Marks And Spencer - The Ultimate Beauty Advent Calendar - Days 1-12

For me it wouldn't be Christmas without an advent calendar. I don't think it matters how old you are, opening those little doors and counting down the days to the 25th December never loses it magic. I always remember having an advent calendar when I was a child, there was no chocolate or treats behind each door, just a little festive picture, with a sprinkling of glitter if you were lucky, that made you even more excited for the big day.

Although you can still get plain paper and card advent calendars, nowadays we're more accustomed to finding a little piece of chocolate or a sweetie behind each door. I can't remember when the chocolate advent calendar trend started but I know I never needed an excuse to eat chocolate before breakfast!

I suppose it was a natural progression to start putting other things behind the doors and this year alone I've seen advent calendars filled with LEGO, candles, treats for your pets and of course beauty products. I've had a few beauty calendars over the years and as a total beauty junkie I love the excitement of finding and trying new products. As a household we have four advent calendars this year, a chocolate filled one each for me and Mummy Lou, a one filled with cat treats for my furry friends and I was also lucky enough to get my hands on The Ultimate Beauty Advent Calendar from Marks And Spencer.

Value wise this one was probably one of the best when it came to beauty calendars. With a contents value of around £200, this calendar was just £25, when you spent £25 on beauty at M&S. Marks and Spencer have really upped their beauty game lately selling brands such as L'Occitane, Pixi,and Leighton Denny so believe me it wasn't hard to spend £25.

When you think about advent calendars you normally think of trying to pry open that perforated door to see what's inside, this one is a bit different though; Instead of opening doors, you get a beautiful clear topped cardboard box which contains 24 mini numbered boxes. Although opening doors is more traditional I love this idea and if your really sneaky, you could potentially use it again next year and fill the boxes yourself.

The calendar contains a variety of both full size and sample size beauty treats from both Marks And Spencer's own label brands, and some of the brands that they now stock in their new look beauty departments.

I'm a couple of days late with this one but I thought you might like to see the goodies that I've found in my calendar so far,,

Days 1 - 3

  Day 1 - Philip Kingsley Elasticizer - Geranium & Neroli - 40ml

     Day 2 - Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream - 15g - Full Size

Day 3 - Cowshed Grumpy Cow Uplifting Body Lotion - 100ml

Days 4 - 6

Day 4 - Pur Volume Vixen 4 In 1 Mascara - 4.8ml

Day 5 - Leighton Denny Renovate Nail Repair Cream - 10ml - Full Size

Day 6 - Rosie For Autograph Nuit Parfum EDP - 15ml

Days 7 - 9

Day 7 - Rituals Zensation Organic Rice Milk And Cherry Blossom Foaming Gel Sensation - 50ml

Day 8 - Pure Super Grape Day Cream - 30ml

Day 9 - Laboratoires Filorga Time Filler Absolute Wrinkle Correction Cream - 15ml

Days 10 - 12

Day 10 - Neals Yard Remedies Frankincense Nourishing Cream - 25g

Day 11 - Josh Wood Colour Full Bodied Shampoo - 50ml

Day 12 - Diego Dalla Palma Il RossettoThe Lipstick No.46 - 4.7g - Full Size

I'm really pleased with the contents so far, there are a couple of things that I might not use but they can easily be passed on, or gifted. My highlights of the first 12 days are definitely the Diego Dalla Palma Lipstick which is a beauitful pink / mauve shade, and the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer which smells amazing, but I'm looking forward to trying some new things and revisiting a couple of things that I've used in the past. I'm definitely going to be reviewing the lipstick and the Elasticizer but if you would like to see  reviews of anything else please let me know. I will be posting Days 13 -24 on Christmas Eve but if you want to know what goodies were behind the doors before then, then make sure your following me on Instagram x If you have any questions please leave me a comment and I'll see you soon xx