The Space NK beauty advent calendar 2026 is now live to shop and joins all manner of this year’s best beauty advent calendars ahead of the festive season. At this point, there are very few big-name beauty calendars left to arrive, with Harvey Nichols and M&S holding off a little ways yet, while the likes of Harrods, Liberty, Selfridges and Cult Beauty are already available to buy.
We’ve been unboxing and testing this year’s most anticipated calendars (16 of them so far, to be exact), and can tell you that Space NK’s offering is certainly one to have on your radar. Behind its 25 doors are 35 make-up, skincare, haircare, fragrance and body products, including 26 full-size buys and 31 products exclusive to this calendar. There’s a strong roster of brands, too, from Saltair and Refy to Hourglass and Skin Rocks.
It costs £275, so it’s a sizeable spend, but Space NK puts the total value of the contents at more than £1,200, so it’s also arguably a saving. We opened every drawer and put the products to the test to see exactly how much of a saving it feels in practice – beyond the impressive numbers.
Read more: I unboxed the Sephora advent calendar before anyone else, here’s my review
Space NK beauty advent calendar 2026
Price: £275 (up £15 year on year)
Worth: £1,200+ (up £50 year on year)
Number of days: 25
Number of products: 35
Avaliable: Now
Why we love it
- Hero products from sought-after brands
- Lots of full-sized items
- Only a few filler products
- Wearable shades
- Excellent skincare line-up
Take note
- Some items for body feel a bit surplus
At £275, the Space NK beauty advent calendar is £15 more expensive than last year's edition, but the retailer says its contents are worth more than £1,200 (£50 extra than 2025’s), which still leaves you with an extra £35 of savings up for grabs.
Showing off the variety of its beauty department, the calendar boasts everything from make-up to haircare, fragrance and body care. But, if you ask me, the skincare line-up is where this haul excels. The brands alone warrant getting excited about with everything from La Mer to Tatcha nestled within. For context, the La Mer moisturising cream – which was luxuriously indulgent and nourishing in testing – costs £85 on its own, which is just less than a third of the total price of the calendar. Elsewhere, the selection of of Medik8, Skin Rocks, Sunday Riley, Byoma, Patchology, Votary, Caudalie and Laneige juggles Korean, French pharmacy and science-backed skincare with ease, meaning you get a taste of every facet of the industry.
Importantly Space NK has chosen to include real hero products like Vieve’s skin nova primer, Lisa Eldridge’s liquid liner, Kulfi’s lip stain and a Kosas mascara – not niche items in obscure shades. The bright pink liquid blush from Hourglass caught my eye, while the one brow product, Rare Beauty’s brow gel, is bound to suit all. There’s also Refy’s lash sculpt, which we described as “a product I genuinely reach for in my day-to-day routine,” in our guide to the best mascaras.
Haircare is surprisingly standout with a mix of products from cult brands that don’t overlap, delivering heat protection, fragrance, intensive treatment, bond repair and styling across the board. You’re getting a combination of the best new products like Olaplex’s reformulated No.3 plus, and cult favourites like Philip Kingsley’s elasticiser, the Color Wow dream cocktail, and K18’s heatbounce (which we praised highly in our review).
You’ve got three fragrance items, which are pretty universal with unisex scents – from the peppery debasser in bloom from D.S. & Durga and the floral musk of missing person from Phlur. There’s also Gisou’s favourited vanilla spray for your hair.
Admittedly, there are a few products we’re not that fussed about like the Sol de Janeiro rose charmosa dewy body cream (the brand has inundated markets for several years now) and the Charlotte Tilbury beauty light wand (these have been thrown into every advent calendar of late), but I’ve yet to find an advent calendar without at least one uninspiring inclusion.
The calendar itself has been given a festive makeover, with pastel pink and blue nutcracker-splashed packaging that's – according to Space NK – also more environmentally conscious. It's made from 100 per cent recyclable FSC-certified paper, printed using vegetable-based inks and designed to be reused or recycled after Christmas.
In our experience, this definitely will sell out, so if you’re toying with purchasing, I’d make your decision fast.
Buy now £275, Spacenk.com
Is the Space NK beauty advent calendar worth £275?
On the face of it, we’re really impressed by Space NK’s 2026 advent calendar. Opening the doors, it felt like the products from must-have brands kept on coming, with many of them being full-sized. We’d say this is a pretty universal calendar that takes you on a tour of the best brands and cult products in wearable shades and usable sizes, and proves particularly good for skincare obsessives. It’s definitely an investment, but if you can spot more than a handful of products you’ve been wanting to try, you may well make your money back quickly.
What’s inside the Space NK beauty advent calendar?
How we tested
After getting our hands on Space NK’s 2026 advent calendar, we swatched and sprayed our way through the contents, paying attention to
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Alice Reynolds covers a wide range of beauty reviews and new launches for IndyBest from advent calendars to fragrance, make-up and more, so she knows what’s worth your time and money. Elsewhere, she consulted senior shopping Lucy Smith who has been reviewing advent calendars for IndyBest for three years.
