Holiday Gift Guide: UK Edition
By Adrienne, Scotland Contributor
Adrienne lives in Scotland, and she writes for The Sunday Girl, which is mostly beauty but with a little life thrown into the mix. She was born and bred in Scotland, still resides in a damp Scottish town, and jokes that she sees about three days of sunshine a year–but it’s a lovely place to live. She is currently attending university studying both English and French with hopes to become an English teacher.In her free time, she loves to shop and hang out with friends–and beauty blog when she can!
Holiday Gift Guide: UK Edition
Christmas is the time of giving be it a treat for a loved one or something special for yourself, we all deserve a little pick me up now and then. I have picked five of the best value for money gift sets and stocking fillers available from the U.K. high street. I would like to wish each and everyone of Temptalia’s readers a Happy Holidays!
The Accessorize Complete Collection Gift Set (£9.99) has everything a beauty junkie could ever wish for and more! Nestled inside a floral leopard print gift box sits eight full size products. The great thing about this gift set, aside its price point, is the large variety of products; not only do you get cosmetics (a mascara, three eyeshadows and a blush) but there are also two bath and body items that have a light floral scent. I often use Accessorize make-up and can vouch that it is all of great quality, highly pigmented, and wonderfully packaged so whoever you gift this bounty too will be one lucky person indeed. I can’t help but feel this would make a great present for a best friend!
The festive season is a wonderful time of the year but it does tend to bring with it a whole lot of parties that require some season appropriate make-up. Glitter can sometimes be a little over the top depending on the type of event you have been invited to so why not treat yourself to this complete GOSH Gold Eye Kit (£5.99 ). For little more than five pounds you get in return three full size co-ordinating products, a gold baked eyeshadow, gold semi-permanent liquid eyeliner and black mascara. I have tested this set and can report that the eyeshadow is well pigmented and easy to blend, the mascara is jet black and gives a natural effect and lastly the liquid liner stays put all day and then some. Gold is one of the few shades that looks wonderful on the majority of skin tones so this would make a joyous treat for yourself or if you are having a Secret Santa event with girlfriends you could do far worse than this set.
Unlike the rest of the gift ideas mentioned in this guide, SleekMakeUp The Berry Collection (£10.00) is a limited edition so you’ll have to be quick to avoid disappointment. Berry really is the perfect shade for winter, and what better way to try and test such hue with a delightful colour coordinated gift set? This trio has a matte blusher, matte lipstick, and kohl liner that can double up as a lip or eye colour all in a warm berry tone. Any makeup lover would be more than happy to receive this gift set this holiday season. As SleekMakeUp was originally founded for darker skinned ladies, you can rest assure that each product will pack a punch in terms of pigmentation. Personally I would gift this to an aunt or cousin as it has a sophisticated feel.
For me one of the hardest gifts to source is that of a makeup fan that is a beginner and rather new to cosmetics. You want something that is easy for them to use, and more importantly, a gift that they will actually use. My younger sisters fit such bill, and I have searched high and low for the prefect gift. I recently found the Studio Look Books, which contain the perfect cosmetic items housed inside book-like packaging to create one of many looks. I settled for the Neutral Look Book (£5.99) as the shades are forgiving, making it more difficult to notice any faults in application but more importantly the colour scheme is one she can wear to school. The gift set comes with a step by step guide to aid any beginners. All of the eyeshadows and blush in this compact are baked, it also contains a neutral pale lip gloss and a glossy black mascara, all in all a great gift for a beginner of any age!
The thing I hate shopping for is stocking fillers; I’m terrible at choosing small gifts and always go over budget, which is never good. This year I have decided to treat those that I buy small gifts, stocking fillers if you will, a MUA Pro Palette (£4.00) each. These palettes are budget friendly at £4 and each contains twelve eyeshadows in various complimentary tones and formulas. The two palettes I will be stocking up on to gift to friends are Dusk ‘til Dawn – “A versatile collection of eyeshadows that will transform your look from day to night” and Glitter Ball – “A spectacular collection of eyeshadows that will add sparkle to your eyes for ultimate impact.” Both have more than enough sparkle and variety to see through the holiday and beyond season with ease.
I’d love to know where you found the MUA Pro palettes because neither the Princes St nor St James Centre Superdrugs in Edinburgh stock them.
They have a list of stores that stock it on their Facebook page, I’m not sure if a spam filter will swallow the links but here goes 🙂
Be Aware of Sleek . I love their products, but They got the most awfull costumer service ive seen .
Dont buy anything directly from their website . Buy through other shops . I only lost my money . . they couldnt ship order for 2 WEEKS ( it apperas ites i bought were out of stock ) , i asked for order cancel, they cancealed it but didnt return money . All emails ignored .
And they blocked me . i cant put anything in shopping basket now on their website Thres plenty stories about sleks costumer “care ” so please be carefull . I buy palettes through ebay . it may be more expensive , but i know that i will have the product i paid for ,
I was going to order from them before… but I did see that lots of people on their facebook page complaining about not getting their merchandise and their lack of customer service.. Good thing I decided not to. They do apologize, but It seems they just have them jumping from one email address to the next… What a shame! I would love to get my hands in their products…
Sorry you’ve had a bad experience with them. 🙁 I’ve only ordered from the website once and everything went smoothly, but I did hear about all the issues a while back when they had a sale.
i would say the frontcover big palettes that they always reduce for one week only better than half price at boots. But i hate the packaging!! Its worse than urban decay! Big carboardy with lots of plastic, you try depotting them, and its a big mess. if there was less packaging and more smaller i would say its fab.
But my picks would be, fearne cottens brush collection at boots. I MUST HAVE IT.
Great pick but sadly my Boots doesn’t seem to carry that line.
Another reason why I would visit the UK.
Very nice suggestions, Adrienne.kisses from Brasil,
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