Kiehl's advent calendar 2015 round-up |Smugnificent

If you follow me long here or on Youtube you know that the last few years I am literally obsessed with advent calendars. I try to find which ones will be released early on, always searching for new ones I have not gotten in the past. This year I focused on beauty calendars and I ended up getting not 1 but 3 of them! I was familiar with 2 of them, the Ciaté Mini Mani month and the L' Occitane Holiday advent calendar as I had gotten them previously. And I also really enjoyed them this year.

 

The third one I got though was a new addition by Kiehl's, a brand that I have tried a few things from, which I have fairly enjoyed so I found this an excellent opportunity to try a good variety of their line. 24 products for body, hair and skincare, most of them new to me in. I thought that it would be a good idea to show you what I found behind the doors as a quick overview because to my knowledge this is the first year Kiehl's launched a calendar and this can give you a taste of what you could expect for next year.

I tried to group the products the best I could and I am starting with the body related stuff first. I am actually starting with the "big" product behind door 24 , a full sized (75ml) Ultimata strength hand salve for severely dry hands with a rich formula containing a blend of botanical oils and olive oil derived wax. It feel very moisturising with a light herbal scent. Of course they had to put in a travel size (30ml) of the infamous Creme de Corps, a very known body moisturiser from the brand which has many fans but I found its scent a bit indifferent. The brand also has a few perfumes and they added a small (1.5ml) sample of the Patchouli & Fresh Rose aromatic mist. It has a pleasant fresh scent but it doesn't linger for long on the skin. Last thing on the photo is not really a body product but a coupon for a free skin consultation and a bag of samples tailored to your needs (personalised starter kit).

Next we have some hair products something that I have never tried or heard anything about to be honest. There were two large travel size (65ml each) bottles of the Amino Acid shampoo and conditioner, which contain pure coconut oil and are silicon and paraben free, addressed for all hair types. There were two more smaller bottles (30ml each) of shampoo, the Sunflower color preserving shampoo with sunflower and apricot oils and a vitamin blend for color treated hair (sulfate free and silicone free) and the Nourishing olive fruit oil shampoo with olive fruit and avocado oils for under-nourished and dry hair. I have only tried the Sunflower shampoo so far which was nice but nothing extremely special for my hair.

Continuing with skincare there was a 30ml tube of the Ultra Facial Cleanser a nice cleanser with a gentle formula for all types which does not dry the skin too much. I tried this one laready several times and it feels nice especially in the morning and goes a long way. A thing I really want to try but have not yet are 2 sachets (3ml each) of the Epidermal re-texturizing micro-dermabrasion which refines the skin surface with micro-dermabrasion. I am on the look for a nice face scrub so I hope this suits my skin needs without being harsh. Another product I have tried already is a nice travel size (40ml) bottle of the Iris extract activating treatment essence that can be used after the toner ( or instead of it) with anti-ageing properties that feels wonderful on the skin. 

We have various concentrates next including 2 samples (2ml each) of the Midnight recovery concentrate a product I wanted to try out since long. The rest of the products I had not known of and they include 3 5ml tubes of the Powerful-strength line-reducing concentrate (which I currently trying), the Precision lifting & pore-tightening concentrate and the Hydro-plumping re-texturizing serum concentrate. Interesting names, many promises so I am looking forward to see how they perform.

Next we have some face moisturizers, another category of products I have not ever tried from Kiehl's. There was 7ml pot of the Ultra facial cream, a classic typical 24-hour moisturiser and 2 more pots (again 7ml each) of anti-aging moisturisers: Rosa Arctica, a lightweight youth regenerating cream with resurrection flower extract and Super multi-corrective cream (with beech tree extract, jasmonic and hyaluronic acids) which visibly lifts, firms and retexturizes skin. The Skin rescuer  is supposed to be a stress-minimising daily hydrator, which reduces visible signs of stress and flare-ups including skin fatigue and redness and contains rosa gallica botanical extract, mannose and chamomile. This comes in a tube of 15ml and I think it sounds for sure very intriguing.

An impressive addition to the calendar was sure a full size (14g) Creamy eye treatment with avocado, one of the most known Kiehl's products that I wanted to try out since long. I was also happy to see 2 more eye treatments since I am on the hunt for a new eye serum. There was a 3ml tube of the Super multi-corrective eye-opening serum, a 5 in 1 solution which smooths, lifts, firms, hydrates and restores the area around the eyes and another 3ml tube of the Midnight recovery eye an intensive eye treatment for younger looker eyes.

For the end I left 2 products that I know and love. There were 2 sachets (3ml each) of the micro-blur skin perfector (this is a lovely primer that I used up completely and will certainly repurchase and a 5ml tube of the Actively correcting and beautifying BB Cream, my favourite western BB cream although this is in the darker shade than mine.

I have actually also already used my coupon and I was happily impressed. We discussed about my latest acne outbreaks and my different skincare needs and the clerk suggested various products. I actually got the Blemish Control Daily Skin-Clearing Treatment but we will talk about this after I try it out in a future review. In my sample bag I got 1 sachet of the Utra Facial Cleanser, 1 sachet of the Ultra Facial Toner, 2 sachets of the Epidermal Re-Texturizing Micro-Dermabrasion, a 40ml travel size of the Iris Extract Activating Treatment Essence, 2 sachets of the Ultra Facial Moisturizer, 2 mask sachets the Turmeric and cranberry seed energizing radiance masque and the Cilantro and orange extract pollutant defending masque and two travel size concentrates of the Midnight Recovery and the Daily Reviving. A great selection of some products already in the calendar and some new ones (I am very excited about the masks in particular). 

 

Overall I am very pleased with this advent calendar from Kiehl's. I doubt that all of the products will suit my needs but for me that is not really the point. For about 60CHF (if I remember wrong please correct me) I got to enjoy I wonderful calendar and also I get to try a ton of completely new for me products with a nice variety among what the brand has to offer.  This might be one of the calendars that I ever got so far and left me so pleased. Have you tried any of these Kiehl's products? Which is your favourite? Would you be interested in purchasing their calendar next year judging from this year's contents?