A Dozen Great Gift Sets for Beauty Lovers

Give the gift of Hermès fragrances, a rich makeup palette from Dior, Wander’s lightweight gels for face and lips, Kiehl’s merry masks and Trudon’s opulent candle.

By Janet Kelly

IT’S BAAACK—your December dilemma. What gift will you buy your niece Nora, your daughter-in-law Diane, your BFF’s Barbara and Bonnie? And, how about that teen and tween?

Assuming you have some cosmetics enthusiasts on your list, gift sets may be the answer. What makeup maven or beauty lover wouldn’t love to get a curated trio of lipsticks, blushes, luxury hair potions or a quartet of dreamy fragrances for the holidays?

Skincare and makeup companies frequently offer limited-edition packages of their products this time of year, but this season, there’s an abundance of choices from even more vendors, including smaller companies like Wander Beauty and Jones Road.

Below is our roundup of of our favorite offerings—to give and maybe receive, too.

Make a friend’s hands happy. L’Occitane’s trio of creams ($29, Sephora) in the season’s scents will moisturize and soothe even the driest of dishpan hands. Plus, they’re handsomely packaged in a festive holiday box.

In addition to Retin-A and it cousins, dermatologists concur on the beneficial effects of vitamin C. Ole Henricksen’s four-piece set of skin-illuminating products includes a daily cleanser with orange fruit water, a 15% vitamin C serum, a hydrating gel with three types of vitamin C and a C-infused eye cream to correct under-eye darkness. It sells for $50.40 and will brighten someone special’s Hanukkah or Christmas holiday.

For your hair-obsessed favorite niece, consider a crowning glory of a gift like Oribe’s Gold Lust Collection($115). A picky friend with gorgeous hair noticed some shedding and thinning and invested in the brand’s shampoo, conditioner and nourishing oil with happy results. To sweeten the package, the products come in a limited-edition box featuring original artwork by Japanese artist Kohei Kymomori.

No, Trudon’s 9.5-ounce classic Gloria candle ($145) is not a set. But when you’ve had a whiff of the scent of patchouli, vetiver and cedar wood wrapped in cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and citrus, you may think Gloria emblazoned with its 24-karat gold symbols (a shining star, a clover, a sparrow and a pair of angel wings) should have some company. Other sizes include the Petite Bougie (a votive), the 2-pound Intermezzo with three wicks for an elegant dinner table and the five-wick, 6-pound Great Candle ideally situated at the head of a grand staircase.

Girls of any age will have fun experimenting with the three face masks in Kiehl’s Merry Masking Holiday gift set. With benefits for all types of skin, a clay deep-pore cleansing mask draws out impurities and unclogs pores, a calendula-infused one refreshes, hydrates and soothes, while a turmeric-cranberry mask brightens and energizes complexions. It sells for $40 at Sephora.

The two essentials in a makeup bag—blush and mascara, of course—are a package deal in Pixi’s Makeup Duo ($22). A mix of ginseng, aloe vera and fruit extracts, the On-the-Glow blush gives a hint of natural color while moisturizing skin. The solid stick format also makes it easy to swipe on the lips. The Large Lash mascara adds volume that can be built up without leading to brittle lashes, thanks to ingredients like vitamin E, panthenol and bamboo extract that strengthen and nourish.

After exiting her eponymous brand, in 2020, makeup legend Bobbi Brown launched her next act—Jones Road. Brown calls it a “collection of simple, smart products for all ages, skin types and skin tones that help women achieve the no-makeup makeup look naturally.” The 101 Set includes two shades of complexion pencils to conceal and even skin tone, an inky, pigmented black mascara and Miracle Balm, a light-reflecting product to wear alone on cheeks, lips or eyes or to layer.

What’s better than one fragrance choice. Four! That’s how many are in Hermès’s Compose Your Own Set of Colognes  ($136). Enjoy choosing which 15ml travel sprays you want as a gift for yourself or another lucky recipient.

Pictured above, from left to right are eau de citron noir (citrus fruits combined with smoky and woody notes of black lime), eau de basilic pourpre (purple basil with geranium), eau de rhubarb ecarlate (crisp but with mellow notes) and eau d’orange verte. Plus, there’s that distinctive Hermès box, which contains them all.

If you have any doubt what to get a tween—or teen—on your list, IMHO, you can’t go wrong with this set of six scents from singer/songwriter Ariana Grande. Each .25 ounce fragrance is named after one of her hit tunes. It sells for $48 at Ulta.

Beauty advent calendars from the likes of Charlotte Tilbury, Liberty London, Space NK and Christian Louboutin are already sold out. A choice from Dermstore, a trusted source for skincare and beauty products, which includes 25 products, is still available. Among the treasured contents are a SkinMedica Dermal Repair Cream, a Kate Somerville vitamin C serum, a 111SKIN Rose Gold Facial Brightening Treatment Mask and a Peter Thomas Roth eye cream. For yourself or anyone who enjoys the thrill of a cosmetics hunt. It sells for $150.

Oh what fun it will be to play with Wander Beauty’s Mini Double Date Lip + Cheek set ($25, Bluemercury). Six mini lightweight gels will flush cheeks, brighten eyes and blush lips shades Spring Fling (peachy pink), Suite Talker (nude peach), Rendezvous (peony pink/clear), Honeymoon (rosy nude), Be Mine (watermelon pink) and Swipe (clear balm). All shades can be used alone or layered with other colors. What teenager wouldn’t love this?

Content is king, of course, but a metallic case with celestial motifs will hold pride of place on any self-respecting vanity. Inside, Dior’s multi-use makeup palette includes one illuminating powder, five eyeshadows, four lip shades, two blushes, a double-ended applicator for eyes and lips and a blush applicator. For those of us who can’t find the lipstick or blush we’re looking for, it helps to have them all in one place.  It sells for $115 at Saks Fifth Avenue.

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