Anti-Haul: Beauty Advent Calendars....



I am sure this is gonna cause I riot, because I seem to be the only person on planet earth who doesn't like Advent Calendars - but alas, I thought I would talk through them anyway, and give you my reasoning for why I just cannot bear to splash the cash on any of them, and my thought process on purchasing them! 


*disclaimer* No shade to ANY of the brands, I love them all - they are incredible. But I just don't like the way these calendars end up working out - it is nothing to do with the brands themselves - its the culture around it all. I also understand the amount of time and design that goes into creating items like this, but still - I cannot see past this. 

I am going to break it down into price sections - because when I am looking to buy one - this is typically what I do in my head.

The Ridiculously Extravagant 
Image result for jo malone advent calendar

Jo Malone £300 
OMG ITS SO BEAUTIFUL. The queen of all advent calendars, this is the ultimate for most people, but its lack of value makes me weep, sure its nice to try them all, but it isn't good value for money - you are paying more for the packaging and just to own one. Here is why: 

Contents For £300:
Candles: 95g 
Cologne: 81ml 
Cologne Intense: 45ml 
Body Wash: 30ml 
Body Creme: 65ml 
Oil: 30ml
Scrub: 50g

(The Actual Contents works out to be about £200 Value When looking at g & ml)

Cost To Buy from Store: 
Candle: 200g (Excess of 105g): £45 
Cologne: 100ml (Excess of 19ml): £90
Cologne Intense: 50ml (Excess of 5ml): £75
Body Wash: 250ml (Excess of 220ml): £30
Body Creme:  175ml (Excess of 110ml): £52
Oil: 30g (No Excess) £18
Scrub: 200g (Excess of 150g): £44

= £354

So for an extra £54 you would smell like Jo Malone for probably a good 6 months longer, not to mention if you went into a store and bought all of that - the sales associate would probably throw in every sample they had. So really you are winning hands down. 

All I can think is paying the £300 for the calendar would be simply to say I had one, and enjoy it for 25 days, and every time looking at it getting serious pangs of WHYYYYY. I think if they had a voucher for a 100ml fragrance on day 25 it would be SO much better. And I would actually be tempted. 

Diptique £300 
The contents of this one seems to be a better deal than the Jo Malone one, but using the same formula you still seem to be only getting around a £210 value. For the same price you could just buy 4x Candles and a perfume, have 175g more candle, 30ml more perfume, then have £32 left to spend. 

Sure it is beautiful, buuuut no. 


 The Not Quite as Bad

Image result for liberty of london advent calendar 2017
Liberty of London £175 

Now this one brags to have contents worth more than £500. But states "travel size" items as "Full Size" THE FURY. Everyone knows travel size items are very cute and tiny, but a hella lot more expensive than the actual full size product. I'm not gonna lie, the thoughts of working out the actual cost of this gives me a headache (But if you want me to - let me know) but seriously - the amount of sample size/travel size items you get in this type of box - you be as well signing up for Glossy Box for a year and boxing up the contents for December - OH THE SHADE.  

Image result for charlotte tilbury advent calendar 2017
Charlotte Tilbury £150 
This one is a mixture of above. Sure there is a few full size, but mostly "deluxe sample" I would much rather just buy 4 lipsticks and a palette - I just see that as being better value.


The Cheaper 
Lancome £95
I really love Lancome, but this is all sample sizes. Which btw they throw in every time you buy anything from the counter. The last time I bought my foundation I got three of the items FOR FREE in the bag. They give them away like sweeties all year - so I don't know if I could justify spending £95 on a calendar when I know I could just save up my samples all year and have enough to fill my own. 

Image result for asos advent calendar
ASOS £55
Realistically the only things I really like the look of is the lip balm (which I have hundred of) and the Ordinary (which I can buy separately) This one is actually one of the better value ones - but again lots of "Deluxe Sample Size"

The Cheapest

Image result for makeup revolution advent calendar 2017
Makeup Revolution £50 
This one seems to go up and down in price. But no matter the price all I can think is really? You want to spend £30-£50 on MUR??? That is the price of an Hourglass Blush Erin, and you would love that WAY more. True. True. 
Image result for tanya burr advent calendar 2017
Tanya Burr £30
Really Erin? No. You hate her. Just buy the blush. 

*Buys £32 blush*


Erin's Advent Calendar:

So yeah, 3 years in a row I have said I would buy an advent calendar, and I haven't - because I cannot handle that buying something in bulk should be more expensive... so my plan was to make my own, you can buy fill your own type calendars in places like hobby craft, then actually fill it with things you love. 
My Made Up Calendar Contains:
Hourglass Blush (Dim Infusion) £32
Diptique Unicorn: Frosted Forest Christmas Candle £48 
Jo Malone Pine & Eucalyptus Candle £45
Jo Malone English Oak & Hazelnut Cologne £45 
Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick in "English Beauty" £24
M&S Percy Pigs
CHOCOLATE
Cost = £200 (AND I LOVE IT ALL!!!)

(In reality I just bought new tyres which cost about that, so yeah, I'm getting the Kelloggs £4 one lol)

What is your thoughts on Advent Calendars? Have you bought one? Which one? (No shame, no shade, they just weren't for me!)


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