Tag Archives: Elizabeth & James
2015 Gift Guide: Gift Sets
Alright guys, this is it! This is the last post in my 2015 Gift Guide series. Curious about the others? You can check them out here:
This time I’m talking about Gift Sets. Gift sets are a great way to either indulge the person you’re gifting, or give them something that gives them a lot of options to try out. Let’s dive right in.
Nothing screams luxury like giving someone a full set of makeup brushes! The Sephora Collection Stand Up and Shine retails for $163 CAD and it comes with four face brushes and eight eye brushes. The texture of the brushes is quite soft, although I did find a few of them were a bit too longhaired (particularly the eyeshadow blending brush). The general overall quality is excellent however. They come encased in a beautiful box that also contains a brush holder with protective flaps and a zip close.
Even better? The brush holder can be used to actually STAND your brushes up and keep them at the ready. Super convenient for travel and it doesn’t run the risk of falling over (while I love Real Techniques brushes, their stand up kits were always terribly made).
This set is fantastic for someone who needs a lot of brushes all at once. So while the set is pricey, you save the cost of having to buy each one individually.
My favourite perfume discovery this year has been the Elizabeth & James collection. Sephora has $75 CAD sets of both Nirvana White and Nirvana Black (my personal preference) which includes the perfume oil, the mid-sized perfume bottle and a small roller ball. The box and presentation are luxurious – it looks absolutely stunning when you lift the lid off the box to display the three perfume bottles. If you know someone that likes either of these scents, this is a sure-fire win!
You really can’t go wrong with a bath set either! The Soap & Glory Bright and Bubbly gift set (approximately $20 CAD) contains sample sizes of The Righteous Butter, Scrub of Your Life, Clean On Me, Hand Food and a full sized shower poof. The whole set comes in a beautiful pink and white box with a sparkly silver lid. The box is sturdy too, which is always a nice surprise in a gift set. You could reuse the box to store personal items or for decoration. As for the products themselves, each one smells glorious and feels wonderful on the skin. Plus… who doesn’t love small sized products?? Soap & Glory sets and products can be purchased at Shopper’s Drug Mart.
The contouring fad only seems to get stronger and stronger every year (strobing was but a brief interlude), and Quo is helping to fill in that gap from the drugstore side. Their Contouring Craze kit contains 3 powders (a dark powder, a medium powder and a light powder) and two brushes for $30 CAD. I’ve been using the dark powder to contour and the medium one to bronze up my face, and these powders make it so easy for me to do so! While the brushes are soft and great for on the go, I’ve been sticking to my longer handled brushes just because I’ve been doing my makeup at home. This set is perfect for anyone who wants to get into sculpting their face, but doesn’t quite know where to start. All of the powders are finely milled and are wonderfully matte. Quo can be purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart.
The Sephora Sleeping Mask Discovery set is an adorable gift set that can be given as a single item, or split up into multiple stockings. Retailing for $25 CAD, you get six overnight masks that are intended to target individual skin problems (mattifying, anti-blemish, soothing, brightening, etc.) Perfect for the individual who likes a little extra pampering!
Forgive my promo shot, I lost the picture of the original packaging, but I *had* to show you what it looks like because it’s such a gorgeous presentation! Josie Maran‘s Whimsical Wonder gift set contains five products that are a fantastic introduction to the brand. The Coconut Watercolor items (blush and shadow) are some of the most luxurious products I’ve ever tried (the blush blends seamlessly with my skin and the eyeshadow is a solid opaque colour that didn’t crease on me!). You also get some well know items by the brand: their Pure Argan Oil Light and Argan Enlightenment Illuminizer . Available at Sephora for $41 CAD, this is a *phenomenal* deal for trying out so many products by Josie Maran. Well worth the money.
Thanks for reading through all my gift guides this holiday season! I hope you found something you were interested in giving (or that you even want for yourself!) Happy holidays everyone. 🙂
This post features sets that were sent for consideration.
2015 Gift Guide: Makeup Stocking Stuffers
I don’t know about you, but I often struggle to think of reasonably priced, small items for stocking stuffers. Here are some items that stick to $25 CAD and under that I think most beauty lovers can appreciate on some level.
Since they’re small and compact, rollerball perfumes are one of the easier things to pick up. Almost every brand out there has a rollerball sized perfume, but it’ll be up to you to figure out the scent the person you’re gifting will most like to receive.
