Beauty products are always a smart choice when it comes to gifting — who doesn’t love to be treated to wow-worthy skincare sets and bestselling beauty products? That said, there’s always a fine line between what could elicit whoops of excitement or be met with a frown. Whether it’s the right lipstick to enhance your complexion or the perfect, failsafe fragrance to turn heads in a room, our list of pampering gift sets factor in today’s most coveted beauty industry titans — all dressed in stunning presentations for the festive season.
Drunk Elephant Trunk 3.0
If your gift recipient is a lover of cult skincare brands, this holiday trunk of Drunk Elephant goodies is no doubt the ultimate treat. The US brand boasts powerful products all free of six suspicious ingredient categories including drying alcohols, silicones, chemical sunscreens, fragrances, SLS and essential oils. 10 of the brand’s best-selling items — from the Beste No.9 Jelly Cleanser to T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum — fill up this instagrammable mini-fridge, perfect for keeping your products cool, preserving those potent active ingredients and extending their shelf life.
HK$3,560 from Sephora
Sunday Riley Ultimate Vault Skincare Kit Vol. 1
Speaking of trunks, this treasure chest of high performance skincare by Texas-born brand Sunday Riley is also sure to be high on any skincare junkie’s wishlist. The Vault features the brand’s famous Ceramic Slip Cleanser, the hero product Good Genes Lactic Acid Treatment, which helps deeply exfoliate dull skin, A+ High-Dose Retinoid Serum, ultra-hydrating Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream, Juno Antioxidant + Superfood Face Oil, Luna Sleeping Night Oil and more. Anyone looking to do a skincare shelf overhaul can rest easy with this complete collection, and you won’t have to worry about running out of product any time soon: the Vault features all full-sized numbers, rather than the dinky travel-sized items typically found in holiday hauls.
HK$3,500 from Sephora
Aman Skincare Nourishing Discovery Set
Launching its first foray into skincare this year, Aman has released five sumptuous online-exclusive gift sets for the holiday season, bringing the local spa rituals from the exotic, far-flung locations of its properties into your home. The Nourishing Discovery Set repairs and revitalises the skin while also refreshing the senses, with ingredients and essential oil scents that evoke the lush tropical climates at Cambodia’s Amanoi. Featuring voluptuous bottles designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, this set includes the Ultimate Cream Cleanser, the Rain Face Mist and the Silk Cocoon Face Cream.
£212 (HK$2,135) from Aman
Augustinus Bader Discovery Duo
Beauty bloggers and editors have been raving about Augustinus Bader’s uncanny ability to replace an entire comprehensive skin routine with just two pumps of product a day. Thanks to German-born scientist Augustinus Bader’s work in regenerative medicine healing burns victims, the skincare brand centres on the proprietary TFC8, or Trigger Factor Complex, that jumpstarts one’s own stem cells to repair and renew the skin. This Discovery Duo is the gateway drug to the Bader cult, featuring travel sizes of both the Cream and the Rich Cream for day and night rituals.
HK$1,215/15ml from Lane Crawford
Angela Caglia Rose Quartz Eye Mask
Angela Caglia’s Rose Quartz masks are a thoughtful gift for friends and loved ones plagued with concerns of puffy, tired eyes — think new mothers or jet-lagged souls, or simply the everyday tech addict. Offering a deluxe spa experience for your peepers, this rose quartz eye mask helps improve blood circulation around the eyes, releases toxins and closes pores. It can also be applied to the chin area to stimulate the jowls and fine lines around the mouth.
HK$1,100 from Lane Crawford
Eve Lom Deluxe Rescue Ritual
Looking to gift someone special a spa-worthy pampering ritual at home? This Eve Lom Rescue Ritual set pairs its bestselling miracle workers for an indulgent nighttime routine: the deeply purifying cleanser — touted to chase away the most hardy of party makeup residue as well as helps skin stay plump and moisturised up to 12 hours after use — and the rescue mask — a deeply purifying formula that ensures an even and toned complexion. The set comes with a soft Eve Lom muslin cloth to complete your at-home spa sesh.
HK$1,100 from Eve Lom
Aesop Of Muse and Myth: The Chronicle
The arts are considered to be the gel that binds humans together, so naturally Aesop celebrates the arts this holiday season as what unites people, from its product innovation team to customers gifting their loved ones. The seasonal gift kits this year pay homage to the ancient muses of Greek mythology, thought to have birthed culture, literature and the arts. The stylish vanity cases are dressed in newly designed sleeves by New York-based artist Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, while their contents feature some of Aesop’s bestselling goodies for skin, body and the home. The Chronicler ensures an indulgent and purifying nighttime skincare routine for whomever receives your gift: pampering the skin with a scrub, a cleansing masque and face oil.
HK$970 from Aesop
YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Sheer Matte
For any girl about town who needs a sweep of sophistication, the perfect accessory for this season for celebrations is none other than a bold, sharply pigmented pout. YSL’s latest lipstick is a comfortable matte rendition of its classic Rouge Pur Couture The Slim, dressed in a sleek silver packaging that matches perfectly for Christmas and countdown outfits alike (savvy Chinese netizens have even been fondly naming it the ‘little silver bullion’). The angular, easy to apply silver bullet seemingly does the impossible, with a powdery texture that feels lightweight and softens the look of lip lines, while offering wow-worthy pigmentation that stays all day.
HK$310 from YSL Beauty
GHD Royal Dynasty Deluxe Gift Set
Make 2020 a year of great hair for your loved ones by gifting this luxury kit by Good Hair Day. GHD is treating their loyal fans and users like royalty this year with an array of regal burgundy vanity cases paired with sumptuous hair styling kits in a limited edition blush pink for the holidays. The Deluxe Gift Set is sure to impress, with the top-of-the-line Platinum+ smart styler and the Air professional hairdryer both stored snugly in a lush double-decker case.
HK$3,500 from Lane Crawford
Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle The Essential Collection
The iconic bright red coffret is enough to tease any fragrance fan anytime of year. For aficionados, owning a bottle under the hallowed label of perfume publisher Frederic Malle brands oneself as one of true discerning tastes — so why not own five? This Essential Collection curates five of the best scents aimed at women or men, with five miniature 7ml bottles each. The women’s box set, shown here, contains the elegant tuberose-forward Carnal Flower, fresh and summery Eau de Magnolia, the classic floral Iris Poudre, the sex appeal-oozing Musc Ravageur, and the ultimate symbol of elegance, Portrait of a Lady.
HK$1,200 from Lane Crawford
La Prairie Customised Gift Box
An opulent, customised gift box from La Prairie this holiday season is sure to be the pride and joy of your skincare shelf in the coming months. Choose a serum, eye cream and moisturiser from any of La Prairie’s luxury ranges to compose a tailor-made set with special gift packaging. For the latest in the Swiss skincare house’s lifting and firming technologies, you’ll want to choose the Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Cream, a recent release that infuses La Prairie’s proprietary caviar premier to help lift, tone and soften fine lines around the eyes.
Price upon request from La Prairie