Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar review: a beautifully wrapped box of grooming delights

I SAW a frightening statistic earlier — almost a quarter of Brits have already started their Christmas shopping.

That’s almost a full 100 days before December 25th.

The reason, according to cashback site Rakuten, who conducted the research, is “FOSO” — the “fear of selling out”.

That’s hardly surprising when you have items like the Liberty Mens Advent Calendar on the market, which cause a mild furore every year and usually sells out before December arrives.

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

Liberty introduced the men’s version of its iconic advent calendar a couple of years ago, and last year Sun readers loved it as much as its female counterpart.

But is it worth its £245 price tag? I (very nobly) got stuck into this year’s edition and conducted a Liberty Mens Advent Calendar review to find out.

Pros

• Amazing range of products ranging from skincare to haircare and fragrance
• Includes big names such as Creed and Acqua di Parma
• Introduces men to brands they might not have heard of such as Granado and Reome
• Saves £456 compared to buying the items individually (according to Liberty)
• Doesn’t fall into the trap of over-masculising the products or design
• Beautiful box that could be repurposed
• Handy guide that talks through how to use each product

Cons

• Overemphasis on hair products means it’s not ideal for bald men
• Much poorer saving than the women’s calendar
• Day 25 is disappointing, especially compared to the women’s calendar
• No significant differences from last year

Rating: 4.5/5

Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar review: how I tested

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

As the reviews manager at The Sun, it’s my job to get hands-on with as many products as I can, from meal delivery services to moisturisers.

At this time of year, when companies begin to bring out their advent calendars, I have the enviable job of getting behind the windows to see if they’re any good.

This means I opened the doors of the Liberty Advent Calendar to find out whether the products in its picturesque little drawers make it worth its £245 price tag. I’ve got hands-on with every product inside (apart from the hair products… but we’ll come onto that later).

I’ve also compared it to other calendars on the market to see if it’s the best option for grooming buffs.

Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar review: quick summary

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

If you’re looking for a luxury men’s advent calendar, there’s no point looking further than the Liberty Men’s Calendar.

This year’s calendar takes an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach — it looks identical to last year’s successful calendar, features many of the same brands (although the products are different), and has a similar price point and value.

That may come as a bit of a disappointment to anyone who had last year’s calendar, but if you’re reading this Liberty Mens Advent Calendar review, it’s more likely you’re looking to buy it for the first time, so I’m not going to treat it as too much of an issue.

I loved the fact that Liberty hasn’t fallen into the trap that so many companies do around Christmas — the mistake of making everything aimed towards men black, gruff and off-puttingly macho.

Of course, there are some concessions — the outer design is an austere black and white rather than the festive colour of the women’s calendar, and products include charcoal and oud rather than tonka and rose — but Liberty hasn’t been scared to include products for the modern metrosexual man.

I also love Liberty’s choice of brands. There are crowd-pleasers such as (spoiler alert) Acqua di Parma and Malin and Goetz, but not many men will have come across brands like Granado, Reome or Korres. As well as getting value for money, men might just come across their new go-to brand.

My only real complaint is that there is a bit of an overreliance on haircare products, which isn’t very useful for bald men (but that might just be me projecting my insecurities).

Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar review: full review

First impressions

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

I walked past the Liberty shop in Soho the week before my calendar was delivered, and I’ve got to admit I felt the excitement building after seeing the calendar in the shop window.

The outer design is completely identical to last year’s calendar, but I like it so much that I don’t mind.

Designed by London-based “perception artist” Curiosity Snug, the box is illustrated to look like the mock Tudor department store, complete with its sloped tiled roof and gables.

This is the same as the Beauty Advent Calendar, but whereas that calendar’s design is colourful and abstract, the men’s calendar is illustrated in only black and white and is much more architectural.

While this might sound less festive, I actually think it feels more Christmassy; something about the austere Tudor design and snow-specked tiles conjures images of Charles Dickens, Silent Night and The Night Before Christmas.

It’s remarkably heartwarming, and I’d go as far as to say that it’s still my favourite advent calendar design, even a year after I first saw it.

It’s also smaller than a few of the calendars we’ve seen at Sun Shopping this year, which are the size of a toddler and weigh as if they’re full of coal.

While certainly not petite, this one is small enough that it’s not inconvenient to have around the house for a month; it’s the perfect size to have on the mantelpiece or kitchen side.

And unlike some other calendars we’ve tested, there’s nothing flimsy about this box – everything feels sturdy and well-crafted. You could certainly keep it as a storage box for trinkets well after Christmas, if you fancied.

Upon opening the doors of the calendar, you’re greeted by 25 drawers of varying sizes, each adorned in a print that is presumably inspired by Liberty’s famed fabrics; I’d be happy to have it on a wall in my house.