My suggestions:
- Elizabeth & James Nirvana Black ($14 CAD for the ornament sized rollerball): Nirvana Black was a new discovery for me this year and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever worn. It has notes of alluring violet, sensual sandalwood, and rich vanilla.
- Elizabeth & James Nirvana White ($14 CAD for the ornament sized rollerball): Nirvana White is the softer side of the Nirvana line and while it’s not precisely to my tastes, it’s been a huge hit for a lot of people this year as well. It has notes of delicate peony, chic muguet (lily of the valley), and tender musk.
- Pacifica French Lilac (~$11 CAD): I picked up this Pacifica rollerball back in May from a health food store and it was love at first roll. This smells exactly like lilacs and reminds me of the lilac bush my parents have in their backyard when I was growing up. Pacifica has an ENORMOUS selection of roll on perfumes, so there’s plenty to choose from for really reasonable prices.
Another small item that’s perfect for stockings is nail polish! And the cheap stuff is almost always as good as the expensive ones. I’ve included some of my favourites and recent collection additions:
- Julie G: Created by beauty YouTuber JulieG, this line is not only enormous, but she also has regular seasonal collections. What I’ve tried from the line not only wears well, but also doesn’t seem to thicken up even after years of owning it! And you’re looking at less than $5 USD each! Colour pictured is Mermaid’s Tale.
- H&M Beauty: Priced at $7.95 CAD each, H&M’s nail polish line is no joke. (Seriously, it’s enormous and the colours are varied!) Colour pictured is December Dawn*.
- China Glaze: China Glaze first stole my heart with their yearly Halloween collections. And then I fell for their Christmas collections. China Glaze always puts out fantastic glitters (the one pictured is old and was limited edition) and they’re around the <$8 CAD price mark.
- Formula X: A more expensive brand (~$15 CAD each), the Formula X by Sephora polishes are fantastic. They have an enormous selection and I consider them one of the better brands out there simply because their variety of polishes is so unique. The shade pictured is Alchemy II*.
Another small item great for stockings are lipstick and lipglosses. The NYX butter glosses are great for any age, but are especially good for pre-teens since they’re not as strongly pigmented as a lipstick and the glossiness of the product keeps it quite fresh looking. If you’re giving a lip product to someone who loves lipsticks, you really can’t go wrong with a lipstick by MAC (more pricey) or one by Revlon (less pricey). Or, give them a sparkly lipgloss like the Sephora* ones and they can be used alone or as a topper to any lipstick.
Look at the fine glitters in the Sephora glosses!
Lip balm is a reoccurring option for stockings in my family. My grandmother always gives me some Burt’s Bees lip balm and it usually ends up in one of my winter coats pockets for easy access when it’s blustery outside. Lately I’ve been ploughing through my Nivea lip butter in Vanilla & Macadamia (the smell is divine) and the EOS Sweet Mint has been in my bag for travelling. Sephora also has the Super Kisses* lipbalm trio that can be given as one gift, or broken apart for three separate people. These Sephora balms do pack some colour punch – just something to be aware of when you’re gifting them!
Don’t be fooled by the ridiculously low price tag (less than five bucks each!), essence makes some of the absolute best blushes on the market. They’re pigmented, easy to blend and the colours are gorgeous.
The Sephora Diamond eyeliners* are not just plain old eyeliners… instead, they’re shot through with small glitter particles! The black base brings out the colour and you’re left with a subtle shimmery red (Swagga – my personal favourite) or purple (Phat Rock). These liners will set you back $18 CAD, but they’re awfully unique and I think if this was received as a gift, the person would be awestruck by the colour (I know I sure was when I first swatched these).
Last two items!
The Body Shop has released limited edition Sparklers ($22 CAD each – comes in gold or silver) for the holidays and these guys are pure magic in a bottle. They poof out clouds of shimmer and smell like vanilla! While this is far more elegant than those old 90s bottle of roll on jelly glitter I used to love in my teens, this still makes me squeal whenever I spray it. Perfect for the holidays. (I plan to douse myself in it on Christmas and New Year’s!)
Lastly, are these amazing holiday crackers* by Quo. They come in a set of four (perfect for breaking up and putting into stockings!) and contain one lip gloss and one eyeshadow. All the colours are fairly neutral so you won’t struggle with the decision on what colour to give each person in your life. I love how the packaging adds a bit of extra flare too.
That’s it for this gift guide – good luck with your shopping!
Items marked with an asterisk(*) were provided by PR for consideration.
