The snow has started to fall and the hunt for Christmas presents is in full swing. If you already saw our list of eco-friendly Christmas gifts, you’ve nearly ticked off everyone on the list. But the holly jolly season wouldn’t be complete with a few extra goodies on the days counting down to Christmas.  

So if you want to treat yourself or gift someone you know a little early cheer, here are the best beauty advent calendars 2021 to get your hands on before they sell out! We’ve even divided them into budget categories so you can skip right to the best ones for you.

Beauty Advent Calendars 2021 

Beauty Advent Calendars Under £20

Soul Beauty 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar

PETA Registered, cruelty-free and vegan, the Soul Beauty Advent Calendar is already a Proverb favourite. With cosmetic tools sprinkled in snowflakes and a winter wonderland theme, you’ll be able to pop all your new essentials in the rose gold cosmetic pouch that comes in this advent calendar. Oops, did we spoil the surprise?

Pros - Vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics.

Cons - Very clearly for makeup users.

Sustainability - Peta means no animal testing but no additional eco/sustainability accreditations as we can see.

Gaby Robinson Art Wellness & Relaxation Advent Calendar

We love to support a small business, after all we wouldn't be where we are today without all of our awesome customers! So, when we stumbled along this gem of an advent calendar on Etsy, we knew we had to share. The perfect gift for a loved one, with all of the treats individually wrapped - with gifts including: herbal teas, lip balms, sweet treats, notepads and pens, facemasks and candles to name a few!

Pros - Supporting small business, good for gifting, a more unique collection of gifts.

Cons - Limited availability. 

Sustainability - Doesn’t use many eco-friendly products.

Beauty Advent Calendars Under £50

Macmillan 24 Beauty Treasures Advent Calendar

If you are looking to trial out a range of products on a bit more of a manageable budget then listen up. It won’t just help you look good, it’ll do good too as £2 from every one of these beauty calendars goes to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Pros - Easily accessible in Boots, contains very well known brands, £ savings.

Cons - Many of the brands included formulate with all the mainstream ingredients such as petroleum, parabens etc. There are medical studies that link these ingredients to cancer and medical studies that prove there are no links.

Sustainability - Questionable with plastic packaging of products. There is an interesting moral question of if you want to support Macmillan should we give up having an advent calendar and donate your full £50? 

Lisa Angel Personalised Vintage Book Advent Calendar 

Now this may seem a little pricey for an advent calendar…without any treats included! But this beautiful moss green vintage book style calendar can be used year on year to store all of your favourite product minis and sweet treats. You can also have your calendar personalised to say a personal message of your name on the front. 

Pros - Cardboard not plastic, personalised, reusable.

Cons - No gifts inside so you have to buy them.

Sustainability - Eco-friendly in the sense you can reuse this, however it is still using cardboard instead of a more long-lasting sustainable material such as aluminium.

Beauty Advent Calendars Under £100

Feelunique Beauty Advent Calendar 2021

If you are wanting to splurge this Christmas on an advent calendar, the Feelunique Beauty Advent Calendar may be the one for you. As any self-confessed beauty addict will admit…we don’t love anything more than trialling out new skincare and makeup! This impressive advent calendars features brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Laura Mercier and Huda Beauty - just to name a few! Plus, when you get a mix of both skincare and makeup products in one, what's not to love!?

Pros - Well known brands, big savings.

Cons - Questionable ingredients, female-orientated, makeup based.

Sustainability - Not for people that have sustainability at the forefront of purchasing a product.

Kiehl’s Beauty Advent Calendar 

We are a sucker for anything eco-friendly or on the kinder side of the environment. Historically, Christmas is a time where the population produces masses of packaging waste, that when not recycled properly can end up in our oceans and landfill. So, when Kiehl’s announced that they were launching an eco-friendly beauty advent calendar, we were very happy. Made with FSC-certified materials that use zero plastics and tied with a ribbon made from post-consumer materials.

Pros - Unisex in terms of products, they have some of the male range alongside all their unisex products.

Cons - If you only want organic and natural ingredients then the INCI lists might not be for you.

Sustainability - Gift box packaging made with FSC-certified materials and using zero plastics. The actual product bottles are their normal plastic minis.

Best Skincare Advent Calendar 2021

Because we couldn’t compile a list of beauty advent calendars without skincare, here is the best refillable skincare advent calendar 2021:

L’Occitane Reusable Advent Calendar

Let’s start by saying yes, we know this one may be slightly over £100…However, we were so impressed by the reusable aspect, that it was too good to not include! The advent calendar was created in collaboration with UK illustrator Kitty McCall. The gorgeous design was inspired by nature, and made from recycled cotton and will be reusable after Christmas. Plus, you can also purchase the full refill products - to reuse for next year!

Pros - refillable and fabric - cutting down single-use plastic on the outside…not with the products!

Cons - Truthfully only truly refillable if you keep the bottles and refill the bottles, but how many people will do this? Some, we hope.

Sustainable - Can reuse the calendar itself, but still, have to re-purchase the minis which contain single-use plastic.

Are Beauty Advent Calendars Worth It?

What is clear from a consumer and brand perspective is that there is no (not that we can find anyway) advent calendar that uses only natural and organic certified products. Could this potentially be that natural and organic brands don’t want to have to produce a product that will contain so much packaging? Are these brands too small to produce them?

Or is this perhaps a space within the market for a natural and organic brand like Proverb to break into? Why is there not a collaboration certified natural and organic skincare advent calendar of multi-brands?

There are lots of unbelievable advent calendars out there, with some incredible products - however, these also come with an unbelievable price tag of up to £500. Is that just too extreme, would you want one as a gift? Some of the favourites include the Jo Malone Advent Calendar, Liberty London Advent Calendar and Net-A-Porter Advent Calendar.

What is glaringly obvious is the lack of male-orientated skincare advent calendars on the market, have brands started to push men to socks or even coffee themed calendars?

Advent calendars are such a critical part of British Christmas, but is it just something we shouldn't be doing from a sustainability point of view? It seems long gone are the cardboard advent calendars with a picture behind the door that we grew up with. Should these be making a comeback?

There you have it, the best beauty advent calendars 2021. Did we miss out on one of your favourites? Share this on your socials and let us know by tagging @ProverbSkin.