Friday 27 November 2020

A Gift Guide For Girls


When it comes to compiling a Christmas gift guide for the girls, I find it easy breezy beautiful. After all, I'm a woman, so it's not too hard to think of gifts us ladies would love this holiday season. During the last two months, I trawled the shops (when I legally could!), spent hours on the internet, and had many conversations with lovely PRs to discover this year's greatest gifts. The end result is a gorgeous selection of present ideas that include everything from beauty and gadgets, to art and books...

My first recommendation is perfect for the sentimental girls among us and it comes courtesy of Motif! Motif is a free-to-download app for IOS devices that enables you to transform your own photos into photo books, calendars, and cards. Having previously been the print provider for Apple, Motif has the benefit of integrating directly into Apple Photos, which ensures all photos remain high quality. It is the perfect personalised gift to share with loved ones, especially during a time when so many families have been separated from one another. Photo books start at £7.99, calendars at £17.99, and cards at just £0.89.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it's the importance of looking after ourselves. My next gift idea provides the perfect tool for doing just that. It is the Positive Planner, a 12-week journal that focuses around self-care, gratitude, and daily positivity. The Positive Planner (£20 thepositiveplanners.com) was created to encourage people to make journaling and mindfulness an everyday practice. The planner features sections dedicated to daily intentions and reflections, as well as a mood checker and lots of useful tools designed to enhance positivity and manage your wellbeing. It is also still very much a planner, and features everyday organisational extras such as meal planners, shopping lists, and monthly diary spreads. This is the perfect gift for girls that want to get organised, get productive, and - most importantly - get positive.
For the cocktail queen in your life, I recommend gifting Free The Tipple (£9.99 grahamandgreen.co.uk) It is a recipe book containing sixty cocktails inspired by the world's baddest bitches. Each double-page spread features a recipe which reflects either its namesake's personality, style, legacy, or drink of choice. From The Gloria Steinem, which uses a complex liquor with a radical twist, to The Beyonce, made with lemonade (obvs), the cocktails are simple to make, kitchen-tested, and use easy-to-find ingredients (hallelujah). The entries also include mini informative biographies to offer revealing insights into the famous women's lives.

My next recommendation may come out of left field a little, but trust me, it's a gift that any girl who suffers with bad period pains (god knows I'm one of them) would love. It is Livia, a device that literally switches off menstrual pain. It is an innovative device that provides instant, drug-free relief from menstrual cramps. The wearable device works by stimulating the nerves to block pain. It employs patented SmartWave™ technology which uses electric micro-pulses to tap into the body’s natural pain defences, prevents menstrual pain from being felt. Unlike pain medications, there are no side-effects to using Livia, and the female body cannot build a tolerance to it. Livia (£125.99 mylivia.com) is portable, easy to use, and cute (but don't worry, it can be worn discreetly under outfits). It also has a long-life rechargeable battery making it last for years. Impressive, huh? It is also doctor recommended, so don't go thinking this is some novelty nonsense. It is the real deal! Livia is available in four colours - lavender, green, purple, pink.
Now if there is one thing universally loved by most women, it's a soak in the bath. So you can never go wrong gifting anything from Lush, the brand synonymous with bathing. Each year, the British beauty brand offers up a huge number of gift sets with a range of price points. There is everything from stocking fillers and secret Santa gifts, to big splurges, and prices range from £9.50 to a whopping £195. My favourite Lush Christmas set this year is one for the women who really need to relax and get a good night's sleep. It is Christmas Bliss, a dreamy set that features all the bath and shower products needed for a calm mind and a good night's rest. The Christmas Bliss Set (£36 Lush) features the Sleepy Bubble Bar, Sleepy Body Lotion, Sleepy Soap, Deep Sleep Bath Bomb, Snow Fairy Shower Gel, and a Snow Fairy Bath Bomb.

For the professional bath goers, I recommend the gorgeous Graham & Green Gold Bath Caddy (£35 grahamandgreen.co.uk). Equipped with extendable arms and a stand for books, tablets, or phones, this gift will work with any bath and will please any girl. Stretching the width of any bath, this caddy holds all of the bath essentials, including candles, bath products, and - most importantly - a glass of wine.

