This year the calender was shaped like a house or shop front and had twenty four individual house shaped boxes, each with a different design or scent on the front. And inside each box was a deluxe miniature or full sized product from each of the brands that the Marks And Spencer Beauty Hall has to offer. I liked how it was laid out but it was quite hard and cumbersome to get a few of the days out because you had to move the front row to reach the back row.
When it comes to the contents of the calender, I think they expanded their range of brands and product types well but there were a couple of products included that I found no use for and thought unnecessary or a let down in terms of the calender as a whole. The beauty blender and the make up bag that was gifted as a finale product were to me a bit of a cop out. There were so many amazing products that built up to Day Twenty-Five and it just seemed like a lacklustre finish from what had been an amazing calender.
Product/brand wise there was a good variety of both including new additions such as Korres, Balance Me and Ameliorate. There were still products from brands that they'd featured in their calender before such as Emma Hardie, Leighton Denny and REN but it was a different product to their previous calenders. This year there seemed to be a lot more skin focused products which for a skincare junkie like me was heaven and I've tried and loved the majority of them. There are certainly a few that I'll be buying in full size when the samples run out, the Alpha H Rose Gold being just one of them.
Overall I loved this calender for the third year in a row. Sure there were days when the boxes held a product I wasn't interested in or happy to receive but when it comes to something like an advent calender there is no way you're going to please everybody. That being said though, there is a good majority of products that I keep by my bedside and use on a regular basis. All in all this has again opened my eyes to brands I'd never tried or heard of before whilst simultaneously allowing me to try products from brands I do love without paying out their higher price tag and losing out if it doesn't work for me. Marks and Spencers is becoming one of the beauty highlights in the high street, going from strength to strength each year and I for one can not wait for the release of their advent calender this year.
