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Holiday Gift Guide: Totally Holiday, Totally Gift-Worthy and Under $50


Holiday Gift Guide: Totally Holiday, Totally Gift-Worthy and Under $50

This part of the holiday gift guide shares my favorite just-for-the-holidays palettes and kits over $30 but $50 or less–not over-the-top indulgent gifts but we’re getting there. If you missed it, I already posted the under $30 guide! 🙂

Eyes: Long-time readers know I’m a huge fan of Aqua Eyes, and the Make Up For Ever Wild & Chic Aqua Eyes Collection ($36.00) contains five travel-sized (I’m guessing 0.02 to 0.03 oz.) and one full-size (0.04 oz.) eyeliner; for the price of two full-sized eyeliners, you’re getting six shades to try of a fantastic formula. Urban Decay also has two Eyeliner Sets ($32.00 each) that contain five travel-sized 24/7 Eyeliners; there is also a Shadow Pencil Stash ($34.00). At this price point, you can find some excellent palettes that came out just in time for the holidays, like Urban Decay Mariposa Eyeshadow Palette ($39.00) and Bare Escentuals Ready 8.0 Eyeshadow Palette ($40.00).

Cheeks/Face: Too Faced In Your Dreams Makeup Collection ($39.00) is an eye, cheek, and lip palette that’s great for someone new to makeup; I like it because everything is presented in an easy-to-digest manner, and the colors coordinate with each other, so there is no guessing. Benefit Project Flawless ($32.00) is a cutely packaged set that contains a highlighter (Girl Meets Pearl), mascara, lipgloss (Foxy Lady), and blush (Bella Bamba). If that’s not quite to your taste, you could check out Romancing the Mirror ($39.00), which contains That Gal, Sugarbomb, and BADgal Lash.

Lips: I’ve been really digging Bobbi Brown’s High Shimmer Lip Gloss Trio ($38.00); they’re fairly sheer, but they had so much dazzle and shine without feeling gritty–I’ve been reaching for these (because I need to do lip swatches for them!) to layer on top of other lipsticks. Estee Lauder’s Pure Color Gloss to Go Set ($32.50) comes in a cute red faux leather zipper cylinder case with six holiday-appropriate glosses, and I like that it’s ready to give (there’s also a lipstick version).

Skin/Body: I love the way Estee Lauder set-up their skincare gift sets this year; they categorize them based on theme, like even skin tone or anti-wrinkle. Clinique has an excellent set for dry skin (Moisture Surge has saved my skin before!) called Total Moisture ($44.00). Consider giving a decadent, luxurious body cream in the form of this Laura Mercier Souffle Body Creme Sampler Set ($50.00 for 4×3 oz.).

Fragrance: Elegantly packaged, convenient to use, and full-sized, Tocca Beauty Rollerball Trio ($48.00 for 3×0.33 oz.) contains three different scents (Florence, Cleopatra, and Colette), which can be gifted as a set or easily broken up. Juicy Couture ($35.00 for 3×0.33 oz.) also has a trio of fragrance sprays of their signature scents. Fresh Sugar Obsessions Rollerball Trio ($35.00 for 3×0.34 oz.) contains popular Fresh scents, and if you have a foodie friend, this might be a good one for them. What’s really great about rollerballs is they’re easy to give, and they can be re-gifted, too–if you give your friend a kit, and they dislike one scent, it’s so easy for them to pass along to a friend/family member.

Do you have any suggestions for readers on the prowl for holiday gifts this year that came out just in time for holiday gift-giving?

10 Comments

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Kathy S. Avatar

Thanks for this, Christine, especially the bath and body stuff. My husband’s mom made a snarky comment about the MAC that I’ve bought her for the past few years and I need to get her something else.

Carrie Ann Avatar

I love all of the Urban Decay products you recommended. I’d suggest some of the Too Faced palettes. TooFaced.com is having a 20% off F&F sale right now. Their popular eye shadow palettes are $36. I gave the neutral one to my sister-in-law last year and she was thrilled. Now they’ve got a matte collection. I also love the Glamour To Go palettes, which are only $22. They’re adorable and come with 8 pretty shadows, lip gloss & blush. On The Prowl is another great set that’s only $26 at Sephora.com.

Kristabelle Avatar

One of my favorite gifts to give is one of those perfume trial sets from Sephora- they come with several sample sizes of different perfumes and a coupon for a free full-sized once you decide which one you like best. The cologne one is a really great, easy boyfriend gift.

Angelcat47 Avatar

Philosophy has a gift set of four of the” Grace”fragrances for $35.00…each bottle contains .33 ounces and they are eau de parfum,,not toilette(I got mine at drugstore.com).

I also wanted to remind everyone to go through a rebate site such as Ebates or Mr Rebates for cash back on their online purchases;these sites always increase,and sometimes double,your cash back percentage this time of year.Yesterday,I bought a gift on HSN and instead of the usual 3 or 4%,I got 8%!!

One more tip:also check retailmenot.com for free gift/shipping codes.

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