Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 review: “Five out of five. Obviously. It’s Liberty.”

RRP at time of testing: £285 | Check price at Liberty London

What Mumsnet users say

My verdict

The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar has sold out for 11 years running and inspires a level of anticipation normally reserved for Glastonbury tickets. For 2026, it costs £285 and contains 29 products, which Liberty values at more than £1,300. That makes it the retailer’s most valuable beauty calendar yet.

It’s being launched by Helena Bonham Carter in her new role as Liberty’s self-appointed “Head of Extraordinary”. I’m about as far from Helena Bonham Carter as it’s possible to get. The closest thing we have in common is an ability to go a bit dark and twisted, although hers is gothic glamour and mine is generally limited to a bleak sense of humour. 

My own beauty education has largely taken place in Boots and SEPHORA. One of the best things about this job, though, is getting to discover all the new and wonderful things I’d otherwise walk straight past, probably on my way to buy the same mascara I’ve used for years (Benefit’s They’re Real, if you’re interested) .

A good luck at the bag the calendar comes in this year

I’ve personally tested beauty Advent calendars here at Mumsnet for the past three years, but this is the first time I’ve had the chance to open a Liberty one. It’s highly coveted by Mumsnet users, discussed, dissected and subjected to spreadsheets that would make an accountant feel underqualified. In fact, there’s already six threads about this year’s beauty Advent calendars. 

So, does it live up to the hype? I mean - it’s Liberty. But there are a couple of niggles worth knowing about before you hand over £285. Read on to find out why. 

How I’ve tested Liberty's calendar for 2026

I received the calendar for review and assessed its packaging, presentation, contents and value. Because it has only just arrived, product testing is still at an early stage so, admittedly, I’ve not had a chance to try all the products just yet. 

So far, I’ve added the Sunday Riley brightening serum and MZ Skin eye cream to my morning skincare routine. I’ve also tried the Grown Alchemist Regenerating Hand Cream.

The £180 MZ Skin eye cream alone accounts for almost two-thirds of the calendar’s purchase price, which is frankly absurd when you see the numbers written down. It’s formulated with bakuchiol, peptides, hyaluronic acid and shea butter, with the manufacturer claiming that it targets fine lines, uneven texture and loss of firmness.

My skin is dry and sensitive, so I’m introducing the products slowly rather than slathering on every exciting serum at once and emerging three days later looking like an angry tomato.

The mascara will probably stay unopened until the new year, but that doesn’t make it useless. Mascara has a relatively short life once opened and it’s always handy to have a sealed back-up waiting when the current tube finally gives up IMO.

What’s in the 2026 Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar?

This year, the calendar contains 29 products spread across 25 drawers, plus the Liberty print bag. By my count, there are eight skincare products, eight fragrances, five make-up products, four hair products and four bath or body products.

Top picks from the 2026 Liberty calendar

• Sunday Riley CEO 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum

• REOME Active Recovery Broth

• MZ Skin Intensive Bio-Placenta Eye Cream

• Charlotte Mensah Manketti Oil Finishing Mist

• Verden Nocturne Magnesium Body Spray

And my least useful products

• Maria Nila Gloss Coat

• Joonbyrd Violet Haze Polishing Body Scrub

• Lisa Eldridge Baume Embrace Melting Lip Colour in Épanoui

I’ve previously tried the D.S. & Durga Debaser fragrance and a Trinny London eye shade. I’m also familiar with brands including MZ Skin, Sisley Paris, Augustinus Bader, Sunday Riley and Grown Alchemist. Pleasingly, though, there’s still a great deal in here that I haven’t encountered before.

That’s one of the main attractions of this calendar. It offers enough recognisable luxury to make the price feel reassuring, but plenty of discovery too. Liberty says nine brands are making their calendar debut and 26 of the 29 products haven’t appeared in one of its previous beauty calendars.

The calendar is sturdy and beautifully designed

There are, of course, some repeat brands, which longstanding Liberty buyers have mentioned on Mumsnet. Augustinus Bader, MZ Skin, Trinny London, Jones Road and several fragrance houses have appeared before. But for 2026, the good news is that product-level repetition is much lower. One definite repeat is the Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman fragrance, which was also included in 2025.

