How To Buy A Beauty Gift

Need some help choosing a beauty gift? 

( ahem, husbands, boyfriends and significant others!) 

Here's a 6 step road map for you:

How To Buy A Beauty Gift

1. Be careful of the message your gift is sending.
Never buy anything that says "anti-aging" or that addresses a specific problem. It's likely to offend, even if the item matches her needs perfectly. 
Instead opt for something with overtones of luxury. 
Like Creme de la Mer. 

2. Stay Away From Weight Loss Products or Services 
Or anything to do with size reduction. If she's desperate to have Cool Sculpting, buy her a gift card for the Medi Spa she wants to go to. Let her buy her own cellulite cream, and know that weight loss products of any form are a slap in the face, not something lovely to open.

3. Ask for help choosing makeup products.
Rather than guess which color set is right for her, ask the sales clerk for help. With all the makeup gift sets that hit the market for the holiday season there is something for everyone. If you don't know whether she is a cool tone or a warm tone, the sales assistant can help you figure it out.
Check out some eyeshadow gift sets here

4. Spoil Her.
Buy her something luxurious.
There's magic in opening a box of anything from Tatcha. The detail in the packaging alone is completely luxurious, and the product themselves are spectacular.

I've loved everything I've ever received from Tatcha. Check out their gift sets on my Luxe List here

5. You cant go wrong with bath and body products.
Unless she doesn't have a bath. 

via Getty images

But assuming she is a girl who likes to take long soaks at the end of the day you cannot go wrong with bubble bath, beautiful bath oils and bath bombs, and its easy to pair them with matching body washes and body lotions.

6. Buying fragrances or perfumes can be tricky.
Fragrance is such a personal thing, and even if you know that she likes a given perfume on someone else it doesn't mean it will work with her body chemistry.
Rather than trying to pioneer a new fragrance for her, find out what she wears and loves and buy her products to layer with it.
If you are dead set on finding her something new figure out if she is a floral girl, a green scent girl or a woody/spicy/musky girl and go from there.
A good sales associate at a fragrance bar can walk you through it, or better still go to a Jo Malone store or counter and create some layered magic.

The Gift List ~ Love Looks Not With The Eyes

Oh how I love Alexander McQueen!

When the runway schedules post each season

I rearrange my life so that I can watch the live feed

of the Alexander McQueen show.

I also love coffee table books, both to have for myself,

and to give as the perfect chic gift, be it for birthdays,

holidays or as a hostess gift.

Love Looks Not With The Eyes ~ 13 Years With Alexander McQueen

Now at the top of my list is this beautiful, beautiful book

that celebrates the sheer brilliance of the designer.

Love Looks Not With The Eyes.

For 13 years, from September 1997 until his final show in 2010,

Alexander McQueen only allowed one photographer, Anne Deniau, backstage at his spectacular and legendary runway shows.

Love Looks Not With The Eyes chronicles the torture, the toughness and the tenderness of Alexander McQueen (quoted from New York Times) as we watch him working behind the scenes with his close circle of collaborators to create his senstational shows.

For those who love McQueen, or for those who love fashion,

this book is a visceral experience. 

The reviews below lend credence to my feelings when slowly, slowly turning the beautiful pages.

I love him still.

To order Love Looks Not With The Eyes online, click here

Un-Fallen Angel

Alexander McQueen backstage with Kate Moss

Backstage with McQueen

Praise for Love Looks Not With the Eyes: Thirteen Years With Lee Alexander McQueen:

The pictures are evocative of the torture, the toughness and, most of all, the tenderness of Mr. McQueen.” —New York Times

“Deniau’s close connection to McQueen and her appreciation for his formidable talent is like many of the pieces he created: breathtaking.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Thekinetic color and black-and-white photographs document the fantastical,shocking spectacle of a McQueen show in action: hairdos trussed up with birdsof prey; hubcaps strapped to foreheads; faces enhanced by extraterrestrialcheek prostheses. The images are sensual, spooky, and whimsical, playing up thedrama of McQueen’s vision; like one of the designer’s fabulous garments, thephotographs transform fashion into high art. The book is both an homage and amemorial; this celebration of McQueen’s vast, unique talent is also a eulogyfor his tragic loss.” — “Haute couture has a reputation for spectacle, but Anne Deniau’s photographs remind us that it’s also the last bastion of craftsmanship in fashion—or it was, as practiced by designer Alexander McQueen (1969–2010).” —Wall Street Journal

“Lush, previously unpublished backstage photographs from many of the late designer’s provocative fashion shows.”—The Los Angeles Times

