Hark, the Advent Calendars Have Arrived (Very) Early This Year

In 2014, Liberty beautified the tradition of the Advent calendar, “swapping out candy for a selection of its best-selling products,” explained beauty writer Tembe Denton-Hurst, noting that since then many other beauty retailers “quickly followed suit.” For 2026, 21 of the 29 products in Liberty’s calendar are full size, including a Sunday Riley CEO vitamin C serum and a Sisley Sisleya lotion (which retails for $185). There’s also a travel-size D.S. & Durga Debaser and Jones Road Miracle Balm.

There are 29 “grooming, skin-care, and fragrance heroes” in Liberty’s men’s calendar; the 14 full-size products include a Marvis Whitening Toothpaste, Paula’s Choice Ecotin Booster, and Philip Kingsley Flaky Itchy Scalp Shampoo, plus a travel-size Loewe Esencia Eau de Parfum and Grown Alchemist Skin Renewal.

It’s the best of Dermstore — at a great value. You’re getting deluxe samples of EltaMD’s UV Clear Blemish-Prone & Oil Balancing SPF 50 and SkinMedica HA5 Hydra Collagen Water Burst Moisturizer, a full-size iS Clinical GeneXC Serum, and a trial-size Barbara Strum Face Cream (which starts at $75 for 20mL).

Many “fancy” names at the Bloomingdale’s skin-care counter are in the department store’s 25 Days of Luxury Beauty Advent Calendar: Sisley, Le Mer, La Prairie, and Dr. Barbara Sturm. There’s a total of 27 products (valued at $1,252, apparently), like a Le Labo Santal 33, SK-II Skin Power Re-New Cream, and Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Eye Cream.

Your replacement for Glossier You may be in Bloomingdale’s 12 Days of Luxury Fragrance set, which has perfume samples of Byredo’s Gypsy Water, Bond No. 9 Nomad, Van Cleef & Arpels’ Orchidée, and Creed’s Silver Mountain.

No Sephora employee we’ve talked to had “anything bad to say” about the Sephora Collection, as our former writer Chloe Anello reported. (Writer Tembe Denton-Hurst uses its lip products too.) This year’s Sephora Collection Advent Calendar includes 13 full-size and five travel-size products (lychee-extract face mask, jelly cleanser, vanilla-almond bath bomb …), while the rest are accessories or tools like blotting papers, makeup-remover wipes, and a foundation sponge.

Ulta calls this year’s 25 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar its “biggest Advent calendar yet.” You’ll unbox a Tatcha Rice Wash, Moroccanoil’s Moroccanoil Treatment, Osea Malibu Undaria Algae Body Oil, and about-face Fractal Glitter Eye Paint.

Take it from me, a former Anthropologie employee: The company’s beauty Advent calendars sell out faster than you can say “Maeve.” This year, the 24 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar returns with “premium size” samples of Vacation Chardonnay Oil, Lanolips Strawberry 101 Ointment, and Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo. (It’s similar to last year’s, which had Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen and Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patches.)

Or for half the price and half the amount of samples (including a mini Ilia After Midnight Limitless Lash Mascara and a Megababe Après Shave), there’s Anthropologie’s 12-Day Beauty Advent Calendar. There’s a drawing of a lipsticked moose and frog holding a compact mirror by designer Carly Klaire on the inside cover.

[Editor’s note: This is available for preorder now and estimated to ship on October 22.]

Get a whiff of the holiday spirit with Anthropologie’s Holiday in the City. Each candle has a festive scent: snowmint, mistletoe and moss, cranberry fizz, sugar plum and vanilla woods, and evergreen and embers — plus a juniper-cedar room spray.

When senior writer Dominique Pariso sniffed her way through drugstore candles, Voluspa’s came out as the fanciest. In this selection of the brand’s votives is French Cade Lavender (a woodsy lavender that reminds Pariso of her grandfather’s aftershave), Goji Tarocco Orange, Moso Bamboo, Crushed Candy Cane, Foraged Wildberry, and Noble Fir Garland.

Pariso called Yankee Candle “the best bang for your buck” of the drugstore candles. Burn through classic Yankee Candle scents — Midsummer’s Night, Lemon Lavender, Christmas Cookie, and Macintosh — with this calendar. Compared with the standard Yankee Candle that’s 22 ounces, every Yankee Candle here is 1.3 ounces.

