There are some really gorgeous beauty advent calendars out now. ASOS have a fantastic one that even includes a cloth bag and scarf, Look Fantastic have one with some great full size items. The prices of these advent calendars can go up to hundreds of pounds. Charlotte Tilbury has a 12 day one which is £150, for example. However, its work pointing out that if you will use the items, they are all worth more than the selling price. Some items are travel size or even sample size, but most of the good advent calendars have some full size items too.
However, if you won’t use everything, or if you just can’t stretch to that much, there is way to make your own beauty advent calendar. Obviously, try not to make your own if it’s for you – you will know what’s in it! Team up with a friend and make each other’s, or otherwise make one as a pre-Xmas gift for someone.
First you need to decide what you will use. If you have previously had a beauty advent calendar, hopefully you kept the beautiful box it came in and you can reuse it. If not, you could wrap each item individually and label them up with the date. If you are using all small items, you could also use nice thick kraft brown envelopes, label them, and hang them on a piece of string.
For the items, start stocking up early! If you go to department stores, ask for samples, most beauty counters will give you some. When you are shopping during the year, save any sachets of shampoo or free samples that you get given. Pop to a pound store and buy things like face masks, hair bands, nail varnish. Keep an eye on places like Birchbox – they do great subscription boxes, but often have a sale on where you can buy previous boxes for a good price. Last year, I bought three boxes for £15, so that was 15 items for my calendar.
Wrap the items in tissue paper before putting them in your packaging, too, to make it look fancy. Buy a tub of Heroes and add a chocolate for each day. Try to make each day different – if you have three moisturisers samples, make sure they are spread out enough.
Your friend will be delighted, and the best thing is that they will have some great ideas for you for next year!