Happy Nochebuena, readers! If you arose bright and early, worrying about last-minute gifts that needed to be purchased, missing ingredients for cooking your Christmas Eve meal, and a shortage of gift wrapping paper, take a deep breath and allow us to offer you a helping hand. These makeup palettes, fragrances, and skincare goodies can be purchased online or at major retailers, so you can always pop in and grab them before the day is up (and then exhale in relief).
Take a look at our picks below!
Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Ready 8.0 The Playlist, $40. Available at Sephora.com
Two months ago, when Bare Escentuals revealed its collection of bareMinerals READY pressed mineral eye shadows, we practically did cartwheels. For the holiday season, they upped the ante with eight-shadow palettes packaged in sleek mirrored gold tone palettes with black interiors. The eye shadows are formulated with bareMinerals' SeaNutritive Mineral Complex, so that they boast anti-aging benefits, smoothing any fine lines and puckering areas of the lids. We're particularly smitten with The Playlist palette, which features eight highly pigmented, long-wearing shadows with music-related names that would make DJ Premier smile.
First, check out swatches of the four shadows in the top row of the palette: Louder, a glistening rusty orange color with hints of copper; Max Volume, a blackened forest green with fine emerald shimmer particles; Chart Topper, a pewter-y, champagne-tinged nude shade with an all-over sheen; and Pumped, a rich mocha brown with a velvety texture and a hint of golden shimmer. Next, via these eye shadow swatches, get acquainted with the shades in the bottom row: Speaker Box, an antique brass brown with fine gold pearls; Remix, a Cleopatra-worthy yellow gold; Most Requested, a foxy burgundy-meets-copper hue with fine Merlot red particles; and One Hit Wonder, a dusky, buttery cream shade.
Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey Florale, $66 for 1.6 oz. EDT spray and $89 for 3.4 oz. EDT Spray. Available at Sephora.com
Who wants a floral bouquet that will wither in no time, when they can smell blossoms every single day with a spritz of the right fragrance? The Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey Florale captures the natural beauty of a floral garden with dewy notes of lily, rose, and orange flowers mingling with zesty mandarin and developing a seductive mysteriousness via musk and white wood notes.
Korres Vanilla Guava Body Butter Duo, $39. Available at Korres stores and KorresUSA.com
This deliciously velvety body butter features shea butter and quince extract to moisturize, soften, and replenish skin; sunflower, avocado, grape seed, and almond oils to nourish and stimulate collagen and elastin production; and guava, which is rich vitamin C that brightens and protects skin from free radical damage. The scent, meanwhile, fuses the warmth and creaminess of vanilla with the succulent, juiciness of guava.
MAC Ice Parade 6 Snow Globe Eyeshadows in Cool, $38. Available at MAC Cosmetics stores and MACcosmetics.com
Not only does it include some gorgeous gray and lilac shades, but this palette also features a snow globe-inspired detail along its mirrored-looking, clear top lid: a see-through dome shape filled with silver glitter. You can spend hours twirling the closed palette around, watching as the silver glitter bits float inside the snow-globe-like shape or you can amuse yourself in a more productive fashion by playing with the six shades inside: a pearlescent, frosty white; a silvery light violet; an icy light silver; a deep violet purple; an almost creamy, slightly sheer, oil slick-like blackened gray; and a true carbon black.
Check out swatches of all six shades here.
Philosophy The Gingerbread Man Bubble Bath & Shower Gel, $11. Available at Sephora.com
Every holiday season, Philosophy releases this gingerbread-scented shower gel and, every season, we rush to stock up on this limited-edition product since it's one of the most intoxicating Philosophy fragrances ever released. With the spicy but sweet sense of ginger snaps, it's the type of scent that feels like Christmas in a bottle.
In March, we lauded Camilla Morton's literary collaboration with designer Christian LaCroix, a modern reinterpretation of The Sleeping Beauty fairy tale featuring LaCroix's original illustrations and couture-related references in lieu of the standard characters and scenarios. Now, Morton has updated another classic, The Tale of the Elves and the Shoemaker, via a collaboration with shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. Chock full of fanciful footwear illustrations by Blahnik himself, Manolo Blahnik and the Tale of the Elves and the Shoemaker: A Fashion Fairy Tale Memoir