Each drawer is embossed (rather than simply printed) with its corresponding date in gold, which is a really nice touch.

Overall, I didn’t have a single complaint about the calendar’s design; it’s picture-perfect.

What’s inside the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar?

Tucked into the beautifully-designed drawers of the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar is an assortment of skincare, haircare, fragrance and bathroom essentials.

Broadly speaking, I’d say there are nine skincare products, six hair products, seven fragrance products, and three products that don’t comfortably fit into any of those categories (a bath oil, toothpaste and pillow mist).

For the most part, I’m okay with this split between categories, but I do think that six haircare products is too much considering that there are many men (including myself, as you may have noticed) who don’t possess much hair — if any.

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

It meant that I had no use for almost a quarter of the products, which was unfortunate, but it at least bought me some brownie points with my girlfriend and housemates.

According to Liberty, 14 of the 25 products in the calendar are full size, while 11 are travel size; exactly the same ratio as last year’s calendar.

I’d take this with a tiny pinch of salt — to me, an 8ml perfume is not full size, and neither is a 50ml shampoo — but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by what’s hidden behind the doors of this calendar.

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

What I’m really impressed by is the balance of well-known names with more boutique brands that many men won’t have heard of.

There are bigger names and products that many gents will have encountered before — Malin & Goetz, Dermalogica and Acqua di Parma, for example — all of which provided a sense of satisfaction, as I’m fully aware of how high-quality (and expensive) these brands are.

There are other brands that I’d heard of but not personally tried, such as Escentric Molecules (a perfume brand famous for creating scents that smell different from person to person) and Marvis toothpaste, which — according to someone on our team, at least — is the toothpaste that Victoria’s Secret models are told to use.

However, the bigger sense of excitement came from discovering brands that I’d never heard of, but will now return to.

For instance, I’d never heard of Granado, a Brazilian Perfumier that has been running since the 1800s. I’d much less tried its Oud Eau de Parfum, which is beautiful, woody and expensive-smelling.

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

The same goes for Verden’s Arborealist Bath Oil, which I’ve found myself hiding so that no one else uses it.

My only — and I mean only — disappointment is the drawer marked “Day 25”, which contains a travel-size vial of Creed Aventus perfume.

I have nothing against Aventus; it’s a lovely, tropical, gingery smelling perfume, and if you buy it in full-size it’s certainly not cheap.

But opening the biggest drawer of the calendar to find a 10ml perfume — especially after you’ve already opened five perfumes between the 1st and 24th — is a smidge disappointing.

That’s especially considering that in the women’s calendar, drawer number 25 hides two gifts — a Skin Rocks moisturiser and a Liberty candle.

But I’m splitting hairs here, and hopefully you’ll have more things to unwrap on Christmas Day than what’s in your advent calendar.

How much is the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar?

This year’s edition of the Liberty Men’s Advent calendar retails for £245, which is £15 more than last year’s calendar.

That means it’s certainly a splurge, and it’s by far the most expensive men’s advent calendar I’ve encountered this year.

You do get £701 worth of products, according to Liberty (although I’m never truly sure how these numbers are arrived at — I’m sure there’s some marketing magic cast to inflate the prices a little).

That compares pretty poorly with the women’s calendar, which despite costing just £15 more, purportedly houses £1205 worth of products — not far off double.

But let’s face it; we can compare numbers and tally prices, but these are indulgent, heart-led purchases, and I think I got £245 worth of joy (and products) from this advent calendar.

Where to buy the Liberty Advent Calendar

Unsurprisingly, the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar is exclusively available from the Liberty website (and the Liberty shop, if you fancy a trip to central London).

If last year is anything to go by, it will sell out before December, but if memory serves there were still calendars available towards the end of October last year, so there’s no need to impulse-buy — though I won’t stop you.

The verdict: is the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar worth it?

If you’re a certain type of man — the sort of man who takes longer than his partner to get ready, who agonises over the concept of a “signature fragrance” and keeps a bottle of pillow spray on the bedside table — the type of man another type of man would call “soft” — then there is no better Christmas product for you than this calendar.

Men’s Advent Calendar, £245 (worth £701) from Liberty London

I am that type of man, and I had an absolute ball opening the drawers of the Liberty calendar and discovering products and brands I’d never heard of before.

Of course, it’s not perfect; it’s probably too similar to last year’s calendar, there are too many haircare products, day 25 is admittedly disappointing and the value of the products inside doesn’t come close to that of Liberty’s beauty advent calendar.

But I’m happy to look past all that, because after opening this calendar I smell, look and feel much more chic than I did before.