Christmas Makeup Gift Guide

I've split this gift guide into three sections, the first are the baubles and crackers, then under £25 gifts and over £25 luxury beauty gifts.

Starting with baubles and crackers these make lovely small gifts, can be popped into a Christmas stocking, as a treat to yourself  or bought in bulk to replace traditional crackers. To be honest I like the last idea the most as even luxury crackers have things you don't need or want and beauty crackers would be better especially as they're priced the same as traditional crackers or even cheaper. However they would be best for mainly female friends and family members, although the Soap and Glory ones could be used by either sex, but the pink packaging could be a turn off. I think there's a gap in the market for male beauty crackers! In general crackers seem more popular than baubles- although baubles can be reused, just fill them up with other things such as beauty samples, stationary, sweets etc as a gift for someone else or as Christmas decorations.

Row 1 (L-R): Essie Crack'a'Colour Cracker £20// Cowshed Cracker  £10
Row 2 (L-R): Nuxe Holiday Cracker £10 // Caudalie Cracker £10 //
Row 3 (L-R): Fleur de Force Cosmic Christmas Cracker £12 // Clinique & Look Fantastic Cracker £15
Row 4 (L-R): Boots No. 7 Crackers £14 for 4 // Soap and Glory What a Cracker £12.80 for 6
Row 5 (L-R): Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Party Eyes Bauble £20 //Ghost Deep Night Bauble £8 // Fat Face Lip Balm and Lip Gloss Bauble £6

Essie has two Christmas crackers out, the one above is the Crack'a'Colour which contains four full sized nail polishes for £20. Included are Essie A Cut Above Glitter Nail Effects (pink glitter), Essie Smokin Hot (grey), Essie Fiji (pale pink) and Essie Bordeaux (very dark red.) They also have a  mini cracker with with three 5ml nail polishes  for £10 that includes Satin Sister (teal) Getting Grooving (gold) and Party on A Platform (a deep warm red.)

Nuxe's crackers are sold out everywhere but you can still get your hands on them at Nuxe's website. The cracker contains 4 deluxe samples of micellar cleansing water, reve de miel hand cream, huile prodigieuse and creme prodigieuse for £10.  Caudalie's crackers seem to be good value with 3 items at decent sizes with body lotion (30ml) shower gel (30ml) and lip balm (4.5g)  The Cowshed cracker contains 50ml Hand cream and lip balm for £10.

The Clinique cracker includes a Chubby Stick Intense in Roomiest Rose (sample size),Custom-repair Moisturiser SPF 15 (15ml) and a Custom Repair serum (10ml) all for £15 which isn't bad and I love their chubby sticks. Popular blogger Fleur de Force has two crackers out. The one above is the Cosmic Christmas Cracker with two lip glosses in Lucky Star and Starlight and an eye shadow quad in Cosmic bronze. It's £12 but has a value of £19.97 and would be a great way to sample her range of cosmetics.

If you want to pick up some beauty crackers in bulk then Soap and Glory have 6 for £12.80. Each one includes one of the following:  Clean On Me shower gel, The Scrub of your life Body Scrub, Righteous Body Butter, Clean Girls body wash, Hand Food, Heel Genius foot cream. No. 7 also has 4 crackers for £14. Each one has three items: a full sized Stay Perfect nail colour, lovely lips lip balm in Parisian pink /deep raspberry and a full sized nail effects too.

Onto Christmas baubles: luxury brand Charlotte Tilbury's bauble has a mini Rock'n'Kohl eye liner in Bedroom Black and a mini Legendary mascara inside.  The Ghost Deep Night EDT set contains a 10ml perfume bottle and a gorgeous deep red scented lip gloss in Night berry (3ml). Finally the cheapest of the lot is the Fat Face bauble which has a lip balm and lip gloss inside for £6.

Row 1 (L-R)
Clarins Beautiful Lip Essentials £20 //The Balm Manizers Sisters Luminizer Trio £19.20  // The Balm Meet Matt Hughes lip set £25
Row 2 (L-R)
The Balm Lip & Cheek Palette £20.80 // Pixi  Palette Rosette £22 // Bella Pierre eye Palette Go Natural £23.99// 
Row 3 (L-R)
Benefit 'It's a Gal's World' gift set £24.50// Nails Inc Matchbox Mint Nail & lip set £15 //Tanya Burr Pretty Unstoppable Palette £10
Row 4 (L-R)
Lord & Berry Contouring Palette £25 // NYX Nude on Nude Palette £20

There are lots of gift sets around the £20 price mark that are still very good for your money.

