Space NK’s advent calendar is full of skincare staples and luxurious treats

From tried-and-trusted favourites to exciting new launches, this countdown has it all

Thursday 06 October 2022 11:20 EDT

We did exactly what you’re not supposed to do and opened all windows at once (iStock/The Independent)

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Whether it’s Rare Beauty or Charlotte Tilbury, Drunk Elephant or Tatcha, no one knows luxury beauty and skincare quite like Space NK, one of our favourite shopping destinations. And so it is with great anticipation that we have awaited the drop of its advent calendar every year since its very first in 2018.

These days there are a huge number of beauty advent calendars to choose from if you want to upgrade from your usual chocolate offering, including plenty from high-end beauty shopping destinations such as Selfridges, John Lewis and Liberty. Can Space NK stand out in this crowded market? Spoiler: we think so.

The products are a nice mixture of familiar old-favourites and hyped new launches. It’s 25 days of treats from bodycare, haircare, skincare and make-up – some full-size, some minis, all premium.

There are quite a few miniatures (we count 18, plus 13 full size – some “windows” have more than one product behind them), but several are for items that are in the top bracket when purchased full-size. The only risk is that you discover yet more can’t-live-without products to feed your shopping habit.

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know what the calendar contains.

Read more:

How we tested

We did exactly what you’re not supposed to do with an advent calendar and opened all 25 windows at once, then dived straight into testing the products we were unfamiliar with, looking for the usuals: packaging, application experience, ingredients and results. We definitely recommend you open it the old-fashioned way, though: anticipation is half the fun.

Space NK beauty advent calendar: £215, Spacenk.com

Rating: 4/5
Price: £215
Worth: £770
Number of days: 25
Products: 31
Available: Now

Packaging

The packaging is an elegant, clashing combination of burgundy, fiery red and hot pink, with gold accents: classy and Christmassy, yet modern and fun. Inside are 25 individual boxes of various sizes, each with text on the side that hints at what’s within: “Rosy cheeks all round,” or, “made you look, made you stare hair,” for example.

The box sizes are not determined by the product size, so some are padded out with tissue paper, and some contain more than one product. As it’s made from cardboard, it’s all easily recycled once you’re – sob – done with it.

What’s inside?

We loved getting the chance to trial Augustinus Bader’s the face oil (£68, Spacenk.com), a superb blend of seed oils – it would take far too many words to list them all – that is deeply nourishing, thick but not heavy, and leaves skin glowing and bouncy. We’ll be devastated when it runs out.

It was also a good chance to finally try a 10ml version of Tatcha’s the dewy skin cream (a size you can’t buy on the high street), which we will definitely be ordering in full size in future. Lightweight and silky, it has become our favourite pre-make-up base, giving a glowing, almost wet look to the skin.

Dr Barbara Sturm’s hyaluronic serum is well out of our budget in full size, but we loved sampling it all the same (£85, Netaporter.com). It worked wonders and our chronically dehydrated, season change-confused skin drank it up, becoming plump and radiant. Be warned, the bottle is glass and – it turns out – fragile, so we wouldn’t suggest travelling with it.

The last on the list of luxury products we tried in miniature – and now desperately wish we could afford – is the La Mer crème de la mer moisturising cream. It’s rich but not heavy, and even the tiniest bit is restorative and soothing. For a 500ml bottle, it’s a whopping £1,780 and sadly the 7ml size found in the calendar is not available to purchase anywhere.

There are also miniatures of products we’ve been using for a long time. Dr Dennis Gross’s two-step alpha beta universal daily peel sheets (£19 for five sheets, Spacenk.com) are brilliant for exfoliating while travelling. Skin is baby soft and clear after use, rejuvenated and smoothed, and the appearance of fine lines improved. We don’t love a product that creates waste for regular use, but we were happy to add a three-pack to our travel toiletry rotation.

Another firm favourite is Sol De Janeiro’s Brazilian bum bum cream (from £20, Spacenk.com), which – contrary to what the name might suggest – can be used anywhere on the body to create super-soft, hydrated, glowing skin. It’s particularly good on dry or bumpy spots, such as elbows, knees and, yes, the derrière.

One of just five make-up items in the calendar, we were particularly thrilled to find a full size Charlotte Tilbury’s matte revolution lipstick (£26, Spacenk.com) in the infamous pillow talk shade, which is a universally flattering nude. We’re yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love this matte but non-drying formula, and now have another for our handbag.

It makes a great pairing for everyday use with Malin + Goetz’s lip moisturiser (£12, Spacenk.com), a fragrance and flavour-free fatty acid blend that delivers nourishment directly from a squeezy tube – much more hygienic and less messy than your pot of Vaseline.

We were also very happy to find a full-size Ultra Violette SPF 50+ supreme screen hydrating facial sunscreen (£34, Spacenk.com). It’s moisturising and creates a great satiny base for make-up without leaving a white cast; our new go-to SPF.

Similarly brilliant is Medik8’s crystal retinal (£49, Spacenk.com), a light, airy, non-irritating vitamin A serum containing “retinal”, which Medik8 claims is 11 times faster-acting than retinol. It comes in four different strengths, so you can increase your percentage as your skin acclimatises to use; included in the advent calendar is crystal retinal 3 (the second weakest). It also contains hyaluronic acid, glycerin and vitamin E to boost the skin’s hydration and barrier health.

Value for money

This year’s advent calendar costs £215, with an advertised total value of £770. For this, you get three bodycare products, five make-up, three hair and one candle, and the rest are all skincare. As we’ve already covered, quite a lot of these are travel size rather than full size. While the price-to-value ratio isn’t the highest among the beauty offering this year, there’s not a single disappointing product inside.

The verdict: Space NK beauty advent calendar

This year’s advent calendar is one for the skincare buffs, as the majority of its contents fall into this category. We loved the modern luxe packaging and the mix of tried-and-trusted favourites and exciting new launches, and had great fun discovering what lay inside each box. If you have £200 to splash on an advent calendar, you can’t go wrong with it.

Voucher codes

For the latest discount codes on beauty advent calendars, try the links below:

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