The crème de la crème of beauty gifts, Part 3 of the 2018 Glow Journal Beauty Gift Guide encompasses holiday gifting worth $85 and above.
As noted in Part 1 of the Gift Guide (which you can read here), these gift guides came to be after identifying a gap for a beauty gift guide that contained no stock imagery, told you something about each product beyond its name and price and, arguably most importantly, featured absolutely no sponsored product placement.
Not one product in this gift guide has been included as a paid advertisement. I personally reached out to every single brand and retailer included in these guides because I love their products, use their products and would be proud to gift any of their Holiday offerings to a loved on.
You can read the Stocking Fillers Gift Guide here.
You can read the $40-$80 Gift Guide here.
I’ve long said that unless you really know the person you’re purchasing a gift for, fragrance is a risky choice- scent is such a personal thing and, tastes aside, what sits well on one person may not deliver the same scent on someone else’s skin.
Ignore all of that- this is quite possibly my favourite gift across all three parts of this guide. French fragrance house Diptyque make some of my favourite scents, both for the body and the home. This Discovery Set includes five deluxe travel sizes of some of the brand’s most popular EDPs (Do Son, L’Ombre dans l’Eau, Philosykos, Tam Dao and Fleur de Peau), meaning it’s a near guarantee that the recipient will love at least one of these fragrancea. A huge part of luxury beauty is the experience of it, which is where I find Diptyque are consistently a cut above. This gift set is housed within a limited edition Christmas box, lined with Diptyque branded tissue beneath which you’ll find the five scents and a Diptyque canvas bag in which to place your perfume before you pop it in your handbag.
Shop here: Diptyque Eau De Parfum Discovery Set, $153
With my aforementioned fragrance gifting ethos in mind, limited edition Holiday packaged scents are perfect for when you have an idea of the notes a person gravitates towards or, better yet, if you know they already wear a particular scent and would appreciate the limited edition bottle (again, luxury beauty is about the experience and there’s something Old Hollywood about keeping a beautiful perfume bottle on display).
The Christmas edition of YSL’s Mon Paris Eau De Parfum has top notes of red berries, pear and bergamot, a heart of white florals and a base of creamy musk and patchouli.
Shop here: YSL Beauty Mon Paris Eau De Parfum Christmas Edition, $165
I have worn this Jo Malone Orange Bitters Cologne quite literally every day since this Holiday shoot wrapped. As its name suggests it’s predominantly a citrus scent, but the dry down is warm and woody. It smells like summer.
Shop here: Jo Malone London Orange Bitters Cologne, $98
The Holiday ‘Gold Attraction’ edition of YSL’s cult classic Black Opium boasts potent opening notes of coffee before drying down to vanilla, white florals and cedar wood.
Shop here: YSL Beauty Black Opium Eau De Parfum Christmas Edition, $165
I feel confident in saying that Omorovicza’s Queen of Hungary Mist is the product that bolstered the brand to mainstream popularity. The mist, which many use as a toner but I personally use as a hydrating setting spray, was inspired by the Queen of Hungary Water, the world’s first recorded perfume, formulated for Queen Elisabeth of Hungary in the 14th century. This is essentially a set composed of three bottles of the same product, so buy this for someone who you know already loves and uses the Queen of Hungary mists, or buy a set to divide up (this feels like a shame though as the packaging, not pictured, is a beautiful gift box. Do with this information what you will).
Shop here: Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Mists Set, $136
I started using By Terry’s Cellularose Brightening CC Serums only quite recently in the scheme of things, and they’re a real “what was I using prior to this?” product. Technically these are primers, but given that they’re colour correcting you could quite easily wear them on their own (I’ve been known to use the bronze shade to even out my non-false-tanned face with my heavily-false-tanned body). This trio includes three shades- Rose Elixir, Apricot Glow and Sunny Flash.
