Source: James Charles
James Charles advent calendars: What You Need to Know
THE TL;DW
- James Charles bought and tore through six 2026 beauty advent calendars — YSL, Made by Mitchell, Ulta Beauty, Charlotte Tilbury, P.Louise, and Dior — to judge which are actually worth the money.
- Each James Charles advent calendars segment breaks down value, product quality, and whether the price tag matches what’s inside the box.
- He also used the video to plug his own brand Painted’s Black Friday sale, offering discounts on sponge bundles and lip balms ahead of the holiday shopping rush.
The Jupiter Take
Advent calendar season has become a reliable annual content cycle for beauty YouTubers, and James Charles has built a recurring bit out of reacting to and rating the year’s luxury drops. This video doubles as both a consumer-value check for shoppers deciding where to spend before the holidays and a promotional vehicle for his own cosmetics line, Painted.
Context
Beauty advent calendars have ballooned into a major holiday category, with brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Dior, and YSL releasing pricier, more elaborate editions each year and influencers racing to unbox and rate them before the shopping window closes. James Charles has made this a recurring tradition on his channel, having previously reacted publicly to brands like Dior and MAC’s advent calendar offerings in past seasons, often with blunt, unfiltered opinions on whether they’re worth the splurge.
This year’s roundup expands the lineup to include newer entrants like Made by Mitchell and P.Louise alongside Ulta’s house-brand calendar, giving viewers a wider price-point comparison than the luxury-only reviews he’s done before. The video also doubles as a soft promotion for his own brand, following a pattern seen in other recent James Charles content drops tied to Painted, where product reviews and brand plugs are woven into the same video to capture holiday shopping attention.