A tribute to “the home of the bath bomb,” the 29½ High Street Advent Calendar features “bath treats” available only during the holidays (Sugar Plum Fairy, candy cane, reindeer) and six exclusives (including a carrot bath bomb and a mini swirly sticky-dates bubble, plus other Lush customer favorites like Unicorn Horn, Luna’s Butterfly, and Sleepy).

Just like the 29½ High Street Advent Calendar, this includes products available only during the holidays (such as a s’mores shower gel and hot-chocolate and orange lip scrub) and ten “gift-exclusive treats” (Turmeric Latte Dusting Powder, Santa’s Favorite Body Spray, Golden Bear Bath Bomb). But you can keep the pamper hamper itself well after Christmas, as the copy says.

Another year, another 25 Day Advent Calendar from Revolve. 2026’s assortment may be the best yet, with a full-size Summer Fridays Dream Lip Oil, Foreo Mini UFO Device (and a Call It a Night Mask pack), and Tarte Tartelette Tubing XL Mascara. And the minis aren’t bad either — with a Sol De Janeiro Bum Bum oil, Ouai detox shampoo, and Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue spray among them.

[Editor’s note: This is available for preorder now and estimated to ship between October 16 and 26.]

Not to be outdone, the 12 Days of Revolve — which, at $89, is one of the most affordable Advent calendars here — is back with a full-size Kosas Lip Pulse and Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara, plus a mini-size Summer Fridays Cloud Dew Moisturizer and Allies of Skin GF Serum.

[Editor’s note: This is available for preorder now and estimated to ship between October 16 and 26.]

“Curated by Free People’s beauty and wellness team,” this has both in-house products from FP and free-est and in-store brands like Ere Perez, Nuxe, Lanolips, and RMS.

Featuring Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask, which Yuna Zarai, Ty Hunter, Ashley Benson, and Keke Palmer can’t live without — alongside the company’s Water Sleeping Mask and Lip Glowy Balm.

Korres’s Greek Yoghurt Wide Awake Eye Gel keeps me from looking tired, and I’m happy to see it included here with the “best of 30 years of Korres,” like its Santorini grape body milk, basil-lemon shower gel, and mandarin-neroli hand cream. True to the brand’s heritage, the 24 boxes the products come in are decorated with a symbolic tama.

Everyone from Buzz Bissinger to contributor Hannah Goldfield swears by L’Occitane. Some of its classics — the almond shower oil that helps keep Denton-Hurst’s legs looking freshly lotioned and shea-butter hand cream — are in the Prestige Advent Calendar.

The ultimate Manicurist manicure — with nail polishes, a corrector pen, a base coat, a top coat, a cuticle remover, buffer, and a file (a total of 24 full-size products) — right at your fingertips.

At Beekman 1802’s Kindness Cafe, a barista goat carrying pastries and coffee leads you to a mint and eucalyptus whipped body lotion, pistachio-dark cherry hand cream, and honey and orange blossom soap.

“Every jewel-handled drawer” of Charlotte Tillbury’s Beauty Treasure Chest has either a full-size (six in all) or travel-size Charlotte Tilbury product — from the Airbrush Flawless setting spray in updates coordinator Najwa Jamal’s makeup bag to a Pillow Talk lipstick.

Modeled after Jo Malone’s London townhouse, it has the brand’s signatures — English pear and sweet pea, lime basil and mandarin, and wood sage and sea salt — in cologne, hand-cream, and body-cream forms.

Seasonal Jo Malone favorites like ginger biscuit, myrrh and tonka, and orange bitters, which “smells like a pomander — festive in a Victorian way, not a Hallmark way,” says our senior editor Ailbhe Malone, are in this year’s calendar. And on the 25th day, there’s a 30-ml.-size fragrance (tangerine and honey) — for comparison, the other samples are 9 ml., while a full-size is 100 ml.

Try an Augustinus Bader formula every day of the 12 Days of Bader. Maybe the Cream, which former Cut beauty director Kathleen Hou referred to as “the secret to rich-person skin,” or the Vitamin C Serum (our editor Lauren Levy noticed her skin was more even-toned after using it for a few weeks) will become a permanent step in your routine.

