By Lucy Smith

Copyright independent

Last year’s packaging was a slick silver with cerise accents. For 2025, the beauty retailer has opted for glitzy gold with neon light-style motifs. While this doesn’t compare to the festive elegance of Liberty, Sisley, Neal’s Yard and Fortnum and Mason, the foil wrap isn’t unattractive and is likely to slot into most home decor schemes seamlessly.

Unfortunately, my box fell apart upon sliding the drawers, so I’m not sure you’d look to reuse this calendar in future years. Thankfully, what Sephora’s offering lacks in the design department, it most certainly makes up for on the filling front.

In the retailer’s pre-launch teasers, we were promised “lots of exclusives”. Once revealed, I was shocked to discover that 31 of the items featured are unique to the Sephora calendar, so you won’t find them in any other advents.

The 41 products are a mix of new and returning brands, with Medik8 and Glow Recipe (among others) having featured in last year’s line-up, but there are new brands, too. Merit was only onboarded with Sephora over the past year, and the company is the only retailer stocking them.

As it happens, Merit’s beauty flush balm (£26, Sephora.co.uk) was one of my favourite items in the calendar; I loved how creamy and smooth the pigment applied, with the colour giving my cheeks a flattering pop of colour without sticking to any dry patches.

In the skincare department, there’s plenty to get excited about, with Elemis’ green fig pro-collagen cleansing balm (£13.50, Cultbeauty.co.uk), Laneige’s water bank blue hyaluronic cream (£15.60, Johnlewis.com), and Tower 28’s daily rescue SOS facial spray (£11, Revolve.com) all stars of the show. It’s great to see a hypochlorous acid spray make the cut.

The make-up offering is bountiful, too, with Gisou’s fan-favourite lip oil in the shade glazed plum (£24, Sephora.co.uk). TikTok lovers will appreciate the inclusion of the viral Clomana marshmallow make-up sponge (£10, Sephora.co.uk), while my personal highlight was the Ilia limitless lash mascara (£28, Sephora.co.uk).

If you’ve not tried it, the imitless lash wand has two layers of different bristles to ensure that every length of lash – from the roots to the tips – is stacked with formula to create ‘limitless’ volume and length without clumping. I’ve been using it exclusively for months and can’t recommend it enough.

While 2025 has seen a handful of dedicated fragrance calendars from the likes of Lookfantastic and Harvey Nichols, Sephora’s offering isn’t to be overlooked. I think its selection of Malin + Goetz, Kayali, Sol de Janeiro and Commodity (plus more) provides a varied perfume library for fans of scents sweet, fresh and floral.

The only caveat is that the size of the featured fragrances is slightly underwhelming, and five fragrance minis might be seen as clutter. Thankfully, the single full-size scent – Sol de Janeiro’s Rio radiance (£24, Sephora.co.uk) – is one of my ongoing body spray must-haves, earning four and a half stars out of five in my review.

Lastly, the haircare products. If you’re in search of a solution to dry strands and dull locks, look no further. With both Color Wow and Amika in the mix, plus K18’s hype-worthy astrolift volume spray (£44, Sephora.co.uk), you can expect a December of bouncy and silky blow-outs.

As much as Sephora’s offering is my pick for 2025, its product selection won’t be for everyone. There are arguably a handful of let-downs here, with a bar soap from Topicals (one included, but it’s £25 for two, Sephora.co.uk) and a set of shimmery eyeshadows from Tarte (not for sale, rough value of equivalent items is £26).

While the latter feels a bit dated, the former isn’t fitting of a £200+ advent calendar. That said, even after you remove those lacklustre items, you’re left with 39 items to explore. This advent has sold out three years in a row and is set to do so again.

Read more: Boots’ beauty advent calendar is one of the cheapest – here’s what’s inside