Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty advent calendar is a luxury offering, but does it sleigh?

Unpacking its beauty light wand and magic cream, we review this treasure trove of goodies

Monday 26 September 2022 12:36 EDT

iStock/The Independent (Opening each drawer ahead of the Christmas countdown, we assessed how the calendar compares to last year’s)

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Much to our disbelief, the Christmas countdown is on. The festive season signals the return of Mariah Carey, fizz-filled fun and, most importantly of all, beauty advent calendars being released on a near-daily basis.

Once again, big-name beauty brands and retailers have pulled out all the stops for the festive countdown, with the likes of The Body Shop, Lookfantastic, Asos and Selfridges all offering a sparkly array of daily make-up and skincare treats.

Charlotte Tilbury, the queen of skincare and glowy make-up looks, created her eponymous beauty brand in 2017, which has since garnered a legion of fans, with its signature products quickly gaining cult status.

Owing to the luxury nature of the brand, the products don’t come cheap, so its beauty advent calendar offers the perfect way to sample some of its must-haves.

With other retailer’s offering a wide range of products within their beauty advent calendars, how does Charlotte Tilbury’s jewel-embellished option compare? To help you decide whether it’s worth your money, we got our hands on it and opened all 12 days to see if it ‘sleighs’.

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How we tested

Forgoing tradition (sorry, Father Christmas), we opened each drawer to try the products way before December. We considered value, how it differed from previous offerings, and the range in treats. Can Charlotte Tilbury’s advent calendar deliver? We find out.

Charlotte Tilbury beauty advent calendar: £150, Charlottetilbury.com

Rating: 3.5/5
Price: £150
Value: £244
Number of days: 12
Product highlights: Charlotte Tilbury beauty light wand, Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte’s magic cream,
Available: Now

Packaging

The design is strikingly similar to the brand’s previous offerings – essentially a chest-style with star and moon jewels for drawer handles. While it looks grand and glamorous, the design does feel a little ‘done’, and we’d have liked to have seen something different. That being said, the pink colour pattern is fun, and the whole thing feels high quality and sturdy.

Most of the products are nestled among pink tissue paper, in keeping with the calendar’s exterior branding, which only adds to the luxe nature and the feeling of it being a real treat.

Much like last year, though, there are no numbers on the drawers, which seems quite strange. But this means it’s an all-year-round versatile storage unit.

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What’s inside the Charlotte Tilbury beauty advent calendar for 2022?

If you love the idea of knowing exactly what’s inside, you’ve come to the right place, because we are here to spill the beans, and you’re in for a treat. Unfortunately, for those who want to count down from 1 December, there aren’t 25 days – so you may wish to open on alternate days in the lead-up to the big day. Owing to the sheer number of beauty and skincare products on offer at Charlotte Tilbury, we think the brand could’ve gone one step further by offering a full advent calendar.

In terms of what’s inside, we were hoping it would be entirely different from last year’s. But much like the packaging and design, it’s very similar. While there are no numbers on the doors, we started at the top left and worked our way down.

As such, on the first day of advent, we were treated to a full-size version of the brand’s browfix in clear gel (£22, Charlottetilbury.com), which was a firm favourite. Unlike other similar products, it doesn’t make brows feel stiff, yet adds serious definition to each hair. We were pleasantly surprised by the staying power too, with our brows staying in place for the entire day.

Other full-sized highlights included the TikTok-famous Hollywood beauty light wand in spotlight (£29, Charlottetilbury.com), which imparts a serious glow, the brand’s new matte lipstick: catwalking (£26, Charlottetilbury.com), and a colour chameleon eye pencil in golden quartz (£22, Charlottetilbury.com) that offers a glittery and glamourous look in barely any time.

In terms of minis, there are some serious favourites in here too. We were particularly excited to try Charlotte’s magic serum crystal elixir (£26, Charlottetilbury.com) after the rave reviews it received from one of our writers. Of course, it delivered on our expectations, with results shining through and leaving us with a glowy complexion, which will be particularly welcome during the festive party season.

Other miniature highlights include a wonderglow primer (£16, Charlottetilbury.com), a pillow talk mascara (£13, Charlottetilbury.com), the brand’s effective airbrush flawless setting spray (£15, Charlottetilbury.com), and our new favourite moisturiser: Charlotte’s magic cream (£25, Charlottetilbury.com), which feels particularly luxurious.

Value

Charlotte Tilbury has delivered on creating a beauty advent calendar that means you can achieve a gorgeous complexion with its high-performing make-up and skincare products. The 12-day treasure chest costs £150, yet has a worth of £244, so there is a rather large cost saving here. With Charlotte Tilbury being on the more luxury side of things, the advent calendar offers a great way to try a range of the brand’s products without committing to buying something full-sized before trialing it first.

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The verdict: Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty advent calendar

We can’t ignore the similarities between this year’s calendar and 2021’s, both in terms of contents and design. Fans of Charlotte Tilbury who had last year’s calendar might not feel particularly inspired to unpack nearly all of the same products once again. Similarly, owing to the sheer number of Charlotte Tilbury products available, we’d have liked to have seen a 25-day offering from the brand.

Having said that, Charlotte Tilbury’s beauty advent calendar does serve as a great way to try some of the brand’s bestselling, top-performing products across make-up and skincare, and it does feel like a particularly luxurious offering that’ll make for a very lovely Christmas treat.

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