As this is my first Liberty calendar, repeated brands don’t bother me. But if, like several of our Mumsnet users, you’ve bought it every year or subscribe to Liberty Beauty Drop, it’s worth checking the list against your existing stash.

First impressions of the Liberty 2026 beauty Advent calendar

My first reaction was pure excitement - in fact, I squealed as the DPD delivery driver handed it over to me. Even the protective drawstring bag feels special. It comes in Liberty’s Festive Plume print and, while it’s festive, you could easily use it all year round. What for, I’m less certain. A Lidl food shop, perhaps?

My eldest got overly excited alongside me and accidentally ripped some cardboard inside the bag. Cue an audible gasp from me. Thankfully, it was only the protective packaging covering the calendar itself. 

Underneath is an enormous illustrated Liberty house. It’s very, very sturdy and unmistakably luxe. This isn’t a flimsy box that’ll slump on a shelf once the products have been removed. The calendar feels like part of what you’re paying for, although that leaves me with another problem: what on earth am I going to do with it afterwards?

Mumsnet users have come up with several answers. Some keep their empty calendars for beauty storage, while others refill the drawers for their children or grandchildren. One user stores fragile Christmas decorations in hers and another sells empty Liberty boxes on eBay for between £10 and £20. The bag has apparently been used for everything from face cloths to large embroidery frames over the years. I’m still leaning towards the Lidl shop.

Getting my hands on the coveted calendar has been so exciting

How many full sized products are in Liberty’s 2026 calendar?

According to Liberty, 21 of the products are full-sized. Most of that claim stands up. The MZ Skin eye cream is the standard 15ml jar, for instance, and currently costs an eye-watering £180 on its own.

The REOME Active Recovery Broth is more questionable. Liberty labels its 15ml pot as full-sized, but REOME currently sells the serum individually in 30ml and 50ml sizes. On its own website, REOME describes the 15ml edition included in sets as a compact, travel-sized version that retails for £44 at Space NK. 

That makes Liberty’s classification difficult to justify. The 15ml pot is still a useful and valuable inclusion, but I’d describe this calendar as containing 20 clearly full-sized products, plus the disputed REOME pot, until Liberty or REOME explains otherwise.

Several Mumsnet users have also reported that their REOME pots arrived leaking. Bessica shared a response from Liberty customer service saying it was investigating the damaged pots with REOME in case there was a wider batch issue. Mine arrived intact, but I’d still recommend checking it immediately rather than preserving the surprise until December.

Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar 2026: what are the fragrances like?

I’ve worn Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb since I was 17, which is either loyalty or a refusal to move on. But after years living in the Middle East, I’ve also developed a fondness for rich oud-based scents.

There isn’t an actual oud fragrance in this calendar, but several come close to that warm, woody and smoky style.  Vyrao Ever 11 is probably the most obvious fit, with black cherry, leather, smoky patchouli, balsam, vanilla and tonka bean. Bibbi Vanilla Factory combines saffron, black tea, smoky woods, patchouli, papyrus, black amber and vanilla. Matière Première Crystal Saffron is another promising one, pairing saffron with incense, ambroxan and musk.

Flowerbomb fans like I could also get on well with Tana Meadow. It combines pear, florals, vanilla, praline and musk, although it’s lighter and fresher than my usual perfume.

The fragrance allocation will be divisive. Eight of the 29 products are perfumes and several Mumsnet users felt the calendar contained too many scents. For me, the more unusual fragrances are part of the fun. But for someone who rarely wears perfume, I fear a large chunk of the claimed value could end up gathering dust.

Two of my favourites in the calendar by MZ Skin and Verden

Liberty calendar: what about the make-up shades?

In my calendar sample, I received Trinny London Eye2Eye in Joy and Jones Road Miracle Balm in Miami Beach.

Random allocation is one of the calendar’s weaknesses IMHO. Eye2Eye comes in either Joy or Magician, while the Miracle Balm could arrive in one of eight shades. Even an expensive, full-sized make-up product isn’t particularly valuable if the colour doesn’t work for you.

