OK! Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 review: “The maths is firmly on its side”

RRP at time of testing: £109 | Check price at OK! Beauty Box

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My verdict

At £109, the OK! Beauty Advent Calendar by Hannah Martin is hard to dismiss on value alone. Its 25 products are said to be worth more than £605, 22 are described as full size and the £145 Rodial Bee Venom Eye Cream costs more than the entire calendar. If you want an Advent calendar that gives you plenty of product for your money, the maths is firmly on its side.

The harder question is how much of it you’ll use. The brand selection feels weaker than the Boots, Next and LOOKFANTASTIC calendars I’ve reviewed this year, with more unfamiliar or niche names and fewer instant crowd-pleasers. I’ll use the Gatineau essence, L’Oréal mascara and Kosas lip plumper, but other products are less well matched to my thick curly hair or everyday make-up routine.

It’s large, but the slim design means it can still sit comfortably on a mantelpiece

That doesn’t make it a poor beauty Advent calendar. It makes it a more particular one. Hannah Martin’s hand is visible throughout, from the wearable shades to returning favourites she has included in previous years. Those repeats provide consistency for first-time buyers, but regulars may feel they’ve seen some of it before.

This year’s packaging is an improvement too. It’s colourful, festive and substantial without demanding an entire table. The drawers are smooth, the box arrived intact and every product looked correctly sized and properly sealed. It will sit happily on my mantelpiece until Christmas. Come Boxing Day, however, it’s probably meeting the recycling bin.

How I’ve tested the OK! Beauty Advent calendar

I received the 2026 OK! Beauty Advent Calendar as a gifted PR sample. I inspected the packaging, drawers, seals, product sizes and presentation, checked the contents and individual stated values and compared the calendar with the 2025 edition and other 2026 calendars I’ve reviewed.

I’ve also started using selected products as part of my normal routine. My skin is dry and sensitive and my hair is thick and curly. I’ve used the Gatineau Collagene Expert Hydra Essence for around a week with no irritation and have also tried the Kosas lip plumper. 

Longer-term skincare results will need more testing, so this draft reflects my experience so far rather than promises made on the box.

What’s in the OK! Beauty Advent calendar 2026?

There are 25 products across 25 drawers. OK! Beauty Box describes 22 as full size, although that figure includes some single-use products and beauty tools as their standard retail format.

My top picks from the OK! Beauty Advent calendar

My first pick is the Gatineau Collagene Expert Hydra Essence. I put it straight into my skincare routine and, after a week, so far so good. It feels like the kind of hydrating layer my dry skin appreciates and I haven’t experienced any irritation.

The L’Oréal Paris Telescopic Mascara is another easy win. Mascara is hardly the most adventurous calendar inclusion, but it’s useful, familiar and likely to be used rather than shoved in a drawer. 

Then there’s the Rodial Bee Venom Eye Cream. At £145, it’s the calendar’s headline product and the inclusion that makes the £109 price look faintly ridiculous. I’m pleased to have it and haven’t experienced any irritation so far, but I’d enjoy it as a luxury rather than pretend I’ll casually replace it when the pot runs out.

My standout products include the Gatineau essence, £145 Rodial eye cream and L’Oréal Telescopic Mascara

The Kosas Lip Pulse Glassy Lip Plumper has also impressed me. The clear, neutral finish is easy to wear and, as it has been a few years since I had my lips filled and there’s no chance I’m paying to have them done again, I’ll happily take whatever temporary assistance a lip plumper can offer.

Finally, the Aromatherapy Associates Support Breathe Bath and Shower Oil is well suited to winter and to my dry skin. It’s an exact repeat from last year, but at least it’s the sort of repeat that I know I’ll use. 

And my least useful products

The Arkive Body Hybrid Mousse is the clearest mismatch. My hair is already thick and curly, so a product promising more volume sounds less like styling and more like the opening scene of an XL lion’s mane.

I don’t use make-up sponges in my routine, which makes the Pippa of London Everything Sponge another likely drawer resident. The Blink Brow Bar lash clusters are also unlikely to become an everyday staple. They’re pre-glued and more convenient than a traditional strip lash, but false lashes simply aren’t a regular part of my make-up routine.

First impressions of the OK! Beauty calendar

The calendar is large but relatively slim, so it can sit on top of a mantelpiece, as Advent calendars should rightly be allowed to do. The double doors open onto 25 mixed-size drawers, all finished in shades of berry pink, burgundy, red and blush, with gold numbering and geometric Christmas trees, baubles and starbursts.

Behind the double doors are 25 smooth-opening drawers in a mix of shapes and sizes

It feels consistent with Hannah Martin’s previous calendars, but this design is more festive than the 2025 edition. There’s enough gold to make it feel Christmassy without tipping into department-store grotto territory.

Mine arrived intact, with no leaks or damaged products. The box feels sturdy and the drawers run smoothly without any tugging or faff. Each one contains shredded gold paper, which makes the contents feel more considered, although it may also leave December looking as if a tiny craft shop has exploded on the mantelpiece.

How many full-size products are there?

OK! Beauty Box says 22 of the 25 products are full size. Having opened everything, the sizing looks fair to me. The remaining products are the Spectrum mini brush set, the 30ml Weleda Skin Food travel size and the 10g deluxe Rodial Glass Powder.