“The kinetic color and black-and-white photographs document the fantastical, shocking spectacle of a McQueen show in action: hairdos trussed up with birds of prey; hubcaps strapped to foreheads; faces enhanced by extraterrestrial cheek prostheses. The images are sensual, spooky, and whimsical, playing up the drama of McQueen’s vision; like one of the designer’s fabulous garments, the photographs transform fashion into high art. The book is both an homage and a memorial; this celebration of McQueen’s vast, unique talent is also a eulogy for his tragic loss.” —Publishers Weekly

“Love Looks Not with the Eyes document[s] the intense work and equally intense emotions that played out behind the scenes of McQueen’s poetic, passionate, and provocative shows. . . . The intimacy is evident in the pictures.” —Vogue

“The haunting images offer a rarefied glimpse into the designer’s inner world.” —Harper’s Bazaar

“Deniau, in the process of documenting 26 McQueen presentations, captured images which, too, transcend photography—matching the decadent and grand world created by the hands of McQueen.” —Time.com

“Haute couture has a reputation for spectacle, but Anne Deniau’s photographs remind us that it’s also the last bastion of craftsmanship in fashion—or it was, as practiced by designer Alexander McQueen (1969–2010).” —Wall Street Journal
 

20 Beauty Themed Stocking Stuffers

Its always fun to find beauty items in your Christmas stocking.

Here are 20 perfect pieces to give (or to receive!)

with online shopping links where possible.

xo

1. Skin

Stocking Stuffers For Your Skin

Starting at the top left Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming eye Gels order online here
Neal's Yard White Tea Facial Mist order online here
La Mer Travel Size order online here
Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture mask. Order online here

2. Face

Stocking Stuffers For Your Face

Travel sized Makeup Forever Sens'Eyes eyemakeup remover. Gets even the most stubborn waterproof makeup. Order online here
Diorshow Blackout Mascara still my absolute favorite. Order online here
Kevyn Aucoin Lash Curler. Order online here

3. Lips

Stocking Stuffers For Your Lips

Fresh Sugar Lip Polish order online here
Julie Hewett Camellia Lip Balm order online here
Makeup Forever Longwear Lipsticks
MAC Cherry Lipliner. Order online here

4. Brows

Stocking Stuffers For Your Brows

Tweezerman Tweezers. Order online here
Anastasia Dipbrow. Order online here
MAC Eyebrow Pencils. Order online here

5. Bath

Stocking Stuffers for Your Bath

Jo Malone Bath Oil. Order online here
Bath Bombs. Order online here
Bath And Bodyworks Paris Bubble Bath, Travel Size.
Fresh Slices Of Luxury Soap

6. Hands and Nails

Stocking Stuffers For Your Hands And Nails

Tatcha Indigo Soothing Silk Hand Cream, Order online here
Gwen Stefani for OPI Just BeClaus, Order online here

The Luxe List - Gift Giving Ideas From Tatcha

It's time to create your gift lists, both gifts you wish to receive and gifts you want to give.

Today I'm looking at The Luxe List. Exquisite gifts for the girl who enjoys something extra special, extra fabulous.

These make sensational business gifts, and hostess gifts too.

I am so completely enamored of Tatcha and their incredible high performance, luxurious skin care products. I have written about them before here and here.

Tatcha products are divine.

I recently found out too that every purchase you make from Tatcha provides schooling for an underprivileged girl. 

Beautiful Faces, Beautiful Futures

"The greatest secret I learned from the geisha was that beauty begins in the heart and the mind."

Victoria Tsai

Tatcha founder Victoria Tsai believes that the best way to help girls become beautiful is to give them the opportunity to develop their minds.

As such she began a partnership with Room To Read, an organization commited to changing the world through education. Through this partnership every full sized purchase of Tatcha's skin care products funds an entire day of school for a girl somewhere in the world.

Read about it here

Back to gift giving, here are three gift sets makinkg it to both my "giving" list, and the list of gifts I'm secretly coveting.

Kokoro Golden Lip and Mirror Set

This is such a perfect gift! A beautiful set with Camellia Lip Balm and a gold plated mirror.
Camellia oil is super healing and nourishing, and makes for the best lip balm I have ever used. I have Camellia lip balm in both my pro makeup kit and my personal makeup stash.
The packaging and presentation of every Tatcha product is sensational, making the opening of the products and event in itself.
I also love this one as a bride or bridesmaid gift.
Order here $48

Kokoro Golden Lip And Mirror Duo

Tatcha Kassei Rejuvenation Skincare Gift Set

This trio is named for the Japanese word for rejuvenation.
You get the Ageless Enriching Renewal Cream and the Revitalizing Eye Cream with a beautiful gold massager to boost circulation. 
It's divine. 

Kassei Rejuvenation Trio

order here $495

Tatcha Kaiseki Skincare Gift Set

Kaiseki means a little bit of everything.
This set is perfect for the traveler - business traveler or vacation traveler as it contains an assotment of travel sized skin care essentials in a beautiful wooden kiri box 

Kaiseki Skincare Gift Set

order here $350