Christmas Gift Guide for Beauty Lovers - Part One
Sephora and Ulta have been tempting me with all their holiday emails and new product releases. But, I must resist! I'm on a college budget, you know. ;) (but when has that ever stopped me?) But, I have to wait until Christmas and anxiously add things onto my wish lists. Sigh. So in light of that, I thought I would share some wish list excitement with you all.
With all the limited-edition holiday sets being released, I thought I would do some beauty research and put together the ultimate wishlist. Yay for early Christmas shopping (or treat yourself shopping)!
These are my personal opinions about what I think would make great gifts for the make up/beauty lovers in your life. However, I tried to make this list versatile so that everyone could find something that they would enjoy.
To make things easier, Let's break these gifts up into categories!
Quick Tip: Always ask if your gift receiver has a Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, etc. online wishlist - it'll take all the guessing out of it. I know I have a wishlist on almost every beauty website, but that's probably just me.
The Beginner
For all those people in your life that like their makeup to be simple or may be just starting to build their makeup collection. These gifts are appropriate for everyone.
For beginning beauty junkies, sets with a lot of variety are key. If someone is just beginning to play around with products, then it's great to get them samples of different things to try out.
1. Check out the Sephora Favorites types of sets because they have mini-versions of a lot of best-selling items.
- My pick: Sephora Favorites Draw the Line - $30 : This set includes great smaller sizes of some of my favorite eyeliners, making finding your favorite super easy.
2. Neutral Eye Shadow Palettes
Too Faced Sugar & Spice - $39 : This palette (pictured) has the beautiful holiday packaging, but includes 12 neutral toned eye shadows that would look great on everyone. This palette looks beautiful and has enough colors to create many eye looks. Also, Too Faced shadows are really great quality. Check out some of their other palettes if this one doesn't work for you.
- It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Palette - $42 : There are now two versions of this palette - The Holiday Edition and the First, Volume I Palette. I own the first palette and it is so incredibly easy to use and beautiful. Both palettes look pretty similar, however it looks like the first palette features warmer colors. Whatever version you choose, you won't be disappointed - these eye shadows are super creamy and blendable, anyone can use them!
3. Lip Sets
Fresh Sugar Cravings Lip Trio - $28 : This little trio (pictured) has three awesome tinted lip balms that are great for that person who enjoys a great chapstick (Hah!), but not the full coverage effect of a lipstick. These are the nicest lip balms you'll probably ever own and are such a fun little gift to give. They also smell amazing - kind of a fresh, lemon smell - and are great for dry, winter lips.
Want a more affordable option? Check out the Burt's Bees chapstick trios - $9.99 - They are still really nice tinted lip balms. However, know that they have a strong mint scent and tingling feel on lips, unlike the Fresh Trio.
4. All-In-One Sets
- Tart Rainforest After Dark Palette - $38: Although this isn't technically a holiday release, it's still a limited edition palette that's been recently released. I don't own this palette personally, but I've heard great things and I've enjoyed many Tarte products. That being said, this palette has almost everything you need to create a look. Eyeshadows, one of their awesome blushes, a bronzer, and a highlighter. These colors look very neutral and versatile.
- Laura Geller Sweet Sensations - $39 : All of the Laura Geller holiday kits look wonderful, but this one is my personal favorite for one big reason; the highlighter in this kit is too die for!! It's such a beautiful, gold color that looks great on any skin tone. The other items in this kit are great as well, and the baked blushes are really nice and pigmented. This kit has a beautiful eye shadow quad (pink/brown color), the amazing highlighter, a pinky baked blush, and a pinkish brown lipstick.
5. Tools and Essentials for a makeup kit
It Cosmetics for Ulta Brushes - Having great quality brushes make makeup application so much easier, and much more fun. The holidays are the perfect time to pick up limited edition sets of brushes. They are the perfect gift for any beauty lover! My new obsession are the It Cosmetic brushes that are exclusive to Ulta - they are so soft and great. My favorites are the Live beautifully blush brush and the Airbrush blending eye shadow brush 105. The eye shadow brush is perfect for blending out the crease and makes such a difference in application.
- Beauty Blender - $20 : I have owned this cute, little pink sponge for a couple of months and I don't know what I did without it. There's just something about using this to put foundation on that puts brushes to shame (and that's a big deal for me to say). For someone who's wanting to expand their makeup collection, this product is a must have. For Christmas, you can get the beauty blender and the cleanser for $25, which is great.
Stay tuned for the next part of my Holiday Gift Guide...
What's on your wishlist?
