Welcome to Lucy’s Last Minite Gift Guide Series! If you’re like me and have left getting gifts later this year (seriously, where has the time gone?) then these gift guides are for you. I’m going for themes rather than a his/hers older/younger guides as I don’t like to pigeon hole! That’s not to say some of these guides are more biased to what I want for Christmas (or may have got already!) so it’s very much to my taste. As the title suggests this one is all about beauty related products for this of us obsessed with it!
Make Up Brushes- Gone are the days of people using their fingers to apply foundation (yes, this happened in the past and should not be talked of again- NOTE I ALWAYS used a sponge) and here are the days of pretty brushes for dayyyyyys.
Spectrum Brushes
- Let’s face it Spectrum have become the queens of the statement makeup brush. They love marble and mermaids so they are winners in my books! This Glam Clam can be used as a clutch bag for the mermaid obsessed amongst us and contains the most beautiful brushes I ever did see.
Royal and Langnickel Love Is… Trusting Brush Set
- The most softest brush award goes to these guys, home of the paint brush (which I think came first for them!?) they now produce amazing brushes that are up and coming on the UK scene thanks to Asda adding them to their shelves (previously they were Amazons and EBay’s domain only from what I can see). I love my set and actually don’t want to use them. Maybe display brushes need to become a thing?
Real Techniques anything
- The best functional brushes for me are Real Techniques, this set with a fab new design for Christmas comes up at £19 (Asda) and £24.99 in Boots (currently buy one get one half price making them just under £19 each if you buy 2) and is fab for a more reasonable price range. Of course I adore the Bold Metals range so this set from Boots is the stuff that dreams are made of. I managed to resist it when it was selling for £50, instead of the £120 it is usually (and as I type) but I can’t say I’ll resist if they have any left after Christmas in the sale.
Perfume
I get most perfumes are an acquired taste buuuut I always think sometimes you’ve got to chance it. I always go with a sweeter scent as I think it’s hard not to like them (whereas strong musky scents are a little more of an acquired taste). I haven’t met a person that doesn’t like Bon Bon so it’s worth a try for sure, although it’s not the cheapest. A more affordable sweet scent is the new Leighton Denny Light & Dark Delightful* fragrance (£43.50 70ml) my mum LOVES the original light and dark and this new version is fruity and sweet and I’m actually thinking this may stay with me as one spritz and I was hooked!
Smellies
Who doesn’t love a good gift of smellies at Christmas? If you’ve not already got it head down to your local Boots for the Star Gift that everyone waits for, the Soap and Glory Gift set. This years is £30 for this week and comes crammed full of S&G faves across the makeup and bodycare parts of the brand.
Body Shop Gift Sets
- You may remember my love of the Glazed Apple tin from last year, so when I went to the Body Shop and hauled lots of things I had to pick one of the new fragrance tins up. I went for the Vanilla Chai Gift Tin (£18) It’s super cute and smells super sweet!
Lush
- Anything Christmassy – (Santasaurus £5.95) just make sure if you are buying a bath bomb that THE PERSON HAS A BATH. Unless you hate them, then do it.
Hair Gifts
GHD Allll the Copper
- Some people just love all the hair products, I can’t say I’m quite as enthusiastic allll the time about it though. However these copper GHD’s (£175) were the thing I’ve been dreaming about so I had to have them. Luckily for me my husband straightens his hair more than I do so we go to go halves and I got to keep the nail varnish perfect!
Paul Mitchell Gift Sets and Hair Brushes*
- I love this years packaging on these sets and actually gifted one to my sister in law for her birthday as they are super cute and functional- like everyone needs shampoo amirite? I was also given these beautiful brushes by the guys at Salon Success, this brush actually rivals some of the make up brushes in terms or prettiness don’t you think? (Gift Sets from £20+ one featured on second pic is £30*)
Beauty Boxes
Now if there’s one thing you shouldn’t buy a makeup junkie it’s a specific item of makeup unless it’s requested. Ain’t no body needing two Naked Palettes, let me tell you! So unless they’ve specifically asked for (or moaned about not having) a Kylie Lip Kit in Dolce K don’t buy them one as chances are they’ll have it if they really want one. So the way I get around this is beauty boxes! Because a girl can have lots of the same mini face cream or eyeliner because it’s a surprise when it arrives! Plus some one off pre made boxes are fab value for money too.
Love Me Beauty*
- As an affiliate I get to give you guys a lovely code to start this off! Just go for lucyloves20 for 20% off (not including postage) You can gift 3,6 or 12 month subs and then try get to spend the credits each month on what they like from the edits. Genius.
Birchbox
- The best out of the ‘surprise’ boxes I find. This month I got a Ciate eyeliner I’ve been looking to try which is £16 to buy anyways! Again it’s 3,6 or 12 month subs and if your receiver reviews their products they can earn points to spend in the birchbox shop! Double present giving really!
Latest in Beauty
- Are baaaaaaack! They offer a 3,6 or 9 product box and you can choose from the list of beauty samples each month. You can have a rolling sub (prob not best for a gift) or a one off box so you can choose what goes in it for your recipient. They also do the pre made boxes that everyone loves so much!
All Boxed Up – Georgina Grogan Edit
- So my gorgeous friend GG has created a beauty box edit! So of course it had to be included- with some of my fave brands like Nails Inc and Merumaya it’s super exciting, plus every brand is cruelty free.If it couldn’t get any better is also only £28.99 and the contents are worth just over £100, plus 10% of the profits go to the Look Good Feel Better charity too. Win-win.
Phew! This turned out to be more mammoth than I’d originally thought about- but hopefully has provided you with some new ideas of you’re stuck for what to get a makeup junkie! Look out for a few more last minute guides landing before the last full shopping weekend before Christmas! And let me know if you’ve added things to your own Christmas list from this!