Our second-to-last holiday gift post focuses on budget options and stocking stuffers. Next up: luxury.
If you missed them, check out part 1 (scented body products), part 2 (travel sizes & coffrets), part 3 (home fragrance), part 4 (gifts for men), part 5 (solid perfumes) and part 6: (more travel sizes & coffrets).
From Nordstrom, empty travel atomizers in black, gold, purple, red, silver and pink. $5 each.
From Elizabeth Arden, Green Tea Honey Drops Body Cream: "Soften, soothe and condition your skin with our super moisturizing all-over body cream infused with a blend of real honey and fragrant green tea extract to help calm and condition dry skin." $19.50.
A bunch of rollerball duos. From left, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb + lipgloss, $35 at Bloomingdales. Next, Coach Poppy + Poppy Flower, $22 at Sephora. Then from DKNY, Be Delicious + Be Delicious Fresh Blossom, $20. Next, Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy + Viva La Juicy La Fleur, $25, also at Sephora. At far right, from Michael Kors, Michael Kors Signature + lip gloss, $22.
From Laura Mercier, the La Petite Patisserie Sampler Hand Crème Quartet, with four 30 ml tubes (almond coconut milk, crème brulée, crème de pistache and fresh fig). $28 at Saks Fifth Avenue.
From Aftelier, Chef's Essence Sprays, in a variety of flavors (lime, cumin, sweet basil, litsea cubeba, cocoa, blood orange, ginger, etc). $16-$22 each.
From Crabtree & Evelyn, lip butters in Creme de Menthe, Citron Creme & Honey, Vanilla Creme Brulee and Pomegranate. $9 each.
A classic: Stetson bar soap. $1.99 at Beauty Encounter.
Am I the only one who thinks those perfume + lipgloss roll-on things are fraught with peril? I just know that while stumbling through my morning routine, I’d end up slathering perfume on my chapped lips.
Ha…that’s so funny, I didn’t even think of it but it’s exactly the dumb sort of thing I would do.
I can see myself doing that as well, but I do love the idea; perfume and lipgloss are the extent of my beauty products! Be nice to have them both together like that. Think Amouage and Caron will jump on this train? 😉
That’s the first thing I thought of when I read this!
Robin, I have really enjoyed this entire gift series, thank you!
So glad! They’re fun to do. Sadly, the budget is the hardest, and the luxury post nearly writes itself, LOL…
Can anybody vouch for the quality and user-friendliness of the Nordstrom atomizers? I’ve had terrible luck so far with inexpensive atomizers.
I had one once, from when Nordstrom used to be willing to fill them for free from any tester. Don’t think they still do that, or at least, not all stores do.
It was fine, but I never re-used it (nor did I ever carry it around in a purse) so can’t speak to its durability.
I don’t have an atomizer, but I do have a rollerball that was given to me as a bonus with a purchase. It functions fine, but the quality of the decorative coating (a shiny silver color), is quite poor. It looks sort of junky, to be honest–patchy, not smooth but sort of warped-looking, and easy to scratch. But, who knows? Maybe they reserve the lower quality stuff for giveaways?
The Nordstrom atomizers are elegant-looking and work well per my experience. Each one comes packaged in a clear on 3 sides plastic container and comes with a pouch (which I never use because I just can’t be bothered). I just looked at the atomizer I threw into one of the pockets of my work back-pack and it still looks as good as new and sprays nicely.
I recently bought $15 atomizers from Sephora that looks like they’re much easier to fill that regular atomizers…haven’t tried one yet but it looked interesting and I had a $20 off of $50 coupon which I had to use.
Thanks, guys. I’ll probably stick with the Flo atomizers — it does seem silly to shell out for expensive perfume and then lose it because of a leaky el-cheapo atomizer. (Agree with Relleric below about the skinny Sephora atomizers; I bought a few when they were on sale for $3, and the first time I traveled with one I ended up with Dzongkha all over my cosmetics bag.)
Hi Emily: in a pinch I’ve used the Nordies atomizers for myself or swaps – it always seems the online decanters are out of 5 mls when I need them. I’ve never had a problem with them, and they are a bit more crush proof in a handbag than the normal plain glass atomizer. You just have to make sure they are screwed in really good b/c the screw in part is up under the plastic covering.
I bought several of these atomizers last year and every single one of them leaks. I know I shouldn’t expect much from a $5 atomizer, but when I fill them with expensive fragrance it is aggravating to find them leaking all over the place.
I’ve had better luck with even cheaper plastic ones where you don’t screw the sprayer in, rather it pops in.
I’ve also had bad luck with several of the long, slender atomizers that I got at Sephora.
Thanks so much — good to know.
I’ve bought several Flo atomisers and they don’t leak. They are very easy to fill as well. You can get them cheaply on evilbay 😉
Thanks!
Yeah, the Flo is my favorite so far. Good tip about eBay — I’d been buying them from Sephora for $15 a pop.