If you're gifting a girl who is makeup obsessed, NARS is your go-to gifting destination. The iconic American beauty brand has an impressive and varied holiday collection this year, with a wide range of price points. Gift options include baubles filled with mini NARS classics, limited edition products, makeup sets, and a seriously luxe advent calendar. One of my favourite NARS gifts on offer this holiday season is Lips Uncensored (£45 Debenhams). This gift set includes three full size lipsticks that come packaged in a limited-edition gold cosmetic bag. The shades include Tolède - a satin pink rose, Pour Toujours - a matte warm pink, and Orgasm - satin peachy pink with golden shimmer.
Huda Beauty also has some gorgeous makeup sets available this Christmas. My personal favourite is the Eyes Gift Set (£29 feelunique.com). Featuring Huda's best selling Legit Lashes Mascara and Life Liner Duo Eyeliner, this duo set is everything a girl needs to get her eyes popping for the Gods. The full size Legit Lashes is a 2 in 1 Mascara that provides both volume + curl and length, while the full size Life Liner is a Duo Eyeliner Pencil & Liquid that just won't quit. Not bad for under £30, right?!

If the girl you are gifting has a penchant for makeup palettes, then the Too Faced Salted Caramel Mini Eyeshadow Palette (£22 Boots) will be a winner. It is an eight-pan edit of flattering autumnal eye shadow shades that'll satisfy anyone's sweet tooth. Because Too Faced love to keep things fun, the warm hues - which include pumpkin orange, coral peach, burgundy, and bronze - also have a subtle scent of salted caramel. It smells so good that you'll want to eat it, I swear to Christ. The shadows themselves are highly pigmented, long lasting, and give little fall out. It really is the perfect palette!
Makeup tools also make for great gifts during the holiday season. I love the Ruba's Luxury Brush Set. It features handmade, luxury, and cruelty free brushes that have been designed to provide the perfect makeup application. The silky brushes deliver optimum and even coverage for the best finish every time and add depth and definition, allowing you to accentuate and contour your face. Each brush has also been designed to ensure an easy grip while applying makeup. The Luxury Brush Set (£54.99 rubabeauty.com) contains Ruba's Luxe Powder Brush, Sculpting Brush, Angled Kabuki Brush, Flat Foundation Brush, Flat Shader Brush, Oval Shadow Brush, and Eyebrow Brush Duo.
Another great makeup accessory worth gifting is the Trish McEvoy Power of Makeup Petite Planner. It is is a fully customisable cosmetics organiser that helps to simplify, condense, and optimise any woman's makeup routine, so cosmetics can be better stored on the move. The Power of Makeup Petite Planner (£35 Liberty) comes equipped with binding rings, brush sleeves, pouches, and pockets, to help create a customised system for the whole year round that's visible at a glance and compact enough for travel.
For the women who get more excited by skincare than makeup, Ole Henriksen's Happy Juice (£60 Boots) makes for the perfect gift. It is a skin-brightening set that features three of the brand's best sellers, the Truth Juice Daily Cleanser - an effective but gentle cleanser that removes every inch of makeup and grime, the powerhouse Banana Bright Vitamin C Serum - which brightens, plumps, and protects, the C-Rush Brightening Gel Crème - which deeply hydrates and illuminates, and the game-changing Banana Bright Eye Crème - which reduces the appearance of dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles, and brightens up that eye area. It is a true skin-transforming trio that any girl, with any skin type, is bound to love.


Oskia's Ultimate Renaissance Collection also makes for a gorgeous gift for the skincare lovers this Christmas. The collection features two of the brand's multi-award winning products, the Renaissance Cleansing Gel (100ml) and Renaissance Mask (50ml). The Renaissance Cleansing Gel is a gel-to-oil cleanser that removes every single impurity from the skin, whilst also helping to strengthen, brighten, and revitalise it! The Renaissance Mask is a luxurious, buttery balm that is formulated with prebiotics, lactic acid, and natural fruit acids to increase cell turnover, boost radiance, and gradually reduce the appearance of fine lines and imperfections. Oskia's Ultimate Renaissance Collection (£88 cultbeauty.co.uk) also includes a rose quartz facial spatula that doubles as a tool to boost lymphatic drainage and circulation, giving a beautifully glowing and healthy complexion.