The On Trend Gifts: Liquid to Matte lipsticks are where it's at and TheBalm Meet Matte Hughes liquid Lipstick set has six 12ml mini lipsticks in a range of colours including Charming, Sincere, Committed, Doting, Dedicated and Loyal. The Nails Inc Matchbox Mint Lip and Nail Set are both a perfect Kylie Jenner '90s colour.  Strobing is still on trend and TheBalm's Manizers Sisters Trio make a good gift since everyone raves about these highlighters and this palette would be great for travel too. Contouring is still popular and this Lord and Berry cream contouring palette includes a highlighter and a blush as well as 4 contour shades.

Luxury Gift: Clarins Beautiful Lip Essentials, two mini tinted lip balms (5ml) in Rosewood Shimmer and Rose Shimmer and two mini Joli Rouge lipsticks (1.5g) in Soft Berry and Raspberry. The £20 gift set is worth £32.

Budget Gift: Tanya Burr Pretty Unstoppable Palette. This palette has enough to make up a whole face for a natural look (baring foundation.) There are four eye shadows Vanilla Sugar, Tea Cake, Hot Chocolate & Cream and Cocoa dust. There's also a blush, high lighter and lip gloss, all in for £10.

Best Value for Money Gifts:  NYX's Nude on Nude Palette has 20 eye shadow colours and 10 lipstick colours. That's works out at 50p an eye shadow and £1 a lip colour. The range is so huge there's plenty to experiment with, natural doesn't have to mean boring. Pixi Palette Rosette in Rosy Radiance is another all in one palette with 8 eye shadows, 3 brow shades and a contour, blush and high lighter shades. The Benefit 'It's a Gal'sWorld' set is knocked down from £29 to £24 it contains a mini They're Real eye liner,  a mini Porefessional and 4 eye shadows.

Row 1  (L-R)  
Urban Decay Ultimate Basics Palette £38.50  // Urban Decay Lip Palette £31.50 
Row 2 (L-R)
Nars Recurring Dare Cheek & Lip Palette £39  // Illamasqua Pro Made Easy Eye Set £47.50  // Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad £64
Row 3 (L-R) 
Charlotte Tilbury Dreamy Look in A Clutch £90  // Hourglass Ambient Lighting Surreal Light £69  // Charlotte Tilbury Film Star Bronze & Glow £49
Row 4 (L-R) 
YSL Essential Eye Makeup Gift set £50  //Giorgio  Armani Luxe is More Palette  £125 // Estee Lauder Colour Portfolio Gift Set £58



Best Value for Money: Estee Lauder Colour Portfolio Gift Set. When I saw this online I had to include it as it is jam packed with makeup in every colour and it's only £58! There are 25 eye shadows, 6 Pure Envy Blushes, 9 Pure Envy Lip colours, 2 smoky eyeliners and 1 Pure envy gloss. I don't actually know the dimensions of the palette or how big each pan is but it looks like it has everything you would want.

Most raved about Beauty Items:  Hourglass Ambient Lighting Surreal light palette I haven't actually had the privilege of trying these but Hourglass powders are coveted for their subtle illuminating glow which we can all benefit from in these dull, winter days. This palette with all the powders would be a wonderful gift for someone. The YSL Essential Eye Makeup gift set includes their iconic Touche Eclat pen in Luminous Radiance as well as a Luxurious Mascara for False Lash Effect in black (7.5ml), Waterproof Black Eye Pencil (0.8g)  and Instant Moisture Glow (5ml). Charlotte Tilbury Film Star Bronze and Glow is a popular contouring & high lighting palette. Her
Dreamy Look in a Clutch contains a full sized eye shadow quad in Legendary Muse, Mini Legendary Lashes, Mini Legendary Eye Liner in black, Mini Legendary Lip Liner in Bitten Kiss, lipstick Hot Lips™: Secret Salma . It also comes with a USB Video Tutorial. Urban Decay Ultimate Basics Palette I'd imagine if Soap and Glory or Illamasqua got hold of this it would be called Basic B#@*h (but Lucy Watson got there first.) Anyway this is a must have for neutral lovers everywhere with 12 of the brand's  most requested matte shades. This is definitely on my wish list.

Most Expensive Beauty Item: Giorgio Armani Luxe is More Palette is yours for £125.

Top Title photo credit: geishaboy500 Happy Christmas 2008 via photopin (license) Changes Made