Christmas / Two Beauty Advent Calendars You Need In Your Life

Prior to the launch of beauty advent calendars, I found the whole genre a bit disappointing; as a spoilt product of the 80s boom, a humble picture didn’t quite do it for me (though I was a degree more thrilled by the bedazzling nativity scenes and sparkly Father Christmas beards the year mum got her hands on a particularly glittery number).

Chocolate: marginally better, though the pedantic fun-squashing morning Madeleine struggled with the concept of chocolate before breakfast and the forgetful late-night version never opened them on the right day and then embarked on a gobbling session every Saturday, which defeats the point rather.

Beauty calendars, however, are delightful prospects. Their diversity (there’s one out there for everyone now – beauty companies have really run with this one) and the fact that you get an actual present every day (I know, so very spoilt) makes them a delicious pick-me-up on cold, frosty mornings when swinging my legs out of bed is a struggle – a new nail polish is most definitely worth getting out of bed for. Here are two I rate of this year’s crop //

CIATE MINI MANI MONTH £49 here // This is the calendar I’ll be opening every morning in December. A winner on many fronts, it is my favourite of all the beauty calendars out this year because: a) I never reach the end of a nail polish bottle before the contents start to slightly congeal so the minis are ideal and, b) I am given to butterfly enjoyment of different colours to suit my moods (which probably accounts for point a). Also, the bottles are still as pretty as the big Ciate ones, the calendar itself a joy to behold and the colours are nicely curated (brights, treatments, glitters and classics are all in there). Here are some of the contents though not all – it’s nice to keep an element of surprise…

BENEFIT PARTY POPPERS ADVENT CALENDAR £31.05 here // This plays a merry tune on opening like those creepy birthday cards, but that aside this is a pretty solid egg from Benefit. As it ought to be – they’ve spent years honing their minis repertoire (so. many. mini. sets.) so they more than anyone should be perfectly capable of throwing a calendar together. Two things that stop this from stealing the crown from the Ciate calendar: it only covers 12 days of Christmas, which seems a bit of a travesty for old Veruca Salt over here, and the minis are really bloomin’ mini.