One of the cheeriest things we do each year is to get together with a team of big-hearted beauty industry colleagues and assemble beautiful-in-every-way Christmas pressies for hundreds of the young people living in Centrepoint’s hostels. For anyone who doesn’t know, this charity – royal patron Prince William (who was first introduced to Centrepoint as a child by his mother, the Princess of Wales) – does incredible work with the young homeless. They’re encouraged back into education or vocational training, assigned work experience and in all sorts of ways are able to rebuild their self-esteem before going back out into the big wide world after a couple of years as highly independent and motivated young people who’ve truly been helped to turn their lives around.

Least we can do, then, is to give them something special at Christmas – tapping into the immense generosity of the beauty industry. A team of elves – including Beauty Bible’s Amy and Jo, Beautyseen’s Michelle Boon, Kirsty Lewis (bareMinerals), Elemis’s Lisa Bobroff, Sarah Duguid (Sisley), PR dynamo Sharon Whiting and motivational expert Sharron Lowe (author of the fantastic book The Mind Makever), among others, assemble bags of fabulous beauty products at Centrepoint’s Camberwell project.

As for the past few years, we were also delighted to have the support of Jane Cunningham, a.k.a. the fabulous British Beauty Blogger  who tapped into her extensive Little Black Book to gather donations from wide and far, helping to make these the best bags ever, we think! (And we’ve been doing this for well over a decade…)

It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time – but so satisfying to know that on Christmas Day, these young people will be waking up to a gift which demonstrates that there really are many people out there who care. This year, we were not only able to assemble 250 gifts for the young women in London projects, but dispatch hundreds more for the residents (boys, too) in Centrepoint’s Sunderland and Bradford hostels.

So on Friday, when we wake up, we will be giving thanks for our blessings – and smiling at the thought of the young women who’ll be ooh-ing, aah-ing (and probably squealing) over gifts generously donated by the following, among others… This Works, Estée Lauder, Elemental Herbology, Lanolips, Elegant Touch, Bee Good, BadgeQuo, Elemis, Balance Me, Burt's Bees, bareMinerals, Lee Stafford, Orla Kiely, Eyelure, NARS, Manuka Doctor, Collection, Pierre Frabre, KORRES, Lulu's Timebomb, Cartier  and Dr Organic.

And if you’d like to show your support for Centrepoint, find them at www.centrepoint.org