Beauty Bible's Christmas Shopping Guide 2023: under £25
With a weather eye on the cost of living crisis, we think that brands have been working overtime to curate really desirable gifts at non-silly prices, often offering quite a saving on individual items. We’d be charmed to receive any of these ourselves…
Heathcote & Ivory Peacock & Bird Velvet Hand Care Pouch (above)
Heathcote & Ivory have a long relationship with William Morris, remastering some of the artist’s iconic designs in new and covetable colourways. Inspired by the Peacock & Bird carpet, thought to be the first made at Morris’s Merton Abbey factory in 1881, here’s a gorgeous, soft velvet pouch that will be treasured long after the contents have been used up: a trio of 30ml Heathcote & Ivory Hand Creams, with that glorious formula we so love, in Patchouli & Red Berry, White Iris & Amber and Christmassy Clementine & Clove, now packaged in Kraft paper tubes that reduce plastic content by 30%. There’s also a fab bar of vitamin E-infused, gentle-on-hands soap. Just lovely.
£20 – buy here
Neal’s Yard Remedies Soothing Aromatic Collection
For someone who loves aromatherapy, a divinely-scented duo from the trusted British naturals name, to relax and offer a welcome sense of calm, at this time of year. It features one of our favourite bubbling baths, Aromatic Foaming Bath (100ml), Aromatic Shower Gel (plus the sublime Aromatic Body Butter (100g), which silkifies and soothingly scents skin.
£24 – buy here
Nails Inc. Nail Polish Trio Gift Set
Another of Nails.INC’s excellent Christmas offerings for 2023, in cute packaging that looks like a little house, showcasing their long-lasting, high quality polishes. We so often turn to this brand ourselves, for sheer durability, and this is a gorgeous way to introduce someone to Nails.INC via three Gel Effect Longwear Plumped Polishes: great neutral, a deep rouge-noir-y shade, and – ‘cos it’s that time of year – a mega coppery-gold glitter.
£15 – buy here
This is one of our fave M&S ranges, with its relaxing scent of lavender, ho wood, sweet orange and cedarwood – and boy, are they bigging it up with the Calm Christmas gifts, for 2023. We sniffed around one of the big West End stores and settled upon this as our recommendation, a great intro to this properly calming, indulgent (and mega-affordable) range, with generous travel sizes of Body Wash, Body Butter and Hand Cream, plus a natural exfoliating mitt and a little votive.
£15 – buy here
A multi-purpose gift, this: you could give it to a sleep-seeking adult, or a mum who can then use it on their small charges (some of the range can be used on newborns upwards), since it deploys a Givaudan-patented DreamScentz sleep-enhancing technology, proven to help you/them fall asleep faster, sleep longer and awake more refreshed, after improved quality of sleep. In the set, find SlumberTime Sleep Mist (100ml), SlumberTime Calming Massage Lotion (150ml) and SlumberTime Bedtime Bath Soak (250ml) scented with Lavender & Moon Milk. Apparently, 9/10 parents love the fragrance (and so do we).
£19.50 – buy here
‘Magical Moment of Calm.’ If there’s anyone who doesn’t need one of those as Christmas hurtles towards us, we’d like to meet them. This duo features NEOM’s Scent to De-Stress, a fabulous blend of lavender, geranium and Brazilian rosewood, in the form of a travel-sized candle and Calming Hand Balm (30ml). As NEOM advise, ‘For the full sensory experience, follow by cupping the hands over the nose and mouth while breathing in slowly for seven seconds and out slowly for 11 seconds.’ Our advantage is to give this to your intended recipient BEFORE the Big Day, so they can enjoy the full benefits.
£25 – buy here
L'Occitane Festive Hand Care Collection
No apologies needed from us for featuring L’Occitane across pretty much every one of this series of gift guides, here with a trio of their famed hand creams in useful, handbag-friendlyl sizes, two out of three of which have repeatedly scooped Beauty Bible Awards: the legend that is Shea Butter Hand Cream, almond oil-infused Almond Delicious Hand Cream and pretty-pretty Neroli & Orchid Hand Cream, in 30ml tubes.
£22.50 – buy here
Origins Multi Masking Gift Set
‘Multi-masking’ is the idea of applying different masks to different areas of the face – something to extract impurities around the nose, say, while adding a dose of moisture to parched cheeks and foreheads, in someone who has combination skin. But you can also use these individually on their own, with 15ml sizes of Original Skin™ Retexturizing Mask with Rose Clay, Drink Up Intensive™ Overnight Hydrating Mask with Avocado, renowned Ginzing™ Glow-Boosting Mask, Clear Improvement™ Active Charcoal Mask to Clear Pores and Out Of Trouble™ 10 Minute Mask to Rescue Problem Skin. Something for everyone (and a pamper party in a box, too).
£25 – buy here
You Look Lovely Today make-up bag
Our dynamic friend Holly Tucker has just launched an incredible online platform of stylish makers and indie brands, many of them female-founded, at Holly & Co., here. From a beauty point of view, with its affirming message this pouch really caught our eye. (Contents not included, but you could slip a couple of make-up favourites inside, for someone special.)
£19 – buy here
Santa Maria Novella Pot Pourri Bag
Our very favourite pot pourri in the world, which we used to bring home from Florence’s legendary historic pharmacy, but which is now available in the UK. Forget everything you ever believed about dry, dusty and (yes) naff pot pourri: this is rich, intense, incense-y, spicy; it stays almost damp, thanks to the high levels of essential oils added to the dried botanicals, and a swish with a hand reactivates the smell even years after you first put it in a dish.
£24 for 100g – buy here
NEXT WEEK: GORGEOUS GIFTS FROM £25-50
