Ten gift ideas under $50:
From Gianni Rose, 4 pear-shaped soaps: "Enjoy the scent of freshly picked pairs [sic] with these 4 French-milled soaps, enriched with moisture-rich buttermilk and exfoliating oatmeal." $33 at Caswell Massey.
From Estee Lauder, Youth Dew in a "classic bottle styled after the vintage original from the '50s." $28 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum.
From the James Boyce collection at Voluspa, the Sommelier candle tin, with ruby port, mission fig and star anise. 85 hour burn time, $18 at Nooks and Niches. From L'Occitane, Frangipani Shea Hand Cream. "Frangipani flowers are steeped in beauty oils by the women of Madagascar for a scent reminiscent of the tropics. With a very high content of shea butter, this limited edition hand cream protects, nourishes and softens your hands." $10 for 30 ml.
From Lavanila, The Healthy Fragrance Mini Roller-Ball Set, with four 4.5 ml roller-balls in Vanilla Coconut, Pure Vanilla, Vanilla Grapefruit, Vanilla Lavender. $28 at Sephora.
From Philosophy, Eggnog 3-in-1 (shampoo, bubble bath & shower gel). $16 for 480 ml at Philosophy.
From Victoria's Secret, a coffret featuring 12 perfumes (Dream Angels Heavenly, Dream Angels Desire, Dream Angels Wish, Dream Angels Divine, Very Sexy, Very Sexy Dare, Very Sexy Hot, Body by Victoria, Victoria's Secret Pink, Sexy Little Things, Sexy Little Things Ooh La La, Sexy Little Things Noir and Supermodel). $25. There's also a set with all 5 of the Parfums Intimes scents in 75 ml "Fragrance Mist" for $45 (not shown).
From Demeter, the Herbology Take-Out set, with 30 ml each of Ginseng Root, Green Tea and Fresh Ginger. $35 at Demeter Fragrance.
From Carol's Daughter, a candle in their Almond Cookie fragrance: "Add a little spice to your holidays and ignite a moment of magic with this intensely aromatic blend of almonds and marzipan – the perfect little indulgence for someone special, or for yourself." $29.
From Yves Rocher, the Fleur de Noël candle: "To recreate the magic of Christmas even in the home, Yves Rocher was inspired by a white flower to create this delicate floral fragrance, a true cocoon of gentleness that blossoms on a fruity and musky heart." $10, 24 hour burn time.
Wow. There are some great ideas here. I know someone who’d love the Philosophy Egg Nog 3 in 1. Yay for completing that gift idea. Thanks, Robin! I’m longing for the Frangipani hand cream and Voluspa candles for myself. I love Voluspa. And tho pear soaps look nice for the guest bath.
The Philosophy 3-in-1s are kind of expensive for shower gel (and I found them disastrous on my hair, forget it) but I do like the scents! And my son adores the Chocolate Ice Cream one.
I very much want that hand cream too! I need to do a little trip to L’Occitane.
The pear soaps would indeed be very nice. Robin, I don’t know whether you get it where you live, but Alessandro hand care also have a very good hand cream. They have a celebrity (I hope I write it as it has to be) 20 years edition: Hands up cream rich intensive 100 ml aprox. $ 21 and a hands up nice day handlotion 100 ml for aprox. $ 16. They contain shea butter and mango butter. Please, if you don’t want to have this comment here, feel free to remove it. Regards,
No, thanks for the tip! I don’t know the brand at all.
I have to tell you, I really liked the smell of Oatmeal Cookie (I think) Philosophy 3-in-1 and I was disappointed when I actually used it in the shower. It turned gray as it lathered and the smell got really cloying in my shower. And Robin is correct: these are not meant for a head of hair.
Oh, that’s too bad! I’ve been happy with them as shower gels.
I love the Youth Dew bottle – I don’t like their regular bottle, so I ordered that one from the website when I bought it last year. It’s really cute in person – and I like that it’s opaque to protect the juice.
Miss Kitty V found that bottle…I didn’t know they sold it that way these days! I like it much better than the glass one too.
These gift guides are so cool. I have family in the US but rarely get adventurous with Xmas gift for them. However, I think that nice candle in a tin would be just right for my cousin’s girlfriend. I’m looking forward to the ‘boy friendly’ section so I can find something for my cousin and his teenage son. (Though I’m pretty sure the teen would appreciate the bucks more than anything!)
Boy-friendly edition is so hard to do! But I’ll do one 🙂
I love those little pear soaps! And I want the L’Occitane hand cream.
Gianni Rose makes really nice soaps…and they do nice packaging.
Oh Fleur de Noël, be mine! To me, Christmas has more scent-associations than any other time or holiday.
I love scented candles at Christmas too…I want to find a nice orange-clove one.
on the Day of Atonement, when we fast totally for about 26 hrs, some of the ladies take an orange, make holes all around through the skin and into the pulp. then they fill it with cloves and it is the most magnificent smell(it helps the hunger , feeling faint and the nausea that come with fasting) it has been done with lemon as well but the orange and clove mix is increadible
Yes…that’s a common holiday craft here too! When I was younger, you made them to hang in the closet or to put in a dresser drawer.
Can’t wait to try the L’Occitane scented hand creams, and want to smell that Maquis candle too.
They’ve got hand creams in rosebud, acacia & ylang ylang too…I’d like one of each.
What a great collection! Thanks Robin. That almond cookie candle has my name all over it. Oh wait – were these supposed to be gifts for OTHER people?!? LOL!
I follow the “one for you, two for me” rule 🙂
You’re so much more generous than I am. I am so far following the “two for me, none for you” rule this holiday season. I’m horrible.
Happy belated birthday, by the way! I’m always a day late and a dollar short. 🙂
Thank you!
Lovely list–thanks, Robin.
Those pear soaps really are adorable. And I look forward to trying the Sommelier candle.
When I saw the VS coffret, however, for some reason my first thought was, what if Frederic Malle did a coffret like this? Then again, I guess it would be nowhere near $50 or less.
Frederic Malle did at one time (and might still?) do a coffret of 10 ml travel sprays. It was expensive, but they do have lots of scents. Wish they’d do one at 5 ml…the size of their samples.