That is a notable increase from the 2025 calendar, which contained 30 products but only 19 full sizes. This year gives you five fewer items overall, yet more of them are standard retail sizes. I’d rather have fewer usable products than extra minis included to inflate the total.

OK! Beauty Advent calendar: are there any fragrances?

The calendar includes a full-size 50ml bottle of Arkive Decorated Woods, designed for use on both hair and skin. Arkive is a new brand to me.

I’ve worn Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb since I was a teenager, so a warm woody scent is a departure from my usual floral and gourmand comfort zone. A full-size fragrance adds meaningful value, but scent is personal and this is one inclusion I need to wear for longer before giving a firm verdict.

What about the make-up shades?

Hannah Martin has taken care to include neutral, wearable shades. The Bobbi Brown shadow stick combines Heat Ray and Biscotti, while the bareMinerals gloss-balm, Hildun lip pencil and MUA blush avoid colours so divisive that half the calendar immediately ends up on Vinted.

The Kosas lip plumper in Unspoken has been my early favourite. It’s glossy and easy to wear alone or over another lip product. The shade selection won’t suit every skin tone equally, but it has broader appeal than the more experimental colours found in some beauty calendars.

Hair products inside the OK! Beauty calendar

The main hair product is Arkive’s Body Hybrid Mousse, a 200ml full-size product designed to add volume and body. That’s not what my thick curly hair needs. I suspect it would turn mine into an XL lion’s mane, so I’d recommend it for finer hair rather than mine.

The Arkive fragrance can also be used on hair, although I’d treat that as a scent rather than haircare. Compared with the useful FUL Intense Moisture Hair Mask in the 2025 calendar, this year’s hair offering is a weaker fit for dry or curly hair.

OK! Beauty Advent calendar 2026: is it good value?

On paper, yes. Paying £109 for products said to be worth more than £605 means the calendar costs around 18% of the combined stated value. The £145 Rodial eye cream alone is worth more than the purchase price, while the £65 Aromatherapy Associates oil and £46 Gatineau essence strengthen the calculation.

This is also cheaper than the 2026 LOOKFANTASTIC calendar at £120 and the £150 calendars from Boots and Next. In my experience, its value is better, but its brand selection is weaker. Boots, Next and LOOKFANTASTIC contain more instantly recognisable names and, in my case, more products I know I’ll use.

Each product is tucked into its own numbered drawer with shredded gold paper

There are repeats too. The Aromatherapy Associates bath oil, Hello Sunday SPF50 and Weleda Skin Food are exact returns from 2025. Rodial, Gatineau, Hildun, Brow Aid, Sensory Retreats, 19/99 Beauty and L’Oréal also return with different products. That’s understandable in a collection built around Hannah Martin’s favourites, but it supports the Mumsnet view that this edition may feel too familiar to repeat buyers.

The two vouchers for physical copies of OK! Magazine feel like padding, although I’ll use them. Entry into a prize draw for a private virtual masterclass with Hannah Martin doesn’t affect the value for me either. It’s a bonus for one winner, not part of what every buyer receives.

Who should buy the OK! Beauty calendar?

It’s best suited to someone who enjoys discovering less familiar brands, values full-size products and likes the idea of a calendar shaped by a make-up artist rather than a single retailer’s stockroom. The neutral make-up shades broaden its appeal, while the skincare, bath product and fragrance stop it feeling entirely make-up-led.

It’s less convincing for anyone who buys beauty calendars for household-name luxury brands, already owns previous Hannah Martin editions or wants every product to fit neatly into an existing routine. It’s also worth checking the full contents before buying. The saving is impressive only if the products have some value to you personally.

How does it compare with other beauty Advent calendars?

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

The OK! Beauty Advent Calendar is one of the better-value calendars I’ve opened this year. It’s sturdy, easy to use and festive enough to earn its place on the mantelpiece. The £145 Rodial eye cream gives it an immediate advantage, while 22 claimed full-size products make the £109 price credible rather than merely clever marketing.

A QR code inside the calendar promises extra content from OK! Beauty Box

It doesn’t have the strongest brand line-up and I won’t use everything. Regular buyers will also notice familiar products and returning brands. Even so, it offers more value than the price suggests and feels sensibly curated rather than bulked out with tiny samples.

I’m giving it four stars out of five. It misses the top score because the selection is less useful to me than this year’s Boots, Next and LOOKFANTASTIC calendars, but for a first-time buyer who likes Hannah Martin’s approach and wants plenty of full-size products, it’s a convincing buy.

About the author

Rebecca Roberts - aka Beccy - is a writer, editor and content marketing expert from Leeds. At Mumsnet, she works to bring parents content designed to make life easier. After birthing and breastfeeding two babies in two years, Beccy knows first-hand how hard it can be to prioritise yourself when you become a mother. She’s on a quest to find beauty and fashion products that are practical, useful and worth the money, with help from Mumsnet user recommendations.

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

About Mumsnet reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real parents after extensive research and testing. We work hard to provide honest, independent advice you can trust. We sometimes earn revenue through affiliate links, but this never influences our coverage.

All prices are correct at the time of publication.

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