These Shoppers Drug Mart beauty advent calendars save you nearly $500 on makeup, skincare & more — here's my honest review

I can't even begin to count the number of advent calendars I have tried over the years. My line of work, coupled with my unending holiday spirit, often results in an impressive accumulation of them. While it's only October, I have already tested a handful of advent calendars for Christmas 2024, including two from Shoppers Drug Mart.

Filled to the brim with bath, skincare and makeup goodies, the Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises and 15 Days of Beauty Exclusive Brand Advent Calendar are some of the year's best beauty advent calendars — especially among those available in Canada.

As a beauty-obsessed shopping editor, I was keen to see if the Shoppers Beauty advent calendars were worth their $165 and $50 and price tags this holiday season. To read my honest review of each and shop the luxe Christmas advent calendars for yourself, scroll below.

Review: Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises

Review: 15 Days of Beauty Exclusive Brand Advent Calendar

This luxe beauty advent calendar from Shoppers Beauty is valued at a whopping $550.

I was really amped to try the Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises. Over the past few years, Shoppers Beauty has really upped its game and become a destination on par with Sephora and Holt Renfrew for luxury beauty. Valued at a whopping $550, this 35-piece advent calendar features a ton of top-tier beauty brands like Benefit Cosmetics, Lancôme, Murad and Too Faced.

The advent calendar features 35 skincare, haircare, fragrance, and makeup mini products, including:

Benefit Cosmetics Badgal Bang! Mascara

Lancôme Absolu Rouge Cream

Marc Jacobs Perfect Eau de Parfum

Mario Badescu Brightening Mask with Vitamin C

R.E.M. Beauty Interstellar Highlighter Topper in Miss Mercury

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner

Too Faced Lip Injection Lip Gloss

Click here to see what else is inside

If you're a luxury beauty kind of person, the Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises is a great way to test out new and fan-favourite brands. I love that it has so many products — 10 boxes even contain two products — and that they're quite varied. You get a wide variety of skincare, makeup and fragrance.

My highlights were definitely the Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey (one of the year's buzziest makeup products) and the fragrance samples — I am a sucker for perfume.

While I think the advent calendar is an excellent gift idea, I don't know if I agree it's worth $550. Most of the products are sample sizes; while some are generous sample sizes, they are still minis. That said, the advent calendar is definitely a more cost-effective option than buying all the products off the shelf, so if you have wanted to sample even a few of them, I'd say it's worth it.

Shop it for $165: Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises

This 15-day advent calendar features Shoppers Beauty-exclusives from Essence, Naturium, Makeup Revolution and more.

The 15 Days of Beauty Exclusive Brand Advent Calendar features 15 specially-curated skincare and beauty essentials. While the Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises is heavy on above-the-neck products, the 15 Days of Beauty features a little bit of everything, including deodorant, blemish patches, tanning lotion and false eyelashes.

Unlike the 25 Days of Beauty, the 15-day version features a ton of full-sized products. The deodorant, blemish patches, Lift & Luminate serum and Jason Wu blush are all full-sized and even the mini products are not all that mini — you get a good bang for your buck with this one.

The advent calendar features 16 (though one is truly a sample-sample) skincare and beauty essentials, including:

FULL-SIZE: In-Patch hydrocolloid blemish patches (valued at $10)

FULL-SIZE: Simply Deo - Santal + Verbena (valued at $12)

FULL-SIZE: No7 Lift & Luminate Triple Action Face Serum (valued at $36)

FULL-SIZE: Jason Wu Blush (valued at $26)

Click here to see what else is inside

Absolutely. If we're strictly comparing the two advent calendars, this one offers far more bang for your buck. It contains several full-sized products and the remainder of the products, while not full-sized, are not teeny-tiny.

Many of the products, like the Naturium The Glow Getter Multi-Oil Body Wash and Bondi Sands Gradual Tan Lotion Skin Illuminator will be loved by all; however, the false eyelashes were a little much for me. I love a false lash as much as the next, but the ones included are a little too va-va-voom for my liking. That said, I think it's a great advent calendar overall, especially for its $50 price tag. To be honest, I'm surprised they priced it so low.

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