We can’t help but rhapsodize about beauty options that are beautiful in themselves – no wrapping required! These presentable presents will satisfy the most discerning fashionista. Happy Holidays, indeed.
HOT LIPS
Read my lips: Maggie Louise Confections whips up a power palette of three lipsticks made of solid milk chocolate, satisfying both beauty fans and choco-addicts. One caveat. We’ve only lusted from afar, so we cannot guarantee the Austin, TX-based chocolatier’s flavors live up to the visuals. $15, MaggieLouiseConfections.com.
DAIRY DELIGHTS
Say cheese! Farmhouse Fresh dishes up delicious milk soaps in four yummy scents: pistachio, lavender-honey, blueberry-chia seed and oatmeal. Two wedges of each are packaged like a cheese round in a handmade Aspen wood box, a tasty treat at $124. Soaps also are sold as 4.5 oz. bars, each $14, farmhousefreshgoods.com.
SWEET MEMORIES
Close your eyes and Nest Fragrances’ Sugar Cookie Reed Diffuser takes you back to granny’s kitchen. Best of all, the heady and heavenly aroma of bourbon-infused caramel, vanilla bean and sugarcane lasts three months and comes in gorgeous gold and red boxes. All you need add is a bow. 5.9 fl. oz., $44; candles, 2 to 21.2 oz., $16-$64; nestfragrances.com.
CALMING CANDLES
Clarins’ Tonic triple-wick candle is a toasty antidote on a chilly, soggy day. Unwind as potent pure plant extracts of geranium, bitter orange, basil and chamomile recreate the spa experience, with a burn time of up to 60 hours. 13.6 oz., $75, clarins-usa.com.
BEST BUDS
Bloem Box delivers a beauty of a gift – amaryllis indoor forcing kits, gorgeously packaged with a huge silk bloom on top of a lime green box. Best of all: even brown thumbs can produce four spectacular blossoms, with soil-less and step-by-step directions. Thanks to nature, these are a limited edition, available from November to early January. Consider us blown away. $45, for amaryllis and $20 each for Organic Rose and Lavender Sachets, bloembox.com.
GREAT OUTDOORS
Take a hike with Lucchese’s gender-bending candles transporting nature lovers to the wilderness. Savor Smoke (cedar, oak, amber, moss and musk, recalling a crackling fire), Leather (dusty lather, vanilla and birch, a bootmaker’s wares) and Cypress (cypress, spruce, woodland moss and cinnamon bark, the forest). Warning: These sizzlers with a 50-hour burn time are so hot, they’re sometimes out of stock, $32, lucchese.com.
DISNEY DO-GOODERS
Olympic medalists, world champions and families all love Mickey Mouse. So does New York apothecary and skincare brand Kiehl’s, collaborating with Disney to provide meals to the food insecure, via Feeding America. Grapefruit Whipped Body Butter, 8 oz., $38, providing 355 meals. Richly hydrating hand creams in grapefruit, coriander and lavender, each 2.5 oz. and $35, providing 310 meals. An added perk: these holiday editions are cheerfully adorned with Mickey. Kiehls.com, feedingamerica.org.
FESTIVE FLICKER
Bold Brit designer Jonathan Saunders has joined Jo Malone London for a smashing, limited-edition candle in a new scent of Green Almond and Redcurrant (with a dash of tonka, cassia and mandarin), encased in kelly green- and hot pink-striped ceramic container and box. 420g, $205, jomalone.com.
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