These Beauty Advent Calendars Are Better Than Chocolate — Really

The countdown to the holidays is on, and we are so ready. But we're done opening the doors on those childhood advent calendars filled with cheap milk chocolates. Instead, we want ones filled with useful surprises. And we must have been good this year, because brands heard our plea and delivered some seriously cool options.

Is there a better way to get yourself out of bed in the morning than to remember you have a gift waiting for you, and that gift could be perfume, lipstick, or a sheet mask? We haven't found one. Ahead, our top 20 — yes, 20! — picks to gift yourself and your friends. Just make sure to get them before the 1st. Or don't — playing catch-up and getting multiple presents at once is pretty great, too.