Flemish consumers are approaching this year’s luxury beauty advent calendars with sharply narrowed eyes, as a growing backlash over inflated prices and disappointing contents reshapes the seasonal market. With the festive countdown now underway across Flanders, calendars from leading beauty and fragrance brands routinely carry price tags running into hundreds of euros, prompting buyers to scrutinise what is actually inside the box before parting with their money.
The scrutiny intensified this week after Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand offered full refunds to all customers for its $148 calendar following widespread criticism on social media. Customers likened the hair clips, scrunchies and keychains inside to items “you might find down the back of a sofa” — a verdict that has resonated well beyond the United States and sharpened expectations among Belgian shoppers.
Julia, a 39-year-old senior commercial manager in engineering, embodies the unsentimental approach now taking hold. “I always look at what’s in them. If I like enough of the fragrances, I’ll buy it,” she said. For her, the thrill of a surprise matters far less than whether she genuinely wants the products — a calculation increasingly common among buyers who earn well but refuse to waste money on items destined to gather dust.
Her strategy has paid off. “I spent £160 on a Space NK fragrance calendar last year,” she said. “I got some fragrances I’d been wanting for a while for a lot less than recommended retail price, and those I didn’t like I managed to sell on for a slight mark-up on what I paid.” She believes fragrance calendars, chosen carefully, usually represent solid value.
The message for Flemish retailers is clear as the holiday shopping season gathers pace: transparent contents and demonstrable savings now outweigh glossy packaging. Brands that fail to deliver on both risk the same public reckoning that forced Skims into a costly retreat — and shoppers here are watching closely.
