One of my favourite Christmas traditions is unboxing my yearly advent calendar. Or, more realistically, advent calendars — I’m extra festive, ok? The advent calendars of my youth versus the advent calendars of today could not be more different. Growing up, we would glue cotton balls to fill in Santa’s beard. In 2024, the gift sets offer $100s worth of beauty products, sex toys and just about everything else you can imagine.

In the lead-up to December, I’m testing some of the year’s best advent calendars available in Canada. I’ve tried some of Sephora’s viral gift sets, checked out Shoppers Drug Mart’s ever-growing advent calendar collection and even unboxed one chock-full of jewelry.

Below, I share my thoughts on each — the good and the bad — and let you know what you can look forward to. Keep scrolling for a shopping expert’s helping hand to find your 2024 advent calendar.

Sephora Collection Advent Calendar

The Sephora Collection Advent Calendar is easily one of the year’s most sought-after sets, especially in Canada. While the reviews online are mixed, I think it’s actually a really nice gift set. It includes several of the brand’s bestselling sheet masks, a full-sized Lip Marker, a set of tweezers and three nail polishes you will actually use all of the time. My only qualm with the advent calendar is that some accessories, like the scrunchie, nail stickers and barrettes, feel rather cheap. I would have preferred more face masks or makeup products. That said, it’s a pretty good assortment for $68, especially if you’re into masks and body care.

Sephora

This limited-edition beauty advent calendar contains 24 beauty goodies from the Sephora Collection, including a few masks, nail polishes and accessories.

Pros

• It includes several bestselling masks
• It’s easily giftable — universally loved products
• The samples are generously sized

Cons

• A few of the accessories feel cheap
• Valued at $179? I don’t know about that

$68 at Sephora

Shoppers Beauty 25 Days of Beauty Surprises

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), the Lancôme Absolu Rouge Cream and R.E.M. Beauty’s Interstellar Highlighter Topper.

Shoppers Drug Mart

This luxe beauty advent calendar from Shoppers Beauty is valued at a whopping $550 and features bestsellers from Clinique, Murad, Kylie Cosmetics and more.

Pros

• A lot of boxes have more than one product
• The variety is great
• It features a ton of high-end brands

Cons

• The majority of products are sample sizes
• Is it worth $550? I don’t know

$165 at Shoppers Drug Mart

Sephora Collection After Advent Calendar

We’ve all heard of advent calendars, but what about post-holiday, “After Advent” calendars? A fun little gift set for those weird in-between days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, this 8-piece set actually feels like it’s worth $106. Everything inside is standard-sized, so you’re getting proper bang for your buck. It includes a pretty blue nail polish, volumizing mascara, a lip sleeping mask and more. Honestly, it might be one of the best advent calendars available in 2024.

Sephora

This fun gift set from Sephora is for those weird in-between days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The mini set includes two Sephora Collection masks, nail polish, mascara and more.

Pros

• Everything is full-sized
• It actually feels like it’s worth $106

Cons

• It’s similar to the brand’s other advent calendar

$48 at Sephora

2024 L’Occitane 24 Days Of Beauty Advent Calendar

It’s not just the look of the 2024 L’Occitane 24 Days Of Beauty Advent Calendar that I love, but what’s inside, too. This prettily packaged advent calendar is a fun (and practical!) way to countdown to the holidays. The two-sided gift set contains 25 L’Occitane goodies, ranging from the brand’s bestselling Neroli & Orchid Hand Cream to its Cleansing and Softening Shower Oil. Not only is it a great gift idea for those who love body and bath products, but it will come in handy for the frequent-flier, as it includes a ton of travel-sized necessities, like shampoo, conditioner and shower gel.

Sephora

This 2024 skincare advent calendar from L’Occitane is valued at $155. Looking for travel-sized products? This set is full of ’em. 

Pros

• Gorgeous packaging
• Huge variety in products
• Good for travel

Cons

• There are no full-sized products

$98 at Sephora

Yves Rocher 2024 Advent Calendar

You can kiss dry skin goodbye with this 24-door advent calendar from Yves Rocher. It’s packed with enough mini hand creams for every bag you own, plus a bevy of balms, moisturizers and repairing creams to cover every inch of your chapped winter skin. Nothing in this advent calendar is overly specific for hair or skin type, so it’s a good beauty buy for the person whose primary concern is moisturized hands, lips and feet.

Yves Rocher

This boxed gift set contains a ton of skincare and bath essentials and has an estimated value of $134.85.

Pros

• The samples are generously sized
• Includes 6 standard format products
• Great for travel

Cons

• Some of the products felt repetitive

$79 at Yves Rocher

Wicked x Aldo Welcometooz 12 Days of Accessories

This 12 days of Wicked x Aldo accessory gift box was such a pleasant surprise. You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to movie-related merch, so I was happy to see that everything included could be wearable year-round, not just on Halloween. The set consists of five hair accessories, one charm bracelet and five pairs of earrings — a generous assortment for an $80 advent calendar if you ask me.

Aldo

This fun trinket box contains 12 Wicked-inspired accessories.

Pros

• Good variety of accessories
• Nothing is too costumey

Cons

• This isn’t grown-up jewellery per se, except pieces that are girly-girly

$80 at Aldo

15 Days of Beauty Exclusive Brand Advent Calendar

The 15 Days of Beauty Exclusive Brand Advent Calendar features 15 specially-curated skincare and beauty essentials, ranging from makeup to deodorant, blemish patches, tanning lotion and false eyelashes. Unlike many of the advent calendars on this list, the 15 Days of Beauty includes 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.

Shoppers Drug Mart

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

Pros

• Most of the products are full-size
• I believe that it’s valued at $175
• There’s a good variety of products

Cons

• The false eyelashes are very dramatic

$50 at Shoppers Drug Mart

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