It's the first day of December! Christmas is now officially upon us as we open the first window of our advent calendars and start putting up our Christmas trees. If you haven't done so already, it's time to turn your attention to Christmas shopping. Whether you are buying for family, friends or within a Secret Santa set-up, we all know that when you end up doing the maths, we always spend far too much on presents. This year, I have decided to move house just before Christmas, meaning that all of my present-buying budget has gone into a deposit- YAY! As a result, this Christmas is going to be 'toned-done' (as much as I can), so this post serves as a way to show that you can get incredibly cute Christmas gifts on a budget.
This year, so many brands have hopped on the beauty advent calendar bandwagon (you can read my post on how to save money on these here), but surprisingly not as many have released their own beauty crackers and baubles- something we saw a lot of last year. Although gift sets are nice, being able to hang the ornaments on your tree or rip open a cracker with your favourite products inside gives that added novelty that I think Christmas is all about and makes the gift that extra bit more special. Here are some of my favourite ornamental beauty gifts this year that will put a smile on your loved ones face without having to break the bank.
Crackers:
Bomb Cosmetics, £7.99 (John Lewis)
We are all familiar with Lush's Christmas range, but Bomb Cosmetics have possibly won the battle this year and brought out their own bath bomb cracker. With three bath bombs within the packet, this is a super-cute alternative to the norm. The bath bombs themselves are the Snow Good, Holly Go Lightly and Gingerbread Trees bath blasters, all displaying an adorable Christmas design. A bargain present to pamper your nearest and dearest with!
L'Occitane, £10 (John Lewis)
This French brand have plenty to choose from this Christmas, with a huge variety of baubles, crackers and gift sets to treat your loved ones to. My favourite is the Shea Butter cracker which contains a 30ml shea butter hand cream (which has to be the best hand cream available and works wonders on dry skin during these cold winter months) alongside a gentle shea milk soap. Even if your giftee isn't necessarily a huge L'Occitane fan, the hand cream alone will change their mind and become a staple!
Boots No7, £14 (Boots)
Boots No7 always know how to bring Christmas to the beauty aisle. The glitz and glamour of their adverts and products means that you can bet on them to bring out some lovely stocking fillers. This set of 4 crackers costs £14- considering there are 2 full sized nail varnishes and 2 pink-shaded Lovely Lip Balms worth a total of £31, this isn't a bad deal! With a pack of 4 or so crackers, a thrifty tip is to take them out of the box and gift the crackers individually; this means you get 4 gifts for £14. This tip would be applied well to the Soap & Glory crackers (6 for £16 and contains lots of favourite body products) and the Champney ones (4 for £10). The perfect (and cheap) solution to Secret Santa presents too!
Ornaments:
Burts Bees, £4.90 (John Lewis)
Burts Bees are everyone's favourite lip balms when it starts to get a bit chilly. The infamous peppermint taste has been expanded into a range of fruity and interesting flavours, but the core formula remains an essential for chapped lips. This cute bauble contains the lip balm everyone knows and loves as well as a little hand salve tin, plus is also available in their delicious pomegranate flavour. Adorable, practical and amazing quality all rolled into one.
Neal's Yard, £12.50 (M&S)
Although this is a tad pricier than other gifts featured in this post, the Neal's Yard beauty balm contained in this adorable star-shaped tree ornament will have so many uses it makes it worth the money. The Wild Rose scent is subtle enough to be universally appealing and the balm can be used as a cleanser, lip balm, moisturiser and face mask! Talk about a multi-functional gift!
Liz Earle, £8 (John Lewis)
I haven't come across anyone who doesn't love Liz Earle skincare, and this nourishing face mask would be the perfect solution to skin woes this Winter. Although the packaging doesn't look instantly Christmassy, it's still dinky, cute and would make a lovely gift to any beauty fans in your life. It comes with a 15ml mask and a muslin cloth, making it a great travel-sized product too.
Crabtree & Evelyn, £7 (John Lewis)
The last one on my list is also from John Lewis (you may have noticed a theme here, JL are killing it this Christmas!). Who could resist this decadent tin?! Crabtree & Evelyn may not be a brand you instantly think of but their understated elegance makes this gorgeously decorated gift the perfect stocking filler. It's an absolute steal too; within the tin you get two mini hand creams. The pomegranate and Tarocco orange scents provide you with a hint of Christmas without being exclusively festive, making it a gift that can be used and loved all year round.
Which gift sets do you have your eyes on this Christmas? Are there any bargains I've missed? I'd love to hear your thrifty tips for Christmas shopping so please share them in a comment / message / tweet!
This post features press samples.
Great list! I'm LOVING all the beauty-themed Christmas crackers out this year. They're just so cute! And the packaging on the Crabtree and Evelyn ornament is absolutely to die for.
ReplyDeleteI know right, and most of them offer quite good value too!
DeleteThe beauty Christmas crackers are just too cute! And for £14, those NO7 ones seem like a pretty good deal! Too tempting...😍
ReplyDeleteLizzie x
www.lizziegines.co.uk
I definitely think re-gifting each individual cracker is such a good way to save money. I think the crackers and ornaments are way more exciting than the calendars! x
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