Bobbi Brown’s beauty advent calendar is the chic festive sparkle you need for counting down to the big day

With only 12 days, there’s a lot to pack in

The box features a striking black and gold fireworks design (iStock/The Indepdendent)

The evenings are drawing in, temperatures have dropped and leaves are falling, and soon autumn will roll into winter. This means only one thing in the beauty world: it’s beauty advent calendar time.

So, you need to work out which of the huge array of options out there is the one to help you count down to the big day.

Helpfully, we’ve got a rundown of this year’s beauty advent calendars you need to know about, where we look at value vs cost, the contents and when they launch. It’s the perfect helpful hint you can give to someone.

Whether you’re after a calendar that will introduce you to lots of new brands, such as Asos’s offering; or the real crème de la crème, such as Liberty’s dream creation; or one from a cult favourite make-up brand, such as Charlotte Tilbury, you’ll get the lowdown from us.

Here, we’re taking a deep dive into another beauty favourite of ours: Bobbi Brown. The New York-inspired brand knows a thing or two about make-up and skincare, and is the master of some of our favourite products.

How we tested

Although it’s deemed bad luck to get ahead of yourself and start opening doors before they’re actually due to be peeled back – let alone before December actually starts – for us, it’s all in the name of reviewing. So, we’ve had a sneak peek at what Bobbi Brown is offering this year, and we opened all the drawers to find out what’s behind them and to see if the calendar is worth buying. We looked at the design, usability and sustainability of the packaging, as well as the products included and, of course, the value.

Bobbi Brown 12-day beauty advent calendar: £135, Bobbibrown.co.uk

(Bobbi Brown)

• Rating: 4/5
• Price: £135
• Value: £202
• Number of days: 12
• Product sizes: Four full-sized, eight mini
• Available: Now

Design

In true Bobbi Brown form, this advent calendar is glam and we think the brand really understood the assignment. The small but mighty box certainly packs a glitzy punch from first sight, and we love it for that. Designed to open like a book, it’s really cute and, due to its rather dinky size, it can neatly sit on a mantlepiece, instead of taking up lots of room, like some others can.

The box’s exterior features a striking hologram gold effect that fits in with the festive theme perfectly. It’s chic and really lives up to the Bobbi Brown aesthetic, just as we’d hoped it would. The different-sized drawers, along with randomly ordered and sized numbers, make it more appealing to the eye, where you really do find yourself looking quite hard for the right number, despite the fact there are only 12.

Read more: Harvey Nichols’s debut beauty advent calendar might be one of the best we’ve seen

We really like that the whole box is made of cardboard, meaning it’s easy to recycle but, even better, it can be reused too. Although, the one issue with that is the boxes can be a little flimsy. We found during testing that it was sometimes hard to get boxes back into their slot, and we imagine they might tear over time and won’t be able to be used again. Depending on how crafty you are, though, you could certainly make new ones.

What’s inside?

We’re not going to give the full game away here – where would be the festive fun in that? Instead, we’re going to tell you what you really need to know to decide if this is the calendar for you. One thing to know, though, is this is packed full of the brand’s best-selling products. Although, it does come with a foldout list of everything inside, if you really can’t wait to find out.

First of all, there are 12 drawers, equating to 12 products. Among those, there are four full-sized products, making up a third of the total offering, which we think is pretty good going. It’s worth knowing two of these are cult products too.

Read more: The John Lewis beauty advent calendar is well-priced and packed with high-end products

The first is the smokey eye mascara (£27.50, Johnlewis.com), which is actually sold out almost everywhere online at the moment – testament to its popularity. The second is the long-wear cream shadow stick in smokey topaz (£27, Johnlewis.com), and we love the shadow sticks for their creaminess and the ease with which they glide on and blend. Both of these products are absolutely essential for creating the perfect smoky and glitzy eye for the festive season.

Included in the calendar is a pleasing mix of make-up and skincare. The former is more dominant in the Bobbi Brown range but we were pleased to see some skincare in there too.

(Emma Henderson)

For us, the most exciting product to try was the vitamin-enriched face base (£48.50 for 50ml, Lookfantastic.com), which we’ve been wanting to get our hands on for a while. It’s a mini size (7g) and really is as luxurious as it looks, as well as being lightweight and quick to absorb. We found it was an excellent moisturising primer, as it includes hyaluronic acid and shea butter, and worked hard as a base for our make-up.

The make-up offering also covers eyes, lips and cheeks, where some have multiple products too. Much of it is in festive-suitable shades, so think luscious red lip colours and golden and bronzey tones that will be swept across eyes and cheeks. We were happy to see the highlighting powder brick (£21, Lookfantastic.com), which is similar to the bronzing brick the brand is so famed for, and you can buy in mini form. It gives a gorgeous natural night-light, without looking glittery.

Read more: Jo Malone’s beauty advent calendar is a fragrance-lover’s dream

One of the other items we’re excited about is a beauty tool – the full coverage face brush (£36, Asos.com for the full size), which is included in a mini size. Considering the quality of Bobbi Brown’s brushes, we’re delighted to be getting one, albeit a mini one, which we’ll be using in our travel make-up bag.

There are also no rules when it comes to making a start on this calendar, as it has 12 days. Eager beauty lovers will no doubt want to start on 1 December. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t begin on the 14th of the month, with the final day landing on Christmas Day. To make the most of the glam offering, we suggest you get going as soon as December starts.

Value

With four full-sized products included, we think the calendar makes for quite good value for money – it’ll save you £67, compared with buying the products individually, according to the brand.

Although some of the products are smaller compared with their original-sized counterparts, it’s quite hard to actually work out the true value of the contents. The price tag of £135 does seem fairly expensive, but after trying to add it up, we found four full-sized products, plus the mini crushed lip colour in ruby lipsticks (£16, Lookfantastic.com) and mini highlighting powder (£21, Lookfantastic.com), both of which you can actually buy, equates to £120. So for another £15, you get an additional six minis, including the brush, another mini lipgloss and four mini skincare products.

Read more: Lookfantastic’s beauty advent calendar is a beauty bargain with some full-sized favourites

The face brush is a great addition, and we really do rate Bobbi Brown brushes for their gorgeously soft bristles, well-designed shapes and beautiful handles. The positive of the version included is that it’s much smaller than our usual Bobbi Brown face brush, which we often don’t take away on trips, as it’s so large, so the calendar’s offering makes for a welcome travel-friendly option.

This calendar also represents a much more affordable way for someone to try plenty of the brand’s best-selling products, without having to buy them all in full-sized form – the cost of which very quickly adds up to hundreds of pounds. We’re sure this is what puts off most people from stepping outside their comfort zone – the worry of not liking it and therefore wasting money.

The verdict: Bobbi Brown beauty advent calendar

Bobbi Brown’s 12-day beauty advent calendar absolutely looks the part with its gold hologram exterior, and gold and black firework pattern on the inside.

We really like that this wasn’t just make-up based, as Bobbi Brown does also have a really great skincare range.

As ever, many brand-specific beauty advent calendars are really aimed at true fans of the brand, who love many of its cult products, as that’s what’s likely to be waiting behind the doors. For that reason, we think it is worth it – it gave us a good opportunity to try some much-loved products for the first time, such as the vitamin-enriched face base.

We also think it’s quite good value, once you add up the cost of the four full-sized products, plus some of the minis you can buy. It really includes everything you need to create an impressive festive look and is the perfect countdown gift to the Bobbi Brown fan in your life.

Read our thoughts on Net-A-Porter’s beauty advent calendar, which is back for the fifth year in a row