2013 was the year that Beauty Advent Calendars went mainstream. Boots joined Benefit and the Body Shop in getting a bit of the December long action that Ciate and You have been enjoying and brought out their first Beauty Advent Calendar. Priced at £30 and with enough stock to be on sale for longer than 35 seconds (Benefit) I decided that this would be a good one to dip my toe in the waters.
http://youtu.be/SY5YzeeQVEU
I promise that I did not cheat and I opened all these doors one by one, each day like a good girl. It contained (in order of opening): Soap & Glory ‘Clean Girls’ shower gel; Balmi lip balm in Mint; Mavala ‘London’ red nail polish; Nina Ricci ‘L’eau Fraiche’ perfume; Rimmel Stay Matte foundation ‘Ivory'; Vichy ‘Idealia Life Serum'; Paco Rabanne ‘Black XS’ perfume; Umberto Giannini hair bobble; Seventeen ‘Miami’ pink ‘Supreme Shine’ nail polish; Orly rubberised base coat; Ghost perfume; Boots Salon Nail Care ‘Salon Shine Solution'; Vichy ‘Liftactiv Serum 10′ for eyes and lashes; Juicy Couture ‘Couture La La’ perfume; Seventeen ‘Tattoo Me’ liquid eyeliner; Nail file; Soap & Glory ‘Flake Away’ body scrub; Ghost ‘Moonlight’ perfume; Carmex lip balm; Mavala ‘Pure Diamond’ silver glitter nail polish; Boots Botanics Heat Protection Shine Serum; Nails Inc ‘Porchester Square’ greige nail polish; Umberto Giannini ‘Backcomb in a Bottle’ hairspray; Seventeen ‘Blow Out’ Mascara; Triple Advantage Card points voucher.
Pretty good right? These are the things I wasn’t so impressed with:
It’s not too much. The hair bobble is terrible though. It was shedding threads and is now in the bin. I think even plain, no-pull bands would have been better, I can’t see anyone who would have bought this using that pom-pom bobble. The nail file was also disappointing, cheap and bent as it came out of the box. I also thought that a couple of perfume sample would have been fine but that 5 was too much. Especially since there were two from Ghost. And, the Black XS one was only half full – maybe it leaked?
That still leaves a lot of stuff I was happy with. I’ve not tried it all out yet so I can’t say if it is actually any good, but I’m happy to have them and to have a go. I’m disappointed that the Rimmel foundation is too dark for me to try, but it’s hardly Boots’ fault I’m a pasty-faced so-and-so and I’ll just pass it on to someone else.
These are the products that I was very happy about: 
Gotta love a bit of Soap & Glory! I can’t wait to try the Orly Rubberised base coat, I’ve heard good things about it. I’ve also never tried Mavala before and it’s good to have both a creme and a glitter to try out. I love my coconut Balmi and was hoping for a mint one so was very happy when I opened this on day two despite the fact that the box said it would be strawberry. Carmex used to be my go-to lip balm in the winter but I’ve not had it for a while. This one will be living on my desk at work. I love anything that will add volume to my hair with minimum effort so ‘Backcomb in a Bottle’ sounds good to me. Also pretty happy with the full size mascara, always happy to try out a new one.
So all in all, pretty positive. Next year I’d like to see a few less perfume samples and maybe for them to skip the accessories. I’d love to see some more variety in brands, perhaps No.7, Sanctuary or Bourjois and maybe a couple more makeup products such as an eyeshadow or a lipstick. I would buy it again next year (although I’m holding out for a Body Shop one – they looked amazing), as it’s been making getting up every morning in this cold, dark December a bit easier and I have lots of new products to play with only a few disappointments. Much better than a chocolate calendar!
Winner! Did you have the Boots calendar or another beauty one? What did you think of it?
