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(Image credit: Liberty London) Share Copy link Facebook X Pinterest Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter By the time October rolls around, my desk has usually disappeared under a tower of beauty advent calendars. This year I had my pick of 27 of them, and I'll be honest—the standard has never been higher. There are so many brilliant calendars on the market right now, packed with genuinely practical inclusions: the cleansers, mascaras and moisturisers you'll actually reach for every day long after the last door has been opened.
So when it came to choosing the one calendar I'd take home for myself, you'd probably assume I'd go for the most valuable, the one with the most full-size products or the one with the biggest luxury names. Liberty's calendar ticks all of those boxes—but none of them is the reason it came home with me.
Liberty's 2026 Advent Calendar at a glance
Exclusives: 26 products you won't see in any other calendars
As a beauty editor, I'm lucky enough to have access to—and a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of—the coolest, nichest, most up-and-coming brands out there. New launches land in my inbox before they hit shelves, and it takes a lot to surprise me. Most calendars, however good, are full of products I already know inside out.
Liberty's is different. Year after year, it manages to introduce me to brands and products I didn't know I needed, and more often than not, a few of them become permanent fixtures in my routine. For someone who sees almost everything, that's the most exciting thing a calendar can offer—and this year, it delivered some new all-time favourite staples.
If I had to pick a single standout, it would be this—and it's the perfect example of why Liberty's calendar came home with me. Reome's Active Recovery Broth felt incredibly hydrating and soothing the moment it touched my skin, and it layered beautifully with everything else in my routine—no pilling, no tackiness. After a few weeks of use, my skin looked noticeably healthier, more even and genuinely radiant. It's exactly the kind of brand I might not have tried otherwise, and now I'm not sure I'll be without it.
Discovery doesn't always mean a brand-new name—sometimes it's a new way to enjoy an old favourite. Violette_FR's Bisou Balm is my go-to lipstick, so being able to try the same super-flattering Bêtise shade in a more hydrating format was a real treat. It feels lovely and nourishing on the lips, but it still lasts impressively well—a rare combination. And it's a full size, too.
Not every inclusion needs to be new to me to earn its place. This has been one of my favourite hand creams for a long time, so I was thrilled to find a full-size tube tucked behind one of the doors. It's rich without being greasy, and it smells wonderful too. Mine has already taken up residence on my desk.
Above everything though, if there's one thing that drew me to this calendar, it's the fragrance discovery. Liberty's fragrance edit has always been a brilliant way to explore niche perfume houses, and this year it really delivers, featuring eight different scents.
Ex Nihilo's Blue Talisman and Fugazzi's Angel Dust were my personal highlights, but I genuinely enjoyed every scent in the line-up. Better still, they're the perfect size for popping in your handbag, so they double up as travel perfumes—ideal for topping up on the go or taking away for the weekend without packing a full bottle.
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Then there's the full-size count. Of the 29 products inside, 21 are full-size—that's nearly three-quarters of the calendar. That matters for discovery, too: a full size means you can properly work a new product into your routine and see what it does for you, rather than getting a couple of uses out of a sachet and forgetting about it.
It also puts Liberty firmly among the best-value calendars on the market this year. Space NK's bestselling calendar contains 26 full-size products out of 35, a near-identical proportion, while Harrods' calendar also offers 21 full-size products. Meanwhile, the Lookfantastic Beauty Advent Calendar—one of the bestselling calendars every year—features fewer than 20 full-size products, so Liberty comfortably edges ahead there.
The box itself is a thing of beauty in its own right. Shaped like the facade of Liberty's iconic mock-Tudor flagship store, it's decorated with delicate ink illustrations by artist Clym Evernden that bring the shop to life in all its festive glory, and behind the doors are 25 Liberty-print drawers. This year marks Evernden's fourth and final calendar for Liberty, which makes this edition a real collector's piece—and with a new artist set to take over in 2027, it's one I'll be keeping long after the drawers are empty.
And there's one more extra I didn't expect to love quite as much as I do: the calendar comes in a gorgeous, sturdy cloth drawstring bag in a festive Liberty print. It's perfect for lugging gifts to and from Christmas parties and family get-togethers—or, if you're travelling over the festive season, it makes a brilliant laundry bag to stash in your suitcase.
At £285, with over £1,300 worth of products inside, an impressive number of full sizes, a line-up of luxury names and packaging you'll want to keep, the Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar would be a strong contender on value alone. But that's not why it came home with me. Of the 27 calendars I had my pick of, Liberty's was the only one that genuinely surprised me—and the one that's changed what's on my bathroom shelf. If you love finding your next favourite brand before everyone else, this is the calendar to choose.
Aleesha Badkar Managing Editor, Marie Claire UK Aleesha is Managing Editor at Marie Claire UK . With a strong background in beauty and shopping, she's always here with a good recommendation, whether it's an affordable fashion buy, the latest gadget everyone's using or a stellar beauty product—with a particular savvy in skincare and fragrance.
When she's not testing all the new beauty & lifestyle products on the market, Aleesha spends her time soaking up the newest bestsellers and Netflix releases, watching everything Marvel, learning about different wines, attempting new languages and traveling as much as she can.
Source: Fashion