Beauty Bible Gift Guide 2025: Blow the budget
For the most important person on your list. (Which might just be… you!) Here’s what we’d love ourselves, if money was absolutely no object.
As we’ve emphasised in the previous episodes of this Gift Guide, we don’t run away with the idea that you are going to flash lots of cash on most of the people on your list. So we carefully curated round-ups that focused on really great value pressies, all items we’d be happy to find under the tree on Christmas Day.
But maybe there’s one person (your mum? Daughter?) – or perhaps two – where you want to go a little bit mad. If so, these are our picks. And if you want to reward yourself for a year of hard work, caring for others, or simply surviving in an increasingly mad world – well, these are all very gorgeous ways to do it.
C.Atherley Geranium No.1 Essentials Set (main pic)
We featured C.Atherley’s geranium-scented Hand Creams in an earlier guide (here) – but make no apologies for showcasing another gift from the range, because they’ve become such a standby for us when giving presents, always hitting the spot. For Christmas, this classic duo – Geranium No. 1 Hand Wash and Body Lotion – are all dressed up in gorgeous limited edition marbled packaging, while the scent is fab: a little bit rosy, a touch lemony, with hints of mint and cedar.
£55 – buy here
Velvet Smoke Filthy Rose Candles
Each and every person who walks into Jo’s hall comments, ‘What’s that A-M-A-Z-I-N-G scent?’ Well, it’s the fragrance of rose, saffron, tobacco, amyris and black, swirled together in the sexiest candle ever created (in our humble opinion). The vessels, meanwhile, are exquisite; when the candle finally flickers its last (and that takes ages), you’re left with the most beautiful tortoiseshell Murano glass vase/holder for make-up brushes/pens/whatever. The three-wick candle is the candle of our dreams, but anyone would be thrilled with the single wick, we reckon.
Aromatherapy Associates Ultimate Bath & Shower Oil Collection
Yup, we’ve featured this before. Yes, we’ll probably feature it every year until the cows come home: a peerless collection of three-bath-sized bottles showcasing the whole range of these genuinely mood-shifting bath and shower oils, from Deep Relax to Revive Morning via Inner Strength. (Over the years, many of these have scooped Beauty Bible Awards in the Relaxing or Uplifting Bath Treats categories.) As ever, the very strongest of recommends.
£80 for 10 x 9ml – buy here
Trinny London The Total Transformation Skincare Set
So cleverly, the travel-sized skincare items in this set stack on top of each other – but more impressive is the skin-brightening effect of the five products themselves, which range from Be Your Best (balm-style cleanser) to radiance-boosting serum Naked Ambition, all tucked inside this super-spiffy ‘Silver Jubilee’ zip-up kit bag.
£99 – buy here
We are completely mad for VIOLETTE_FR, and anyone who tries this set will absolutely get why, in a few swipes. A trio of this Parisienne cool-girl make-up artist’s classic items, La Coquette Set showcases staining lip gloss Lip Nectar in suits-all-skintones Rose de Moab, glistening yet subtle highlighter Baume Shine and Bisou Blush in Mélanie. (Watch this space for a review of Violette’s first London outpost, in Liberty – but for now, this is a perfect one-stop intro to the brand.)
£75 – buy here
Neal’s Yard Remedies Frankincense Intense Lift Skincare Set
Neal’s Yard Remedies have long harnessed the resilience-boosting, skin-saving age-defying powers of frankincense in their products and this set showcases the top-of-the-range treats, in one neat navy zip-up kit: Frankincense Intense™ Lift Serum (10ml), Frankincense Intense™ Lift Eye Cream (5ml) and Frankincense Intense™ Lift Cream (15ml), all with that heavenly frankincense aroma, and blissful textures with it:.
£72 – buy here
WILDSMITH Skin The Mistletoe Collection Hand & Body Duo
We rather turn into compulsive hand-washers whenever we’re around these Wildsmith products. But there’s no risk of hands (or other body parts) drying out, because the Hand & Body Wash is so gentle, and the moisture-replenishing Lotion just so, so nourishing (think: sweet almond oil, glycerine, aloe vera, cocoa and shea butters). The scent gets us every time, too: chamomile, linden and cedarwood. Outdoorsy and comforting, in one. For Christmas, meanwhile, the duo is slipped inside a box adorned with a mistletoe design, inspired by the woodland at Heckfield Place, Wildsmith Skin’s home.
£68 (2 x 300ml sizes) – buy here
Beautifect is a brilliant brand specialising in all the ‘extras’ that help us perfect our make-up and skincare regimes: illuminated make-up boxes for stowing our kit (and applying in the perfect light), and clever mirrors – like this, which is just the ticket for getting ready on gloomy days (you can opt for evening, daylight or bright sunlight modes). Add one of the magnification mirrors for zooming in on areas that need close work, or if your eyesight needs the extra help (ours does!) A little bit genius.
£159 – buy here
The most gorgeous CHANEL make-up bag, inside which are stowed three tip-top treats: our favourite on-the-go hand cream, La Crème Mains Texture Riche (a super-chic way to replenish hands after using what are often vicious hand washes out in the wild); shimmering, nourishing Le Rouge Coco Baume in 912 Dreamy White, a sheer pearly white which can be worn on its own or layered with other lip colours; and pretty-as-a-picture Le Vernis in Ballerina, an understated an universally flattering sheer, natural pink. Très desirable, all round.
£132 – buy here
12 Days of Ishga Twilight Tides Calendar
Way, way, way, way more extravagant even than our other picks, here – but these are all generously-sized products, from a seaweed-powered, aromatherapy-infused range that we rate very highly indeed. What you’ll find inside: Active Cleansing Lotion, Invigorating Body Oil, Nourishing Face Oil, Hebridean Dreams Candle, Shampoo & Body Bar, Replenishing Lip Balm, Regenerating Face Serum, Sanitiser, Exfoliating Face Mask, Hebridean Sea Salt Scrub, Anti-oxidant Marine Cream and NWE Hydra+ Marine Cream.(The super-high-quality box can be repurposed in future years, too.)
£245 – buy here