Shop here: By Terry Brightening CC Serum Set, $137
Each Christmas sees By Terry release a limited edition highlighting powder compact that almost looks too beautiful to swipe a brush over, however I can assure you they always look even more beautiful on the skin. This year’s Holiday compact is designed to be either swept across the face to create something of an illuminating veil, or for each individual colour to be picked up using a fine, precise brush and used as a highlighter or blush.
Shop here: By Terry Gem Glow Trio Compact, $88
Mecca Cosmetica’s signature line is of consistently high quality while remaining surprisingly accessibly priced. This season’s Glisten and Glow set contains one of my old favourite products, one of my more recent favourite products, and a brand new favourite- the Enlightened Lit from Within Powder, Enlightened Illuminating Eye Polish and Enlightened Illuminating Body Oil, respectively.
Shop here: Mecca Cosmetica Glisten and Glow Set, $100
This is another product that, on first look, appears too beautiful to use, however as well as looking beautiful on the skin this Lancôme La Rose À Poudrer actually looks incredible as you start to use it. This rose gold highlighting powder is designed to be applied using a fan brush, beginning with the outer petals as they will appear to “wilt” away with repeated use. Very clever.
Shop here: Lancôme La Rose À Poudrer, $100
Palettes are almost always a crowd pleasing gift, often based on the sheer spectacle of having so many shades in front of you. This Bobbi Brown Holiday palette is particularly special, playing host to eight really well sized pans of shimmers and mattes to take you from desk through to Christmas party.
Shop here: Bobbi Brown Starlight Christmas Eyeshadow Palette, $125
Bobbi Brown’s Highlighting Powders are amongst their best sellers as they are so pigmented, but the real star of this palette (and please do not take that to mean that the powders themselves are disappointing- they are amazing, it’s just that the mind boggles at what I’m about to say), is the packaging. The lid of this palette is, for lack of a better description, akin to a snow globe. It’s a hard gold case with signature BB branding, however it has a clear outer casing and inside it is liquid and glitter. This shoot took longer than I’d anticipated as I spent a good 15 minutes playing with the lid of this palette. Photos didn’t do it justice.
Shop here: Bobbi Brown Highlight & Glow Highlighting Powder Duo, $130
The pièce de résistance of 2018’s Bobbi Brown Holiday offering is the Luxe on Luxe Mini Luxe Lip Colour Collection. Ten mini Luxe Lip Colours (although I find these to be more of a deluxe travel size than “mini,” which is a good thing) housed within a collectable felt box with the Bobbi Brown logo emblazoned in gold.
Shop here: Bobbi Brown Luxe on Luxe Mini Lip Colour Collection, $250
Armani Beauty’s 2018 Holiday packaging was one of the highlights of Part 2 of the Gift Guide, and that red and gold translates just as well on two limited edition Christmas compacts.
The Armani Christmas Eye Quattro includes four shimmering limited edition shades of the brands eyeshadow powders- rose gold, taupe, brown and pearl.
Shop here: Giorgio Armani Christmas Eye Quattro Palette, $105
The Armani Holiday offering also includes two shades of the My Armani Go To Essence-In-Foundation Cushion, and while I am yet to actually try this formula, Armani foundations are consistently high performing.
Shop here: Giorgio Armani Christmas My Armani Go To Cushion Foundation, $105
Full disclosure, I owned and used this Charlotte Tilbury Stars in Your Eyes Palette before I had begun to think about this year’s Gift Guides, so when I discovered that it would be making a return as a limited edition Christmas gift I had to make the gut wrenching decision to stop using it until after the shoot so as to not ruin it. This is one of my all-time favourite palettes and while it is sold out online at the time of writing, keep checking the Charlotte Tilbury website as she does have a tendency to re-release limited edition best-sellers.
Shop here: Charlotte Tilbury Stars in Your Eyes Palette, $120
As per the La Mer Holiday inclusion in Part 2 of the Gift Guide, this limited edition Illuminating Cream is a more well-priced alternative to the brand’s permanent collection. This is a beautiful product, and I find it performs equally well as an illuminating primer, highlighter over foundation and luminiser for the décolletage.
