halfeti seems like it is a mega fragrance, easily scented through the box. Baciami is much less fragrant than I imagined. But come on, a Baklava scent in NM??? And a Xerjoff which I have been lusting after- the brand in general- and there they are. haha I need to plant a money tree... The Sephora beauty advent looks pretty good this year. Somebody did a good job on that one in my opinion. Not sure what I can get this year but a red lipstick is on the must haves. That Dior dual end might break the red deal since I like the pink color very much.

[itsfi]

@Margalee, enjoy your advent calendar. The sequin liquid duos from Dior look lovely; a nice touch for a holiday collection. 

[itsfi]

Skincare, bodycare, fragrance and makeup

Aman Skincare advent calendar - the collab with 111 Skin for the advent is interesting - the line they included is a good one so the value is there. I've been interested in this line since it launched 7 years ago so I may look into this a bit more but it's the brand's body care and candles that intrigue me the most. A conversation with @missjeanie on another thread is making me think I should first check to see if I have a sample of mini of a couple of things from this brand. 🤔

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Bvlgari after advent calendar

Nudestix after advent calendar

All images from brand site unless otherwise noted.

[itsfi]

Ahhhh, Guerlain! 😍 So tempting ...

Looks like they've moved away from the beehive layout for this year's advent calendar, settling on a book design instead. I need to look at my notes re: Orchidee line but this could be a possibility for me. I do kinda wish they'd include a mini meteorites, but that would be a challenge to find a universal color family.

Spoiler

Image credit and screenshots: Guerlain

[Samtian]

@itsfi 😯 the noise I just made looking at that, wow!

[caitbird]

Thought I'd share this idea for a DIY advent calendar, for those of us with a bunch of fragrance samples (raises hand 🙋‍♀️ 😅). It's basically a crossover between this thread and the Shop Your Stash / Use Your Stash Challenge: Fall 2025 🍂🍁

thread! Someone on another forum I post on shared that she is going to make an advent calendar for herself with her fragrance samples she hasn't tried yet. She plans on wrapping each sample and picking one at random each day during the countdown to Christmas. I thought this was such a cute idea, and a great way to shop your stash/use what you have already. You can use little gift bags - you can buy a set of 50 4x6 inch organza bags on Amazon for under $5 - but you could also use little envelopes, mini boxes, etc. - whatever suits your fancy! It doesn't have to be fragrance samples, either; any kind of samples will work too. 

I plan on doing this with some of my fragrance samples, to go along with the advent calendars I've bought. I think it will be fun!

[Margalee]

@caitbird  This is an excellent idea! Maybe I will do this. Sounds great for gifting too. Awesome!

[missjeanie]

@caitbird I've made a few advents over the years and did this a few times with foils.  I find I tend to gather lots of them thinking I'll use them for travel... Anyway... I took an old advent box from a tea calendar I'd had the previous year and stashed in samples before the fall sale.  By the time December rolled around I'd 100% forgotten what I'd put in there so it was indeed still a surprise!  

[caitbird]

2 more advent calendars arrived today! Bird & Blend tea advent calendar, and Insight Editions Merry Catmas cat lover's advent calendar. They are both super cute, I am very excited and counting down the days until I can unbox them!

Bird & Blend:

I ordered a couple of additional small tea goodies along with the advent calendar, and my order came with 4 free sample teas, and these cute handwritten notes!

Here's the inside:

So cute!

Merry Catmas:

I have no idea what the contents are like, but the packaging is 10/10 adorable! 😻

[Titian06]

The cat one is too cute, @caitbird ! 🐈‍⬛

[missjeanie]

Oh the cat one is supppper cute @caitbird !

[itsfi]

Some recently released advent calendars - fragrance, skincare, hair care, nail care as well as a variety of beauty products and mini props/toys.

Aqua di Parma (available on brand's site or Bloomingdale's) - luxury Italian brand. I've only tested a few of their fragrances in store and what I did test was very nice. 

Babor (available at brand's site, Nordstrom or Macy's) - good skincare brand. I've only used (or had used on me) the hydrating, calming and nourishing ampoules - all wonderful.

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John Lewis (available at retailer's site) - love the presentation. This retailer is based in the UK and I'm not sure how it is handling tariffs (i.e., whether all costs will appear at checkout).

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***

The following advent calendars are available on Ulta or the brand's site. @missjeanie 

Drybar

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Le Mini Macron

Ulta

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NOTE: the last one, the Mini Brands x Ulta advent calendar contains mini replicas of the products, and not the products themselves. Would make great props for a photo layout or toys for those interested. No actual beauty products are included.

[caitbird]

@itsfi  ooh, off to check out these Ulta offerings, I hadn't seen those yet. Thanks for posting!

I will admit, I didn't really see the point of a bunch of miniature product replicas, but using them for photo props is actually a great suggestion! 

[missjeanie]

Mini Brands did a wonderful job on that storefront packaging!!  @itsfi I'm not mad at the Ulta brand calendar either.  It looks like one I could see in person to pick up at my wee little store as well! 

[itsfi]

It's very cute @missjeanie. I will say that my first thought was "what is this 'mini brands'? Are they new?" And then I kept thinking that they really provided a teeny photo of the inside of the advent calendar because the drawers / boxes looked so small ... and then, I realized it wasn't my eye sight. 🤣 If you do see it up close in real life, would love to get your take on how mini these miniatures actually are.

[missjeanie]

Oh.... @itsfi I've seen many a mini brand up close!  Hmmmmm Do you remember micro machines of the 80s?  I'd say they're about that size.  But I'll see if I can find some for a photo this weekend!  I'm going to try and round up some photos of these advents and solicit feedback from my team of mini shoppers at the same time.

[itsfi]

Ahhh, yes! Micro mini machines - that's a good reference points @missjeanie! Looking forward to hearing what your polling finds.