Coming in at a whopping $995 — the most expensive Advent calendar on our list (so far) — this has a combination of familiar Byredo scents like Mojave Ghost and Bibliothèque, with makeup (a Rouge à Lèvres in Liquide Vinyl Fantôme and Satin Earth Dust) and “objects for everyday use,” including a candle-wick trimmer and pocket mirror.

You don’t have to wait for the next day to open these Bonne Maman jams (including limited-edition caramel with salted butter, strawberry with Madagascar vanilla, and raspberry with dark chocolate), as our senior editor Jen Trolio’s family opens theirs in a single go to enjoy with her husband’s homemade bread.

It’s the perfect surprise for a chocolate lover: creations of milk, dark, and white chocolate with other flavors such as caramel, raspberry, passion fruit, praline, coconut, and even birthday cake.

The 25 original confections inside Dandelion’s calendar are made by 24 confectioners (who were chosen after a series of blind tastings). Each chocolate comes in an ornament box with Danish artist Lisa Grue’s illustrations, and there’s a storybook of Nordic folklore and a star decoration for your window (a Scandinavian tradition) included.

[Editor’s note: This is available on preorder now and estimated to ship in November.]

In Compartés’s “whimsical kingdom” — where there’s a dragon and a castle beyond snowy pines — there are chocolates in flavors of buttered croissant, eggnog crème brûlée, pistachio marzipan, and salted honeycomb behind every door.

[Editor’s note: This is available on preorder now and estimated to ship on November 2.]

There’s no place like the Vermont Country Store, where you can get these liqueur-filled chocolates with Rhum St. James, Gin Gibson, Poire Williams, Kirsch Cherry, and Cognac Bayet from Abtey.

Charbonnel et Walker was granted a royal warrant under Queen Elizabeth II in 1970 (other customers were Princess Margaret, Lauren Bacall, and Noël Coward). This year’s calendar, inspired by the brand’s Bond Street store, is filled with truffles in flavors like sea-salt praline, white chocolate with strawberry conserve, and milk chocolate with hazelnut cream.

Chef Jonathan Waxman admits “Walker’s are better than any [shortbread] I could make.” (He learned how to make shortbread from a Joy of Cooking recipe.) The individually wrapped biscuits in Walker’s calendar include all-butter fingers (Waxman says, “If you dip them in chocolate, it’s not such a bad thing”) and salted-caramel squares.

Filled with traditional kekserlnlikesacher husarenkrapferl(a chocolate-covered almond-vanilla thumbprint cookie with apricot jam), it may be the closest thing to the Café Sabarsky reopening (at least until October 1).

Enjoy Ladurée confections like chocolate Eugenié biscuits, hazelnut-vanilla pearls, and langues de chat in this year’s Advent calendar. And the first 140 customers to preorder will receive marshmallow bears — one in milk chocolate and the other dark chocolate — as a special treat.

[Editor’s note: This is available for preorder from October 1 to October 31, with delivery in November.]

Maybe an upgrade to Swedish fish are these gummies in strawberry-pomegranate, strawberry-apple, melon, and watermelon.

Nearly every “candy food group” is represented in the 24 Days of Sweets by Dylan’s Candy Bar, including jelly rings, milk chocolate, and cotton candy.

Following the Swedish tradition of lördagsgodis, there are extra-generous-size surprises on the Saturdays of Sockerbit’s candy Advent calendar.

In the immortal words of Scary, Sporty, Posh, Baby, and Ginger Spices: “Spice up your life.” You could do so with the help of Parisian spice distributor Le Comptoir Colonial’s Spice Advent Calendar for Williams Sonoma, with za’atar (thyme, sumac, sesame), paella seasoning (paprika, turmeric, caraway), and speculoos blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, anise, ginger) included.

Williams Sonoma’s 12 Days of Cheese is for those who understand the nuances of Muenster and cheddar (or just Kraft singles). Each cheese is made by a family-operated creamery in Utah from the milk of a fourth-generation dairy and other ingredients like wildflower honey, organic bergamot, and cayenne pepper.

A real popcorn snob needs kernels of purple, red, and sweet baby blue and seasonings of dill pickle, white cheddar, and buttery jalapeño from “Indiana’s popcorn country.”