Shop here: La Mer The Illuminating Cream, $95
I have had By Terry’s Ombre Blackstars on repeat since early 2015 and, to this day, they are my go-to for a fuss-free yet high-impact eye look. This Holiday set contains three shades of the brand’s iconic shimmering cream eye crayons- Blonde Opal, Bronze Moon and Misty Rock. This set is good value too as one Ombre Blackstar would ordinarily cost you $60, so the third shadow is costing you a mere $5.
Shop here: By Terry Ombre Blackstar Set, $125
This set was a very difficult gift to categorise as it includes both skincare and makeup, but I’m running with skincare as I consider Perricone MD to be a high performance skincare brand who also dabble in makeup. This set contains a Cold Plasma Plus+ Advanced Serum Concentrate, High Potency Face Finishing and Firming Moisturiser, No Makeup Foundation Serum (one of those fabulous foundations that fuses coverage and colour with the benefits of serious skincare), No Makeup Mascara and No Makeup Lipstick (this is one of the most universally flattering nudes I have ever come across).
Shop here: Perricone MD Flawless Five, $145
Each palette from Dior’s 2018 Holiday collection, Midnight Wish, comes housed within a leather-look purse, studded with a metallic Dior logo and constellation detailing.
The Daring Eye and Lip Palette contains six eyeshadows (five neutral and one peacock blue allowing you to create a myriad of looks) and three cream lip colours. This is easily one of the most impressive palettes across this year’s gift guide and another example of a brand mastering the “experience” that should come hand in hand with luxury beauty.
Shop here: Dior Daring Eye and Lip Palette, $124
The Dior Daring Eye Palette is composed of the five neutral shades from the aforementioned Eye and Lip Palette. If you favour a shimmer finish, then this is pretty much the perfect neutral eyeshadow collection.
Shop here: Dior Daring Eye Palette, $107
111SKIN has been one of my favourite brands from the assortment I’ve been introduced to over the last 12 months. Their offering is luxe but high performing, with each formula steeped firmly in science rather than trends. The Radiance Edit, encased within a truly impressive silver book-shaped gift box, includes a Rose Gold Facial Treatment Mask (infused with 24K rose gold which, yes, is a trend, but 111SKIN sheet masks are incredible), Space Defence Bright Eye Life Gel, Celestial Black Diamond Vitamin C Brightening Booster and Space Anti Age Day Cream.
Shop here: 111SKIN Radiance Edit, $168
At this point I think I’ve made it abundantly clear how much I love Charlotte Tilbury products, and this skincare gift set follows suit as far as “products that look Old Hollywood-esque on a dressing table.” Charlotte Tilbury skin products receive mixed reviews, but they work really well on my skin. The Magic Cream is a personal favourite and I find it to be a reasonable (and far more accessibly priced) alternative to Creme De La Mer, while the Night Cream has a thick, tacky consistency unlike anything I’ve felt before (this may not be ideal for those with an oilier skin type, but my dehydrated skin drinks this up). This gift set contains a travel size of the Magic Cream and Magic Night Cream, plus a full size of Magic Eye Rescue. Charlotte Tilbury makes a skincare set similar to this every Christmas, and I received one several years ago while I was still working as a fashion editor and the Magic Cream is one of the products that really got me hooked on beauty.
Shop here: Charlotte Tilbury The Gift of Magic Skin, $105
There are a number of Drunk Elephant products that I truly love and while they aren’t necessarily my favourite skincare brand, I do understand the hype hence this kit’s inclusion in the gift guide- people go as mad for this as I go for Charlotte Tilbury and the like. This Holiday set is very fun and kitchy, with a theme of discovering “who made the skin so sensitive?”- a skincare take on Cluedo, hence the inclusion of a magnifying glass and clue cards. The kit itself contains the brand’s C-Firma Day Serum (my personal favourite Drunk Elephant product), B-Hydra Serum, Marula Oil and Shaba Complex Eye Cream.
