Yay, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We love this time of year; BGS Towers could be mistaken for Santa’s workshop, with our Christmas elves busy packing gift parcels, sending each one off with a big green smile and a sprinkle of Christmas magic. Whoever you need a gift for – from your best friend to the office Secret Santa - we’ve just the treat you need!
It seems like Christmas spirits are especially high this year. Shoppers are feeling more confident and in the mood for indulgence, after a few austerity years. Our elves tell us that luxury beauty products are on lots of your wishlists. Hurrah!
If you’ve yet to start your Christmas shopping, or if you still have a few awkward gaps, we can help. We asked our friends, family, customers and experts for gift ideas for the important people in life. This is what they came up with. Enjoy shopping, and Happy Christmas!
For your best girlfriends
You don’t see them often enough, but when you do get together, it’s like you’re 21 again! Christmas is the perfect time to show your best girlfriends, no matter how ancient you all are now, just how much you love them.
We’ve picked this Weleda Skin Food, because it’s an absolute cult beauty buy, and totally worthy of your best buds. It has won several magazine awards and was spotted in Alexa Cheung’s handbag. You might all be 30-something but admit it, you still wouldn’t mind a bit of whatever Alexa’s having!
What’s more, it is so reasonably priced you could afford to buy one for every BFF. Great for face and hands, also dry spots such as knees and elbows, and even eczema, say our customers.
For your sister
We’ve picked this Dr Hauschka Daily Face Care Kit, £18.95, because every woman deserves to experience Dr. Hauschka at least once. Nobody tries Dr. Hauschka and feels disappointed. Products are 100% natural and made from the finest ingredients harvested at the peak of their potency. They smell and feel amazing.
This is a Dr.Hauschka Hero product. Hero products are all highly-revered, award-winning products that produce brilliant, beautiful skin.
For the man in your life
Yes, we can even sort out a gift for your chap too. He might think he wants a Harley or a year’s supply of Adnams, but we know better! What he really needs is this Korres Men’s Kit, £19, from you or the children. Makes a change from socks!
New from these Greek masters of natural beauty products, the kit contains shampoo, shower gel, shave cream and an after-shave moisturiser, with such clever ingredients as absinthe, guava and dittany. We can bet he’s never tried shaving with absinthe before, so it’s the gift of a new experience too! Just not the one he thought he wanted...
For teenagers
Put down the onesies, people, and buy your teenagers a gift they won’t be embarrassed about come summer.
We have the perfect gift idea for older teenage girls. A little bird tells us that the hottest make-up look is still all about the eyes and nails. Yes, those eyelashes that look like feathered fans, with cats-eye eyeliner flicks, a la Alexa Cheung, are here to stay.
Pop this Dr. Hauschka Liquid Eyeliner in black or brown, and this Lavera Double Black Mascara, £13.15, together in a gift bag, and for really good girls add a Zoya nail varnish in on-trend blue, £10.50, and we guarantee you one happy young lady for at least, well, an afternoon. She is a teenager, after all.
We must also mention our Dr. Bronner’s Body Tattoo balms, what with body art being to older teenagers what Furbies are to the under-10s. These would make great stocking fillers for the lads too.
These balms are great for helping new tattoos heal and restoring the colour in older ones. Buy the Patchouli Lime ones and make them feel totally Woodstock. Just cross your fingers that they don’t buy an "I Heart Marbs" tattoo with gran’s Christmas money.
For your lovely mum (and mum-in-law)
Surprise your mum and mother-in-law this year and don’t buy them something with rose in it. Wonderful as it is, rose can be a bit predictable for ladies of a certain age, and there’s nothing more likely to raise a smile than a gift which says “I know you’re still 27 on the inside!”
We’ve picked this Melvita Naturalift Youthful Skin Serum, £34. Its natural, anti-ageing ingredients, including lavender, argan, aloe vera and rosehip, will lift the appearance of mature skin, help to smooth lines, gently plump and lightly tighten, while also feeding the structure of the skin beneath.
Mums stuck in a beauty time warp somewhere in the Seventies will thank you for bringing them up to date with a serum, currently one of the best-selling skincare innovations on the market.
If £34 busts your budget, another great idea is to buy a lovely nail varnish and have your teenage daughter give gran a manicure and varnish on Christmas Day. Priceless.
For little Billie’s school teacher
What Primary school teachers most want at this time of year is a vat of hand sanitiser, a box of balm-infused tissues and a breathing mask, such is this the season of winter bugs amongst the under-11s. But that’s just not very Christmassy.
Instead, we suggest this Burt’s Bees Beeswax and Banana Hand Crème, £9.50, so that after all the handwashing to keep germs at bay Miss Dogood can at least still have soft mitts. It won’t break the bank, and can’t possibly offend in the way that shower gel or a fancy deodorant might.
Office Secret Santa
It’s tempting to go for the laughs, or the inappropriately saucy gift, for the Office Secret Santa, but you know what will happen. Yes, the set of comedy moustaches will go to the lady in accounts… with the obvious moustache. Ouch!!
Play it safe and plum for this Korres Party Survival Set, £19. It will help one lucky recipient remove that party make-up, wash the food fight out of their hair, and perk them up after a night on the dance floor. It includes facial cleansers, creams, shower gels, shampoos and body milk, with zingy ingredients such as tea tree, lemon and basil.
Of course, the rest of the office will be lying face down in their bacon sandwiches the morning after, wondering how to regift ten Naked Firemen calendars and an "I’m the boss of me" mug. You, on the other hand, will probably get promoted.
Don’t forget you!!
Come on, after all of that shopping you deserve a treat too! Buy it for yourself, or add it to the basket and get your man to buy it for you. We say go straight for fabulous indulgence with this Nourish Argan Beauty Collection, £25, or the Korres Best of Korres Kit, £19.
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We love Nourish, an organic beauty company created in 2012 and certified by the Soil Association. The Argan Beauty Collection contains Argan Skin Rescue, a natural collagen enhancer to bring bounce and balance back to stressed skins, Argan Skin Renew moisturiser and Golden Glow Illuminating Face Shimmer, suitable for all skin types.
The Korres set, £19, is fantastic value for money, with five handy travel sized products, giving you a great introduction to the brand, and the perfect post-Christmas shopping pampering session. The set contains a white tea gel cleanser, a wild rose brightening face mask and moisturising face cream, a basil lemon shower gel, and for a luxurious finish; a silky guava body butter. After all that shopping and pampering, it’s time to slip into some festive pjs, under a blanket, and stick a Christmas movie on the telly.
Happy Christmas everybody!
(Christmas decoration photo by Christina Rutz)