Well it may only have just been September but it’s about that time that any old school beauty obsessive knows… NOW’S THE TIME TO START LOOKING FOR YOUR BEAUTY ADVENT CALENDAR!! With Christmas fast approaching us speedier each year, it’s easy to find all the best beauty advent calendars selling out before you can even think of getting your hands on one. Luckily I’ve always been quite speedy on the case but simply because… I just love beauty advent calendar picking season!!
So last year I went for the NYX Gimme Super Stars! 12 Day Vegan Advent Calendar as it was the best vegan and cruelty free option out there that I could find. This year I am once again filled with the buzz to see which calendars start to get released and what choice is out there - also paired with the sheer excitement of the reveal of the big Christmas collections too (Too Faced I’m looking at you!). So I thought, although this post was initially planned as a review post Christmas, it would be nice to hold this one for that very exciting start to the festive season to help anyone else out there looking to make their advent calendar choice of the season, whether they be swaying towards whatever NYX has lined up to offer or are just gathering ideas.
So, here’s my review of last years choice, the NYX Gimme Super Stars! 12 Day Vegan Advent Calendar…
The Swatches…
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| From left to right: Toulouse; Soft spoken; Los Angeles; Lalaland; Sunbeam; Gleam |
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From left to right: Sunbeam; Gleam |
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| From left to right: 12 Green; 10 Yellow; 06 Glow |
The Makeup Look -
At the end of the calendar and after eagle-y-eyed watching Hanna-Mai’s glorious daily shorts of her MAC advent calendar opening I thought it would be fun to do a makeup look using all the products I got in the NYX Advent Calendar. I must say, off the bat I was very impressed with how much of a full looks worth of products you got in the calendar! I started with eyes and kept it simple as there wasn’t any eyeshadow in the advent calendar however there was no shadow (see what I did there 😉 - didn’t even realise that myself writing that, haha) of a doubt that you could certainly multitask with some of the products to make an eye look. I decided to make the liner (of which I’ve have been LONGING to try for quite sometime now and had an absolute squeal of excitement when I found this behind one of the doors) the focus on the eyes, paired with a bit of neatening from the very natural brow gel. Then I kept it simple but toasty and glow-y to the complexion with a touch of colour correcting, a warm cosy bronze, a gentle toasty highlight and a cosy, one-product nude matte lip.
Mascara, primer, foundation and concealer were my own, not from the calendar.
Face Products Review -
In the face category you got two liquid highlighters and three concealers in the shades 10 Yellow, 06 Glow and 10 Green, which really acts as a colour corrector. For the look, as pictured, I used concealer shade 06 Glow to bronze, the liquid highlight in shade Gleam and the green colour corrector. First things first, when I first opened the door door to the 06 Glow shade concealer I was a little stumped. As Luci said in our What’s In Our Travel Makeup Bag video, I thought it was a bold move to go with a concealer in an advent calendar because what if it wasn't the advent calendar-ee’s shade? And for me that was exactly that. I didn’t know how I was going to utilise it but then I though “ahaa”; "I could use it as a liquid contour/ bronzer". And my goodness did I fall head over heels for it! This was literally the one product in the advent calendar I thought I was just not going to be able to use and it’s actually ended up becoming a complete favourite of mine, I’d even go as far as to say holy grail. I have to say though this was really just pot luck as it really may not have worked for everyone in this shade so although I managed to utilise this one with a little imagination I’d say it’s a bit of a risk to consider if you’re going for a NYX calendar this year. Then onto the liquid highlight, I chose the shade Gleam which could definitely have pulled up a bit dark for my VERY pale complexion however I found applied sparingly it actually made a beautiful yet discreet warm, toasty tint and glow to your cheeks and really brought a spice of warmth into the look. I feel like my pictures don’t do it justice - I am really sorry - it’s a combination of sheer disaster. In other words, me being in front and behind the camera. If I hadn’t have gotten it in the advent calendar I don’t think I would have been brave enough or drawn to try it otherwise but I’m so glad I did as now I really love it.
I think that’s what the beauty and excitement of beauty advent calendar is all about; you get to try things you wouldn’t normally try.
Lastly, now the NYX green colour corrector I have tried before and it’s been a staple in my previous collections. I hadn’t retried it in years and part and parcel because my acne had come on leaps and bounds (cue current day writing this and it’s having a rip-roaring time post stopping Microgynon). When I pictured the look I still had the odd spot but I must say it evened out any redness really beautifully. It was subtle enough not to leave an unwanted green tinge to my makeup yet powerful enough to just calm down any hints of unhappy bits of redness. Since, I’ve really been getting back into the green colour corrector and it’s really been a helping hand with my ‘slightly’ angrier skin. I must note though, below my everyday foundation in the pictures my acne was still visible as you can see so not an all in one cure for hiding acne but a good helping-hand-product that is in no way cake-y.
Eye Products Review -
Eyes-wise, the NYX Waterproof Epic Ink Liner really stood out for me. This has been on my wish list to try for years and I was so flipping excited to finally get to try it! I went for a very basic line and flick because I am not a dab hand at anything winged liner but I was super happy with how it looked, especially being a winged liner novice. It was so, so, so incredibly easy to use. It’s really fine tipped so it makes it incredibly easy to use and difficult to make a mistake with. You can neaten up those lines without fear! (Almost). It’s staying power throughout the day was absolutely incredible, better than all the winged liners I’ve ever tried and it held it’s shape perfectly, despite some onion-induced eye watering. It left a minimal amount of smudging to the lid and under eye. The Control Freak Brow gel was a lovely little addition for me to try as I’d never used a clear brow gel before. Now my eyebrows are quite faint to begin with and I must say, although it gave a lovely neat and tidied effect to my brows on application the effect wasn’t really noticeable by the end of the day. I think the Control Freak Brow gel would have worked better with a coloured product used underneath or as a coloured gel.
