This week's Extremely Important Customer (EIC) Edit: No sign of Beauty Calendar adv-ennui :

We may still be in summer mode – even if that’s largely wondering whether it will ever properly arrive - but in the beauty world talk is already turning to Christmas time and the now cult beauty advent calendars.

I have to admit that I had started to wonder whether we might have reached peak saturation – from stores to brands to publications there are so many of these things on the market. And, having helped to shape one of them in my last job, I’m also aware of how much goes into putting them together, securing products – full-size and ‘luxury samples sizes’ as they’re known – the demands on supply, trying to make things as environmentally-friendly as possible, the costs, that I’d wondered whether everyone might just be a bit bored with it all, that we’d achieved a state of adv-ennui.

But it turns out that we really haven’t. Last year, for instance, Space NK had their fastest selling advent of all time – and they had double the units of the year before. Liberty meanwhile has been increasing their stock each year to keep up with demand since their BAC launched in 2014 and it has become the most successful and fastest-selling product in the nearly 150 years of the store’s history. So, for all those now scared that they’ll miss out. Liberty has already issued a pre-order service for their Beauty Drop Members and an advance notice sign-up for others who want to know when it goes on sale in September (you can subscribe here ).

Details of the Liberty contents are still being finalised but they have already revealed that this year it will include 8 new brands, 18 full-sized products and the brands making up the £1205-worth of contents (on sale for £260) will include Augustinus Bader, Byredo, Skin Rocks, La Mer, and Lisa Eldridge and the 25 drawer box, designed to mirror the iconic Tudor-style store exterior will once again be decorated with Clym Evernden's signature ink-based illustrations.

But my ultimate proof that adv-ennui has not set in is that even in my beauty product saturated world I so enjoyed opening mine last December and already can’t imagine my 2024 yuletide without it. Glad tidings indeed.