Only the finest ingredients for the home cook: a Sutter Buttes balsamic vinegar and wildflower honey, Jacobsen sea salt, Nielsen-Massey and Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, with a Williams Sonoma dark-chocolate peppermint bark and brown-sugar bear.

All the best snacks Harry & David offers: a Royal Riviera pear, Moose Munch popcorn, Mesa Verde trail mix, and Scharffen Berger chocolate squares.

After tasting Whittard’s hot chocolate in London, I can’t go back to Swiss Miss. Try the company’s salted caramel, sticky toffee pudding, and cinnamon roll hot flavors for yourself with its Hot Chocolate Advent Calendar. There are two single-serve sachets in the drawers — if you’re willing to share.

Or tea drinkers might appreciate Whittard’s Loose Leaf Advent Calendar instead, with lapsang souchong, silver needle, English rose, and jasmine dragon pearls to sip.

In the Palais des Thés’s constellation-filled sky are the Parisian company’s Grand Yunnan Impérial black tea, Genmaicha Yama green tea, and L’Herboriste N°52 infusion (with peppermint, anise, and lemon balm), plus other blends and herbal infusions.

Or there’s a separate Anthropologie and Papier collaboration with a shopping-list notepad, pencil case, and A7 notebooks.

The lack of a reference image means you may need all the help you can get to solve this “puzzling experience” from Nautilus. (It was part of a new guard of non-fusty puzzles in a market dominated by the likes of Ravensburger and Springbok.) Per instructions: The first 12 drawers contain between 40 and 56 pieces, while the 13th box has 106 pieces to complete the rest of the puzzle (for a total of 688 pieces).

Whether you’re still figuring out your color-analysis chart or rereading Sanzo Wada’s A Dictionary of Color Combinations, you may find inspiration for your new wall paint in Pantone’s 24 Days of Colorful Pop-Out Ornaments. Every day includes a Pantone color chip attached to a cord to be hung on a Christmas tree or strung together in a garland.

Read a miniature hardback title from Charles Dickens, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and Hans Christian Andersen as a bedtime tradition in the days before Christmas. Just be sure to have your readers nearby.

Audiophiles, build your own synthesizer before getting a medieval sequencer. It just requires AA batteries to get the instrument working.

Here are 25 rubber ducks costumed as a witch, a knight, a fireman, and even a golf ball for a bather or Jeep owner (hat tip to our writer Amelia Jerden).

LEGO’s 2026 Friends Advent calendar has Nova, Liann, and Aliya writing to Santa with the help of animal friends like a seal, polar bear, and penguin …

… While its City Advent Calendar has Santa’s workshop with mini-figures of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, elves, a snowman, and a baby reindeer. Combine both for the whole North Pole.

For the kid with a need for speed, here are ten 1:64 scale Hot Wheels vehicles (a snow globe car with a Yeti driver among them) to have a Fast & Furious–style race.

Meet the residents of Busytown — Hilda Hippo, Huckle Cat, Sally Cat, and Mr. Frumble — with each pop-out ornament in Richard Scarry’s Best Advent Calendar Ever. Included is a 150-inch gold cord to make a garland.

The burgeoning geologist will like opening specimens of agate, aventurine, hematite, sodalite, and tiger’s eye every day of National Geographic’s gemstone calendar. And there’s a dig brick of rose quartz for the grand finale.

Just some adorable Gund plushes — which are a favorite of KPop Demon Hunters star May Hong, who keeps several on her bed, having “adopted nearly all of my sweet children from eBay.”

Under each pocket is a new sticker sheet of Dick Bruna’s storybook bunny. Keep the beribboned trifold portfolio (which resembles Miffy’s house) on a wall, desk, or mantle.

Billed as “the ultimate festive Where’s Waldo?,” it includes 24 search-and-find mini-books of the bespectacled character (who’s known as Wally elsewhere). And there’s a press-out of Waldo on Christmas Day to hide as you wish (maybe not by an Elf on the Shelf).

A collaboration between Meri Meri and the New York City Ballet, this is based on a production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and features a charm bracelet on the first day and themed charms (like a ballerina in a tutu and lollipop) to go on it the next days.

Imagine giving Samantha Parkington a cell phone, Josefina Montoya a pair of sunglasses, or Felicity Merriman a faux-fur scrunchie — or any of the other American Girl doll accessories in the Surprises 2026 Advent Calendar.