Now the eye pencil sharpener I didn’t need to use for this look however a quick note on it! When I got it behind one of the doors I was a little dismayed as I thought NYX could have done a little better than throwing a pencil sharpener in however, as a matter of fact, I was really in need of a new pencil sharpener so this actually worked out quite usefully for me. Despite this however I don’t think it’s everyone’s urgent cup of Joe in their makeup collection and I’d much prefer if NYX switched this up for a makeup product in future advent calendars to serve the purpose of the excitement of a beauty advent calendar.
Lip Products Review -
Now lips added a mix of chaos to the calendar this year! So I started off with one lip liner, which I was most excited about because again I have never tried the NYX lip liners and have been wanting to for years! A day or so later I got another liner and was again very excited but I had to do a double take at the shades as I thought they were the same! A few days down the line and you got four lip liners in total in the 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar. Now if you’ve seen my vlogmas from last year you’ll know that I got a little bit confused with the shade names however, given a day or two, I finally worked out where the shade names where and although they all looked pretty similar on the packaging they were all in fact different shades. On swatching, although I’d note they were slightly similar in tone, they were all flipping gorgeous! One thing I did noticed though was that Lalaland, pictured fourth to the right on the swatches, was by far the easiest and creamiest to apply out of the four. I have no clue why? The others still applied nicely though. For the look pictured I decided just to go for Los Angeles as a one-product lip, something I’ve never actually done before just going for a lip liner all over. I must say though, I absolutely loved it and I’m glad, again serving it’s purpose, the choice in the advent calendar enticed me to try this and it’s something I’ve definitely started doing more of now. Such an easy go-to lip to throw on! The colour lasted really well throughout the day and didn’t wear patchily.
Final Thoughts...
Overall, I was incredibly made up with the look I was able to create using the products I got in the NYX 12 Day Vegan Advent Calendar and all the products, bar the eye gel but it wasn’t detrimental, lasted brilliantly. A little side note, when I went to rinse the concealers off my hand post-swatching they actually blended really beautifully so I’m excited to see how they apply with a damp beauty blender (haven’t actually tried this yet as forgot about this until writing up the post so still excited to try it!).
The full price for the 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar was £40, with an actual value of £61 at the time of writing according to Beauty Bay, however I managed to get it at a discount for £34. Super tip here, if you’ve got your eye on a certain beauty advent calendar (it’s usually the drugstore end ones through; not the so expensive ones, that I know of) sometimes it’s worth holding out to see if they go on sale as there always seems to be a time mid-September to October-ishy were Boots, Superdrug and other stores seem to have a little beauty advent calendar discount period and you can get some incredible savings!! I’ve done this most years.
Bizarre side note - It seems you actually CAN still add this to basket to purchase on the Beauty Bay website! I am amazed! So if you’re liking the sound of the NYX Gimme Super Stars! 12 Day Vegan Advent Calendar or think it would be the perfect beauty calendar of choice for someone you know this year have a look on Beauty Bay (currently on offer at time of writing for £32!) or other online stores!
So for the discounted price I got mine at, it worked out as £2.83 per product!! At full price that would have been £3.30 per product (still amazing I think) and if you’re wanting and able to grab your hands on a remaining one from Beauty Bay, with their current discount, that works out as £2.67 per product.
Not bad at all!
The makeup look lasted really well through the day, albeit using a different foundation and primer as these didn’t come in the advent calendar but I was very impressed both in how all products applied, performed and lasted. The NYX Epic Ink Liner really stood out to me in its lasting power. Paired with its ease of application and longevity the Epic Ink Liner really did live up to its claims for why I had it on my wish list. Everything wore nicely and excellently throughout the day.
With it’s value for money and the quality of NYX products I think I could definitely be swayed into going for a NYX advent calendar again! Although I think I’d like a little more surprise and variety from them as some of the products, like the concealers, were a bit tricky to utilise at first and not universal for all - although exciting to try! I’m looking forward to see what NYX bring out this year. My mind is instantly taken aback to the year NYX went all out and did that giant Christmas gift set of like 50 lip products - I think it might have been their Soft Matte Lip Vault! Does anyone else remember that and what year that was? All things Christmas beauty always sways my mind to the annual Too Faced Christmas collections too. I have dreamed for years of getting my hands on one of their Christmas collections but never quite had the chance to or when I have it hasn’t been one I’d consider getting. As ever, Too Faced’s Christmas collections are always fantastic so I’m most excited to see what they bring out this year - like NYX, Too Faced is cruelty free but not all products always vegan.
What are your thoughts on this NYX Gimme Super Stars! 12 Day Vegan Advent Calendar? What are your thoughts on the current beauty advent calendar market in recent years too and are you excited to see any particular ones that might be released this Christmas? Do let me know as I want to start getting some ideas myself (and have some insider insight into the collections due to come so I can get first in line for any show stopper ones haha!).
Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed the post!
Ellie x
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