There’s nothing quite like winding down in a hotel or at a friend's house to a collection of sweet-scented luxury toiletries, creamy hand soap, moisturising bath soak or a shampoo and conditioner that leaves your hair feeling ultra soft. I recently unboxed the 2024 advent calendar from Baylis & Harding and it includes exactly what you’ll need to have that this festive season.
Got family and friends coming to stay this Christmas? Or do you want to treat yourself to something a bit more than a chocolate-filled advent? Then the Baylis & Harding’s Luxury 24-days of Beauty could be for you.
Launched at £45 originally there are plenty of retailers offering this festive fig, Jojoba oil, vanilla, and almond scented box - it is one of the more reasonably priced advents on the market. Amazon is selling it for a cheaper £30 and Next for £40.
READ MORE: I opened Molton Brown's 2024 beauty advent calendar full of dreamy products - it's now on sale
READ MORE: Boots shoppers can get 25% off No7 beauty advent calendars with Mirror code
There’s plenty packed inside, which I managed to get my hands on to see if it’s worth treating yourself or a loved one too to mark the countdown until Christmas Day.
On the outside, it’s a pretty simple box especially when compared to the other calendar I’ve reviewed - the Boots’ No7 The Ultimate, which comes in a vanity-style box with a mirror. But I won’t let that take away from the sweet-scented goodies inside.
With 24 windows it does mean you won’t get anything to open on Christmas Day. From the first randomly selected window I opened to the last everything is centred on self care, with bath bubbles, shower creme, hand cream, hair products and even a luxury foot lotion (to name a few).
There are three different scents which are split up into a variety of different products - from luxury bath and shower bubbles to just bubble bath, refreshing body wash to shower gel - everything has a slightly different name.
The scents are Jojoba, Vanilla and Almond Oil identified with its pink and purple packaging, then the dark purple Moonlight Fig range, and the golden-themed Sweet Mandarin and Grapefruit. The Moonlight Fig is a clear winner for me, not only do I think the purple and red packaging screams ‘everything Christmas’ but it’s a strong fruity scent…right up my street.
The Jojoba, Vanilla and Almond Oil range also include a mini 30ml Shampoo and Conditioner set, an ideal size if you’d like to try Baylis & harding’s hair care before settling on a bigger size. This was ok for me, the smell was lovely and fresh but it didn’t tackle my frizzy mop - it is one I can see grabbing out of the cupboard for a hand-luggage only holiday though.
When unboxing I immediately had a family member in mind for each different range and though I could pop in a goodie back when we’re all bundled under the same roof at Christmas - I love the idea that this calendar could be split into guest bathroom, spare bedroom (or sofa bed) treats to make hosting feel a tad more luxury - you know, like an Air bnb.
Priced at £45, although as we mentioned there are Amazon and Next deals to get if for cheaper I do think it is worth the money, if you ditched the sales and spend the full £45 on the calendar it works out to be a little over £1.80 per product. However, there were a few things I didn’t like.
Although small I’d like to know before buying that compared to other beauty calendars on the market the packaging is flimsy and at times hard to get the products out. While it’s perfect for toiletry-loving shoppers I do think some of the products are a little repetitive - I would have loved to see one shower creme switch for its newer Natural Pillow Mist.
Alternatively, the high-end Molton & Brown 2024 Advent Calendar is another luxury soap option that we'd recommend. Our reporter Phoebe recently tried it out and said 'It's full of dreamy products', it's available to buy for £225. While Boots is selling the Baylis & Harding Signature For Him Advent Treats Calendar for £22.50.
Inside the Baylis & Harding Luxury 24 Days of Beauty Advent Calendar
Here's a spoiler of everything inside the calendar.
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Bath Bubbles 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Body Wash 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Creme Body Wahs 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Shower Gel 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Body Butter 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Hand & Nail Cream 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Body Lotion 30ml
- Sweet Mandarin & Grapefruit Bath Soak Crystals 25g
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Bath Bubbles 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Shower Creme 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Bath Milk 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Bath & Shower Bubbles 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Foot Lotion 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Shampoo 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Conditioner 30ml
- Jojoba, Vanilla & Almond Oil Soap 35g
- Moonlight Fig Body wash 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Shower Creme 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Shower Gel 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Bath & Shower Bubbles 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Hand Cream 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Body Butter 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Body Lotion 30ml
- Moonlight Fig Hand Soak Crystals 25g