For the women who love (and miss) beauty treatments, I recommend the Dr Dennis Gross Peel. Glow. Be Merry (£92 Selfridges) - a skincare set that'll makeup for all the missed facials during lockdown. The exclusive holiday kit features 21 treatments of the brand's iconic Alpha Beta® Extra Strength Daily Peel, alongside a full size C+ Collagen Brighten & Firm Vitamin C Serum, and a mini C+ Collagen Deep Cream Moisturiser. Dr Dennis Gross' Alpha Beta® Extra Strength Daily Peel contains the brand's strongest dose of seven acids, alongside antioxidants and vitamins, to lift away dead skin while treating visible signs of wrinkles, reducing imperfections, and diminishing the appearance of dark spots. The serum and moisturiser work to instantly hydrate skin, visibly even skin tone, help prevent free radical damage, and smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
If you're looking for the perfect present to gift a bodycare loving babe, I recommend the Nuxe Prodigiously Iconic Giftset (£28 John Lewis). It features a Rêve de Miel Hand and Nail Cream (30ml), Rêve de Miel Lip Balm with Honey (15ml), Prodigieuse Candle (70g), and the brand's iconic Huile Prodigieuse (100ml). Huile Prodigieuse, the hero in the set, is a multi-purpose dry oil that can be used in so many ways - from softening cuticles and treating dry patches on the skin, to providing dry hair with much needed moisture. It is formulated with 30% Precious Plant Oils, including Borage, St Johnswort, Sweet Almond, Camellia, Hazelnut, Macadamia, and Vitamin E, and, most important of all, it smells amazing!

If you're looking for a more affordable gift that also gives back, I recommend the Dr.PAWPAW Shimmer Balm (£4 Waitrose) in collaboration with charity Teenage Cancer Trust. It is a pearlescent balm that can be applied to lips, cheekbones, décolletage, and the front of the legs - in fact, pretty much anywhere you want to glow! It contains the Dr.PAWPAW Original Balm formula which nourishes, moisturises, and soothes the lips. And wanna hear the best bit? 15p from the sale of each balm will go to Teenage Cancer Trust!

For the hair obsessed woman in your world, I recommend the Living Proof Perfect hair Day™ Silicone Detox Kit (£29 cultbeauty.co.uk). The kit contains all of the products a gal needs to detox her locks from silicones to unveil beautiful and healthy-looking hair. Ideal for most hair types, the set contains Living Proof's Perfect hair Day™ (PhD) Triple Detox Shampoo, PhD Shampoo and Conditioner, PhD 5-in-1 Styling Treatment, and Perfect hair Day™ Dry Shampoo.
The gift of a gorgeous scent will always go down well at Christmas. So for the fragrance lovers, I recommend the L'Occitane Cherry Blossom Luxury Collection (£59 L'Occitane). L'Occitane's Cherry Blossom is a beautiful floral scent that features top notes of cherry, freesia, and blackcurrant, heart notes of cherry blossom and lily of the valley, and base notes of rosewood, amber, and musk. Cherry Blossom Luxury Collection includes the Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette (75ml), Cherry Blossom Shower Gel (250ml), Cherry Blossom Scented Soap, and Cherry Blossom Hand Cream (30ml).

The Yves Saint Laurent Libre Gift Set (£78 John Lewis) also makes for a great gift this holiday season. The set contains a 50ml bottle of YSL's latest eau de parfum, as well as an adorable mini version that is perfect for life on the go. Libre is an opulent grand floral fragrance that contains top notes of tangerine, neroli, and lavender, heart notes of jasmine sambac and orange blossom, and base notes of white musks and vanilla extract.

If you're wanting to gift a solo scent, fragrances don't get more beautiful than the Chloé Signature Rose Tangerine (Boots). An evolution of the original signature eau de toilette, this fragrance is bolder and more emphatic. Launched this year, Chloé Signature Rose Tangerine features top notes of tangerine and blackcurrant, heart notes of rose, and base notes of cedar and white amber. The eau de toilette is soft and oh so feminine. With good projection and lasting power, the Chloé Signature Rose Tangerine is available in three sizes - 30ml (£48), 50ml (£65), and 75ml (£78).
For a more affordable fragrance option, I suggest the Paul & Joe Body and Hair Mist (£10 beautybay.com). It is a best selling scent that was recently given a makeover for the holiday season. Making the perfect stocking filler or small gift, the gorgeous scent has impressive lasting power and is small enough to make it a great handbag companion. It has a gorgeous citrusy-floral scent, containing notes of orange flower water, madonna lily extract, and hydrolysed silk.


If you're looking for a beauty gift that keeps on giving, I recommend the Time of Your Life (TOYL) subscription box - a fabulous beauty box designed for women over thirty-five. The box is packed with established and emerging skincare brands, and everything included is suited to all skin tones. This Christmas, TOYL is offering their three-month subscription gift, alongside a gorgeous product worth at least £20.00. This added extra enables you to present the subscription gift via something a little more exciting than just a confirmation email or physical gift card. The three-month gift subscription (£105 toyl.co.uk) entitles the recipient to three consecutive monthly boxes from TOYL, each worth over £100, ensuring the gift lasts well into 2021 with a treat every month. Past brands included in TOYL boxes include Living Proof, Elemis, Aurelia, Aromatherapy Associates, Murad, and Noble Isle.