The Lisa Eldridge lip colour in Épanoui is one of my least useful products. That’s personal rather than a criticism of the brand. Beauty calendar value is always subjective and shade choices are one of the quickest ways for a retailer’s impressive headline total to become rather less impressive in your bathroom.

Hair products inside Liberty’s 2026 beauty Advent calendar

My hair is thick and curly but doesn’t become greasy easily, mainly because I wash it once a week.

That makes the Charlotte Mensah Manketti Oil Finishing Mist one of my most anticipated products. The Innersense Repair Mask could also be a good match for curls that need moisture. For me, The Davines OI Shampoo will need to clean effectively without leaving my hair feeling stripped.

The Maria Nila Gloss Coat is less appealing to me because shine treatments aren’t a priority in my usual routine. 

There's 29 surprises inside the 25 drawers

Is the Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar good value?

At £285, this is a serious purchase, although it’s £1,015 less than Liberty’s claimed value of more than £1,300, an apparent saving of roughly 78%. The £180 MZ Skin eye cream alone helps explain the maths, alongside skincare from Sunday Riley, Zelens, U Beauty and Votary, plus premium fragrance and make-up. That saving only counts, of course, if you’ll actually use what’s inside.

Experience matters here. Regular Liberty calendar and Beauty Drop customers are more likely to recognise brands, fragrance styles and product types they already own. As a first-time Liberty buyer, I’ve got far more to discover, so I’m not opening drawers to find a bathroom cabinet’s worth of déjà vu.

Beauty Drop members pay £260 after a £25 discount, which strengthens the deal. Personal taste is still the deciding factor: perfume lovers will see eight scents as a major strength, while anyone loyal to one or two signature fragrances may see eight opportunities for expensive drawer clutter.

That’s why our Mumsnet discussions are useful. One person’s Drawer of Disappointment is another person’s reason for spending £285.

Who should buy the 2026 Liberty Beauty Advent calendar? 

The Liberty Beauty Advent Calendar is best suited to someone who enjoys premium skincare, niche fragrance and discovering brands they wouldn’t normally try.

It’s less suitable for anyone who avoids fragrance, needs to be extremely cautious with active skincare or already has an overflowing luxury beauty collection. The random make-up shades introduce another element of risk.

It would make an extraordinary gift, although I’d only spend £285 on somebody whose beauty tastes I knew very well. Otherwise, you’re essentially buying them an extremely expensive lucky dip.

The bag is rather bougee, I must say

2026 beauty advent calendars: Liberty vs Harrods and Cult Beauty

Final verdict: is this the beauty Advent calendar for you this year? 

This calendar delivered pure excitement from the moment I pulled out the printed bag. The enormous house-shaped box is sturdy, luxurious and beautifully finished. The contents combine recognisable names with products and brands that are new to me.

I’ve only just started testing the individual formulas, but I already know there’s a great deal I’ll use. The skincare selection is excellent for my dry skin, provided I introduce the more active products carefully. The unusual fragrances suit my willingness to stray beyond Flowerbomb and the haircare selection contains products that could work well for my thick curls.

It isn’t perfect. The REOME full-size claim needs explaining, eight fragrances will be too many for some buyers and random make-up shades are always a gamble. There wasn’t a Golden Ticket in mine either, sadly. I checked.

Still, this is exactly what a luxury beauty Advent calendar should feel like: extravagant, exciting and slightly ridiculous. Once you see the individual prices, the £285 cost begins to make sense, particularly if you’ll use most of what’s inside.

Five out of five. Obviously. It’s Liberty.

About the editor

Rebecca is a writer, editor, and content marketing expert hailing from Leeds. Here at Mumsnet, she commissions, writes, and edits to bring parents content designed to make life easier. After birthing and breastfeeding two babies in two years, Rebecca knows first-hand how hard it can be to prioritise yourself when you become a mother. So, she’s on a quest to find the best beauty and fashion products that are both practical and affordable, with the help of Mumsnet user recommendations. 

Outside work, Rebecca balances life as a working mum of two young boys and when she’s not at her desk, you’ll likely find her at a local playgroup, in a nearby coffee shop, or walking the dog up and down country lanes.

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All prices are correct at time of publication.