Happy Holidays! If you have deeply particular people on your list, the sort who are absolutely shattered when ugly labels cross their threshold, a beautiful, considered (and use-up-able) beauty gift is the perfect solution.
Astier de Villatte Nara incense ($80, Advice from a Caterpillar) doesn’t smell Christmassy per se, but the warm sandalwood and amber room filling scent is decidedly seasonal and the delicate pale blue box is beautiful enough to leave on a side table. Sure, $80 is steep for incense, but it’s not a lot for Astier de Villatte. This is called girl-math.
Soft, lint-free Cle de Peau Le Coton cotton pads, Sephora Canada, $45. are extravagant to buy for yourself, but pretty reasonable as a gift. Gentle and cushioning, they are an If You Know, You Know gift that, once you try them, it’s hard to go back to the pedestrian, scratchy ones in a plastic sleeve.
A successful, sensory beauty gift should seamlessly improve your life without a lot of what the Brits call ‘faffing about.’ Steam On shower steamers $26, from Canadian essential oil mothership, Saje, are shower tabs that fizz and release spa scents on your shower’s steam. Add a Jute & Joy Tingle Mint soap filled wash pad, $17, for an energizing all over scrub and possible sensory overload (but the best kind.)
A tube of toothpaste, with its bold, usually red and blue logo, seen first thing in the morning, or at the end of a long day, can rightly be considered a visual assault. But Marvis Whitening Mint toothpaste ($13 well.ca) , from Italy, elevates the brushing experience (the metal tube, the real tasting mint!) while also looking great sink side.
Any Kérastase Holiday Haircare set is a great gift, especially if you follow the ‘one for me one for them’ rule. And this one from the Blond Absolu range, $144, Kerastase.ca. is a moisture and life-giving essential for anyone with blonde or silver hair. And equally important, the fragrance is top shelf (a Kérastase signature) as life is too short to suffer ‘mass’ (aka cheap) smelling beauty products.
Just look at the sheer beauty of this bath oil from Olverum, a spa line that began in Germany a century ago. ($84, detox market.ca) With its fir needle, eucalyptus and rosemary scent, this nourishing oil is perfect when you need to thaw out in the tub after a day on the frozen tundra (aka most of Canada in the winter.)
As candle prices detach from sanity, I am ever more grateful that Canada’s Lohn continues to release singular scented candles in their frosted glass vessels. For the holiday season, their Nord candle $56, Holt Renfrew. in a sleek white porcelain vessel is a black spruce and pine wonder that plops you down in the centre of an icy forest.