The Clarins 24-Day Beauty Advent Calendar holds twenty-four products across face care, body care and make-up, four of them full size. This is the complete contents list, what each product is and who the calendar suits, taken from Clarins' own material rather than from a spoiler list. You can see the calendar itself, along with the rest of the range, on the Clarins Brand Spotlight.

What is in the 24-Day Beauty Calendar

Twenty-four doors, one product behind each. Four are full size and the rest are smaller sizes of products from Clarins' own range.

The split tells you more about the calendar than the door count does. Eleven of the twenty-four are face care, taking in cleansing, toning, masks, a serum and an eye treatment. Seven are body and hands. The remaining six are make-up and lip products. So this is a skincare-led calendar with a substantial body-care element and a small make-up section, rather than a make-up calendar with skincare in it.

The Hydra-Essentiel line appears four times across the calendar, as a day cream, a night cream, a mask and a lip balm. That line is Clarins' hydration range, built around hyaluronic acid, which gives the calendar a clear centre of gravity.

The full-size products, and why they matter most

Four doors hold full-size products:

These are the ones that carry on past December. A full size is a product you would have reached for on its own and will keep using once the calendar is finished, where a smaller size is a way of trying something without committing to it. Both have a place, and knowing which door holds which is the difference between a calendar that suits you and one that surprises you.

Two of the four are lip products, one is eye make-up and one is a face moisturiser, which is worth knowing if you were expecting the full sizes to sit in the skincare half. The Brand Spotlight carries the calendar along with the products Clarins sells year round.

Face care, door by door

Removing and cleansing. Instant Eye Make-Up Remover, 30ml, is a two-phase remover that takes off eye make-up including waterproof formulas. Total Cleansing Oil, 50ml, is an oil cleanser for the same job across the face. One Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser, 30ml, cleanses and exfoliates in a single step, so it sits somewhere between a daily wash and a scrub.

Toning. Two toning lotions, and they are not interchangeable. Soothing Toning Lotion, 50ml, is the one Clarins positions for very dry or sensitive skin. Hydrating Toning Lotion, 50ml, is for normal to dry skin. Having both means you can see which suits you before buying either in a larger size.

Moisturising. Hydra-Essentiel Silky Cream, 30ml, is the full-size day cream, a light hyaluronic acid moisturiser. Hydra-Essentiel Night Cream, 15ml, is its night counterpart, a richer texture for overnight.

Masks. Hydra-Essentiel Mask, 15ml, is a hydrating mask from the same line, with ceramides alongside the hyaluronic acid. Cryo-Flash Cream-Mask, 15ml, is a cooling gel-cream with a quite different feel, applied for a few minutes rather than left on.

Serum and eyes. Multi-Active Serum, 7ml, is a two-phase serum, a trial size for anyone curious about the line. Total Eye Lift, 7ml, is an eye serum and one of Clarins' year-round products, so this is a small size of something you can buy on its own later.

Body and hands

Seven doors, which is more body care than most beauty calendars carry and a genuine reason to pick this one if you use body products.

Moisture Rich Body Lotion, 30ml, is a shea butter lotion aimed at drier skin. Renew-Plus Body Serum, 30ml, is applied under a lotion the way a face serum goes under a cream. Body Firming Extra-Firming Cream, 30ml, is the firming cream from the body range. Exfoliating Body Scrub, 30ml, is the scrub that goes before any of them.

For bathing, Tonic Bath, 30ml, is a body wash with essential oils, and Tonic Body Oil, 10ml, is the plant-oil body oil from the same line. Hand and Nail Treatment Cream, 30ml, is a hand cream that works on nails as well, and at 30ml it is the sort of size that lives in a bag.

If you do not currently use body products, this is the part of the calendar to be honest about. Seven of twenty-four doors is close to a third of it.

Make-up

Six doors, and they are shade-specific, so check them before you decide.

Wonder Volume XXL Mascara, 8ml, is the full size, in 01 Black. SOS Primer White, 10ml, is a colour-correcting primer that goes under foundation.

The lips take four doors. Lip Comfort Oil in 03 Cherry, 7ml, is a full-size lip oil with plant oils. Hydra-Essentiel Moisture Replenishing Lip Balm, 15ml, is the other full size and is a care product rather than a colour. Lip Perfector comes in two shades, 01 Rose Shimmer and 24 Fuchsia Glow, both 5ml, one soft and one bright.

If lip colour is not something you wear, four of the six make-up doors are lips, three of them in set shades. That is the clearest fit question in the whole calendar.

Who this calendar suits

It suits someone whose skin leans dry or dehydrated, because the Hydra-Essentiel line runs through it and both toning lotions are positioned for dry or sensitive skin rather than oily.

It suits someone who already uses body care, or would like to, given that a third of the doors are body and hands.

It suits someone who wants to try a range rather than restock one product. With two toning lotions, two masks, a serum trial size and four Hydra-Essentiel pieces, the calendar is built for working out what you like.

It suits it less well if you wear little make-up, since four of the six make-up doors are lips in set shades, or if your skin is oily or blemish-prone, since the formulas here lean towards hydration and richness.

The Showstopper set, if 24 doors is too many

Clarins offers a second way to do the countdown. The Showstopper set holds twelve skincare and make-up pieces, six of them full size, in one box rather than behind doors.

The choice between them is about how you want to use it rather than which is the better buy. A calendar is a daily ritual through December, twenty-four small moments, with four pieces that outlast the month. The Showstopper is one box opened at once, with more of its contents in full sizes among fewer items. If the appeal is the countdown itself, the calendar is the one. If the appeal is the products, the set gets you to them sooner.

Both sit on the Clarins Brand Spotlight, with the full descriptions from Clarins.

Where to find it

The 24-Day Beauty Advent Calendar and the Showstopper set are both on the Clarins Brand Spotlight, which links direct to Clarins, along with the products the brand sells all year.

Total Eye Lift is the crossover worth knowing about: it appears behind one of the calendar doors in a 7ml size, and it is also one of the Clarins Icons on the Spotlight in its own right, if the small size turns out to be something you want more of.

FindMyBasket may earn a small commission when you shop through our links, at no extra cost to you.