Shop here: Drunk Elephant Agent Ellie Kit, $129
I have successfully integrated a Go-To gift set into all three parts of this year’s Gift Guide and I will make no apologies for doing so. This set, The Essentials, is composed of everything one needs to get through summer with zero skin qualms, regardless of your skin type- Properly Clean cleanser, Face Hero oil (without doubt one of my all-time favourite facial oils), Zincredible SPF15, Transformazing Sheet Mask and a gingham toiletry case to take on your summer holiday (I’m not entirely sure what a “holiday” is, but it sure sounds nice).
Shop here: Go-To Skincare The Essentials Set, $130
I have talked at length about my love for Paula’s Choice (here, here and also here)- fuss-free skincare, backed by science, and accessibly priced given their potency. These gift sets are about as value packed as products under this price umbrella can possibly get.
The Skin Rescue Holiday Kit includes full sizes of the Perfect Cleansing Oil (one of my favourite cleansing oils ever), RESIST BHA 9 Treatment and RESIST Omega+ Complex Serum- $84 for a total product value of $140.
Shop here: Paula’s Choice Skin Rescue Holiday Kit, $84
The Party Prep Primer Kit contains full sizes of the Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid (the brand’s best-seller and another personal favourite of mine), RESIST Anti-Ageing Lip Gloss and RESIST Anti-Ageing Eye Gel.
Shop here: Paula’s Choice Party Prep Primer Holiday Kit, $97
I have taken BEAR vitamins almost religiously since the company came to fruition in 2017- I say “almost” as on the few occasions I’ve lapsed or gone away without taking them with me, I’ve lost energy and/or fallen under the weather. For the second year in a row, the BEAR team have joined forces with a contemporary artist to create limited edition Holiday packaging. This year sees them collaborate with Scottish born, Melbourne based artist Bobby Clark.
Shop here: BEAR Holiday Duet, $160
I have saved this year’s edit of beauty advent calendars until last because they are so impressive that it almost wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the gifts in this guide to open on such excess.
Charlotte Tilbury’s 2018 Beauty Universe advent calendar contains a mini Full Fat Lashes mascara, Rock ‘n’ Kohl eyeliner in Bedroom Black, Multi Miracle Glow, Goddess Skin Clay Mask, Magic Cream moisturiser, Wonderglow primer, Take It All Off makeup remover and Supermodel Body shimmering body lotion, plus a full sized Eyes to Mesmerise cream eyeshadow, Colour Chameleon eyeshadow pencil, Matte Revolution Lipstick and Hollywood Lips matte liquid lipstick, each housed within individual shimmering gold parcels found inside a glistening burgundy gift box.
Shop here: Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte’s Beauty Universe, $295
The Body Shop make some of the best value advent calendars, year after year. At the time of writing, the 24 Days of the Enchanted Advent Calendar is sold out online so I won’t type out each of the 24 products included (I have it on good authority that this is still available in select stores, however), but this is simply one in a number of Body Shop advents that I can quite literally guarantee will delight the recipient.
Shop here: The Body Shop 24 Days of the Enchanted Advent Calendar, $100
I challenge you to locate a more luxurious beauty gift than this- the first ever La Mer advent calendar. Priced at $550, this carefully curated collection of high-end skincare contains miniature sizes of the Cleansing Micellar Water, Cleansing Foam, Treatment Lotion, Lifting & Firming Mask, Lifting Contour Serum, Revitalising Hydrating Serum, Lifting Eye Serum, Eye Concentrate, Renewal Oil, Lip Balm (worth nothing that this is full sized), Reparative Body Lotion and the brand’s truly iconic Crème de la Mer.
Shop here: La Mer The 12 Days of Radiance Collection, $550
With sincere and special thanks to Mecca Brands, Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oréal Luxe, Dior, Tailormaid PR, Go-To Skincare, OneDaydream PR and Bespoke PR.
