Beauty Bible Christmas Gift Guide 2024: The Stocking Fillers
Welcome to the second of our curated guides to the best beauty buys for the hurtling-towards-us festive season. (That came round quick, eh?) But this year, what’s been interesting to us is how beauty names have really read the room, and kept things more accessibly-priced.
That’s not to say that there aren’t luxurious delights out there for those who truly can afford them (if you’re lucky enough to be able to splash £1,000 on a skincare coffret, good for you!) But we can’t, and nor can anyone we know – so, over the next few November Tuesdays and Thursdays, we’ll be focusing on choices that offer great value, while promising truly to delight and cheer.
And all chosen from brands who we know, like (sometimes adore!), and trust to deliver quality and a high pleasure factor. Today, it’s the turn of stocking fillers – which we think, even in inflationary times, should be under a tenner. (Our tea snorts out of our noses when we read elsewhere about stocking fillers for £75 – and yes, that is a thing!)
Weleda Skin Food Pocket Pack (main image, above, gingerbread not included!)
Skin Food is our frequent and top recommendation to anyone suffering from sensitive, reactive, dry skin – an absolute icon of a product, and a multi-award-winning moisturiser (including a couple from Beauty Bible). Here, a 10ml travel size is tucked inside a decorative drum (which can be repurposed), alongside an 8ml lip balm. One for wannabe green beauties, this.
£10 – buy here
William Morris At Home Bird & Yare Festive Drum Gift Set
TBH, nobody does ‘amazing value’ better than Heathcote & Ivory, who are behind the William Morris At Home range (as well as Cath Kidston and C.Atherley), and thus we make absolutely no apologies for featuring several of their offerings this year, at a time when everyone’s feeling the pinch. Here, a perfect-for-the-season Clementine & Clove Bubble Bath (50ml) and Hand Cream (15ml), tucked inside a drum decorated with William Morris’s Bird & Yare design, which can be repurposed.
£9 – buy here
e.l.f. No Drips Head & Wrist Bands
OK, so slightly on the practical side, but with their cute bow design, these are honestly genius – especially if you know someone who loves a facial wash, or who double-cleanses; they catch the water that always seems to run down to nightie sleeves, condemning you to a night of damp wrists. And of course, they also protect the hairline and stop a fringe from getting soaked.
£8 – buy here
Cath Kidston A Doll's House Mirror Compact Eggnog Lip Balm
These little mirrored lip compacts from Cath Kidston are sooooooo useful – you can use them for checking your face before a rendezvous – while the balm inside is packed with lip-loving ingredients including hyaluronic acid, shea and cocoa butters, coconut and baobab seed oils and vitamin E. We are absolutely in love with this year’s doll’s house designs across the whole Cath Kidston collection.
£8 – buy here
Trinny London T-Top Stackable Mirror
Well, if we’re talking mirrors… We find this invaluable, as it clicks onto the top of any Trinny ‘stack’ so that you can make up, on-the-go. Depending on the recipient you could, of course, add this as a topper to any other Trinny London treat, to dial up its gorgeousness factor; we know few women who wouldn’t be delighted by a pot of the brilliant Miracle Blur, for instance (absolutely astonishing for magicking away visible lines), or a gorgeous pot of lip gloss. (Even though if you do this, it will bust through our stocking filler ceiling.)
£10 – buy here
M&S Apothecary Sleep Bath Salts
Most of M&S’s excellent Apothecary range comes in at under a tenner, but the most stocking-worthy choices, we reckon, are the Bath Salts – which come in a lovely cork-sealed storage jar for refilling or reusing. The smells are all truly great and properly aromatherapeutic, but we think anyone would welcome the gift of sleep, with these salts infused with jasmine, vetiver, eucalyptus and lavender.
£7.50 for 300g – buy here
Hand on heart, Team Beauty Bible has never, ever found a pillow spray to rival This Works Deep Sleep. (Jo just converted her husband Craig, and he’s equally hooked.) Here, find this sleep-beckoning marvel in a travel size alongside their Stress Check roll-on – one for keeping in the apron pocket during the festivities, we advise.
£10 - buy here
We couldn’t be more pleased that the beauty world has in the past 18 months woken up to the importance of maintaining a healthy barrier function, to protect skin and maintain moisture levels. (Enough of all that stripping away of skin layers, we say!) For British brand BYOMA, barrier function is a cornerstone of their skincare approach – so here, in a cute tree gift, find travel sizes of Moisturizing Gel-Cream and Hydrating Serum. A great gift for any age.
£10 – buy here
Sanctuary Spa Signature Starter Kit
Sanctuary Spa’s signature scent – showcased in three bath treats, here – is much-loved by even the most discerning fragrance writers. (Including Jo). Cocooning, ambery, smoochy, snugglesome, to be enjoyed here in 75ml sizes of Signature Body Wash, Body Scrub and Body Lotion. All for eight quid!
£8 – buy here
A true beauty-hound’s Christmas stocking is not a proper Christmas stocking without a LUSH Bath Bomb. Always incredibly accessibly priced, we’d call this one of the most sophisticated fragrance options on offer – lavender and tonka – and rather adore the polar bear shape.
£3.75 – buy here
