Christmas is now a mere 7 sleeps away, so in the spirit of sheer urgency, I am presenting to you a watered down alternative to the annual Glow Journal Gift Guide. Your last minute guide to holiday beauty gifting.
Regardless of your beauty pedigree, navigating the shelves of limited edition holiday makeup offerings is arduous. Between determining someone’s skin type through to the colours they gravitate towards, beauty gifting can feel easy to get wrong.
But it shouldn’t have to.
For the sake of full disclosure from the onset, this story is sponsored, however I’ve talked at length about my love for By Terry- a love that isn’t limited to the festive season. My first experience with the brand came in early 2015 when I purchased my first of the brand’s cult Ombre Blackstars. They simplified, revolutionised and forever changed the way I applied and approached eyeshadow. From that first purchase, I was hooked.
The brand’s 2018 Holiday collection, ‘Gem Glow,’ sees the brand’s best selling formulas rehoused within limited edition, gemstone inspired packaging (including the aforementioned Ombre Blackstars), and a handful of new additions join this French beauty house’s family.
These may not fall into the stocking filler gifting category, but they do not compromise on quality. Luxury gifting, and all thing luxury by definition, should be as much about the experience as they are about product efficacy. These products work, they look beautiful and they will make you feel beautiful as you apply them- the latter point being what beauty should be all about. As we draw closer to the eleventh hour, save yourself the time of pouring over this year’s Glow Journal Gift Guides (unless, of course, you want to) and pull your gifting selection from this carefully curated beauty shortlist.
By Terry’s Ombre Blackstars are one of the products that bolstered the brand to mainstream popularity- an eyeshadow crayon, of sorts, that has reached global cult status. These cream eyeshadows are designed to be quite literally scribbled over the eyelid and blended out, delivering the illusion of an eyeshadow look that has been meticulously applied by an expert. These creams work as well on their own as they do as a creamy base for powdered eyeshadows, and their speedy dry down means zero creasing (a rarity amongst cream eyeshadows). The formulas are infused with subtle shimmering pigments that work on all skin types- the pigments aren’t heavy and glittery so they won’t fall into fine lines and exaggerate mature skin, rather catching and diffusing the light to blur any imperfections while widening and brightening the eyes. What I find particularly impressive about this set is its value- one Ombre Blackstar ordinarily costs $60 AUD, however this limited edition set of three costs $125 AUD so your third eyeshadow is costing you all of $5.
Shop here: By Terry Ombre Blackstar Set, $125
Where the Ombre Blackstars have long sat amongst my makeup kit staples, the brand’s similarly popular Cellularose Brightening CC Serum has been something of a new discovery for me. These colour correcting primers wash the skin with an even, lit-from-within glow and plump it up with juicy, skin-loving ingredients including rose, which is an ingredient that lies at the very centre of the By Terry DNA. From personal experience, this is the kind of product that you apply, then work through the rest of your makeup in the same way you would on any given day, and are then greeted with coos of “Your skin looks amazing,” for the rest of the day. This limited edition Brightening CC Serum Set contains three travel sized Cellularose Brightening CC Serums in three shades (all part of the permanent collection)- Rose Elixir, a pearlescent rose, Apricot Glow, a warm gold, and Sunny Flash, a deep bronze. I have what could be described as neutral toned, fair-to-medium hued skin, and I have been able to use all three of these colours.
Shop here: By Terry Brightening CC Serum Set, $137
I’ve noted that the rose is the cornerstone upon which each By Terry product is formulated, with brand founder Terry de Gunzberg citing her earliest olfactory memory as her mother pouring rose water into her bath when she was younger. The rose is perhaps at its purist amongst the By Terry offering within Baume De Rose, an innovation that became part of the brand’s permanent collection in 2004 and remains their very best seller. This in mind, the By Terry Baume De Rose Duo Set will serve as something of a piece of beauty history for the cosmetics aficionado. For the uninitiated, this limited edition holiday set is still an absolutely failsafe gifting option. The duo is composed of the brand’s Baume De Rose Hand Cream and Baume De Rose Lip Care Wand, meaning you don’t need to take the recipient’s skin type nor colour preferences into consideration. Luxury hand creams and lip balms are always a perfect beauty gift, as they’re the kind of items that most will never splurge on for themselves. The inject an air of luxury into the otherwise mundanities of the day-to-day.
Shop here: By Terry Baume De Rose Duo Set, $79
Each Christmas season sees By Terry release a limited edition highlighting powder compact in hues inspired by that season’s holiday collection theme- in this case, Gem Glow. This precious stone inspired compact serves as both a highlighter and blush, boasting a multitude of colours designed to be picked up either individually using a fine brush, or swirled together to create a custom colour. This season’s highlighting compact is warmer than last year’s offering, and I believe it will work on a wider range of skin tones as it appears more universally flattering. On my skin, it wears well as a highlighter when I have a tan, and as a shimmering blush when my skin is erring more towards fair. The powder itself falls into the category of “things that look too beautiful to use,” but I can assure you that the effect on the skin is even more dazzling than the ornamental design within the pan. It’s worth noting that while this compact is sold out online at the time of publishing, it’s worth clicking through to view any stores in which it may still be available.
Shop here: By Terry Trio Compact Gem Glow, $88
This post is sponsored by By Terry however all views are, as always, my own.