My final beauty related gift idea is one that makes for the perfect stocking filler or secret Santa present. It is the Friends Turkey Detangler Brush (£9.99 truffleshuffle.co.uk). Now it is hard to find girls that don't love friends, so this fun brush, celebrating one of the show's most iconic moments, is bound to be a winner. And, although it screams novelty, it actually does the perfect job at combing out those knots!
If you're looking for something a little different, you could always give the gift of great sex this holiday season. Don't worry - I'm not talking about giving your body! I'm talking about Sex Ed, a book written by sex educator and body-positivity advocate Ruby Rare. Sex Ed: A Belated Guide for Adults (£12.99 Waterstones) is pleasure-focused sex education for adults. It is a straight talking guide that covers everything from the science of sex and how to communicate what you want to yourself and a partner, to mastering the act and everything that goes with it. This explicit and beautifully illustrated book helps its reader to embrace their sexuality and get what they want in the bedroom.

For the more traditional book worms, I recommend Bridget Collin's The Betrayals. Fresh from the success of her first adult fantasy book, The Binding, The Betrayals (£14.99 Waterstones) tells the story of the mystery of the grand jeu, an arcane intellectual game that melds music, maths, poetry, and philosophy. At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters. Montverre has changed since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu’s highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he’s sure they have never met before. Both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game, the climax of the year, draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls…


For home lovers, a purchase from inkanddrop.com will go down a treat this Christmas. Ink & Drop is a small British family business that creates unique and trendy art prints that are surprisingly affordable. They have a huge selection of poster prints to suit pretty much everyone's taste. There is everything from altered art and vintage prints, to trendy typography. And a selection of prints can be personalised with any text you want - from your favourite song lyric or saying, to your most used motto or inside joke. Prices start at £13 (inkanddrop.com).


Another great gift for the home is the Dreamland Relaxwell Deluxe Faux Fur Heated Throw. The super soft throw is affordable to run and quickly reaches its optimum temperature. It utilises Intelliheat technology to heat up the throw in just five minutes and cost as little as 1p for seven hours of run time, making it a great option for when you don’t want to turn the central heating on. Available in three designs, Alaskan Husky, Zebra, and Leopard, the Dreamland Relaxwell Deluxe Faux Fur Heated Throw (£94 Dunelm) also doubles as a gorgeous home accessory, whether draped over a sofa or thrown over a bed.

Now if I'm ever stuck on what to gift a woman, I will almost always resort to a scented candle. I've never met a woman that doesn't love one! This year, Beauty Pie has a trio of small scented candles on offer that smell divine. The Candle Bar Sexy Collection (£75 beautypie.com), as its known, features the Sweet Tobacco, Cedarwood & Vanilla Candle, Leather, Violet Leaves & Labdanum Candle, and Beauty Pie's much loved Bahia De Miel Candle. The latter is my personal favourite - Green Basil and Liquorice Milk mixed into Balsam Fir, Guaiac Wood, Honey, and seductive Vanilla Musk. What's not to love?! The candles come in beautiful letter-etched glass jars and are presented in a gorgeous gift box. And each candle has a 20-hour burn time.

The perfect present to gift alongside any candle is the Zippo Rechargeable Candle Lighter (RRP £26.36). This innovative lighter has a flexible long neck which helps to light even the most tricky candle. Whether a candle has an awkward shape, or its wax has burned down so much that you can't reach the wick, this Zippo must-have will help. It is also rechargeable, requiring no refilling or butane. and allows up to 50 uses per charge. It is available in three colours, Rose Gold, Pebble, and Candy Apple Red.

My final gift idea is one that is guaranteed to go down well this Christmas... macarons. They are très cute, taste amazing, and are oh so chic (there are French after all). And if there is one brand that reigns supreme in the world of macarons, it's Ladurée. Ladurée is a French luxury bakery house that was founded in 1862. Its macaron game is so strong that it sells 15,000 of them every day. So gifting any girl a box of Ladurée macarons will be very much appreciated. Gift boxes start at £15.50 (laduree.co.uk).



SHARE:
© The Beauty Informer. All rights reserved.
DESIGNED BY pipdig