What I Bought This Month – January 2015 Haul
I’m one of the fortunate ones that has their birthday in mid-January. So just when I’m getting over (aka sad) the fact that I was showered in presents over Christmas, I get to do it allll over again for my birthday! Woohoo!
Sephora BI Birthday Gift (free)
I also get to get my hands on the Sephora Beauty Insider gift early. This year they were handing out a duo of NARS in Cruella and Rikugien. I’ve never picked up any NARS lip products before so this was a nice surprise.
Some Makeup Geek shadows….
I also went haywire this month with Makeup Geek. An order I placed mid-December finally showed up (problems at the border due to a shipping method they tried out) annnnnd then I placed another order. I won’t list them all, but I ordered 32 shadows, including the full line of foiled shadows which are just as incredible as everyone else has been saying. I think it’s now my life goal to own all her eyeshadows… (As a note, Marlena has said that she expects to be raising the price of the eyeshadows by a dollar in the coming year because she needs to be able to pay her staff before… hence why I’m going bonkers.)
My aunt had given me a Sephora gift card for Christmas and I knew exactly what I wanted to pick up with it. I had gotten a sample of the Elizabeth & James Nirvana Black perfume a few months back and while I hadn’t loved it right off the bat, I definitely fell head over heels for it over the coming months. This stuff is NOT cheap, so I was really happy to use a gift card to pick it up. This is not my typical kind of scent either. This is definitely heavy and sexy, whereas my usual fragrances are all aquatic and watery. I really don’t know why I’m drawn to it so much either.
And then, a very good friend of mine (the one I went to Prague with this past year) gifted me a palette by a brand I’ve oddly never used before. (And holy crap the packaging… shiny rainbows?!?!?) Sara knows how much I love palettes and I’m impressed that she managed to grab me something that I didn’t already own!
Having never used Smashbox before, I’m excited to use this palette especially given how many options there are in there! I believe the On The Rocks palette was limited to the holidays.
Next up are three different scented soaps: Chocolate Orange, Rosemary Mint and Guinness Oat Sage. I’ve not opened these yet as I’ve got a lot of soap I’m trying to finish first, but these are sitting in the linen closet making everything smell amazing.
Last year Alison gave me some lotion for either my birthday or Christmas and I finished it up pretty quickly. I love this smell of this one and can’t wait to use it.
And then, to round it all out, she made THIS. THIS SUGAR SCRUB THING SMELLS FREAKING AMAZING. Lime in anything I’m all like hellz to the YES. But then add in coconut too? Jesus, just add some vodka and I’m good to go.
I’m not sure why these didn’t get included in my Christmas haul, but oh well. My brother picked up a few things from France and distributed them amongst my family members. I snatched up the body butter from Omnia Botanica because it’s winter and I need ALL THE MOISTURE… but this thing is hard as a rock. It’s been cold pressed, which I think is part of the issue. Once you get it on your skin it definitely melts, but man, digging it out of the container is a chore in and of itself.
Another one from France. Since I almost never have bath salts, I grabbed this one out of my brother’s pile and claimed it as my own. Mostly because I need something to soak my sore ass muscles!
My mom knows I like anything aquatic-scented, so she picked up two shower gels fromThe Body Shop in Fijian Water Lotus for my birthday. I didn’t even know this stuff existed, but damn does it ever smell good. She said she would’ve gotten me one in the larger size, but it seems they only make a 250ml version? It very faintly reminds me of the Oceanus scent they used to have wayyyyy back in the day. Man I loved that stuff. I had the oil, the perfume, the soap, the shower gel… I was Oceanus everything back in my teen years.
Another birthday gift! This one was a total shock to me. I’ve always been interested in trying The Balm, but just never really got around to it. It’s also not a brand I’ve ever brought up with anyone either. So imagine my surprise when my aunt had a package sent to me for my birthday and it was the Meet Matt(e) Nude palette! I’m so pleased with this! It’s a completely matte palette (duh), which I definitely need more of, and the colours are all ones I can incorporate into my brighter looks to help ground them.
And what’s a monthly haul without makeup remover? As I always say… I either buy this on sale, or when it’s in the larger packaging (for the regular price). Marcelle’s waterproof makeup remover is all I need and I have zero intentions of everything trying out another brand again for makeup remover.
You know, aside from dropping like $200 at Makeup Geek (lol) over the last two months, I’m actually surprised how little I spent on myself this month. The bulk of everything was gifts or gift cards that were given to me by very generous friends and family!