#THE 2021 Holiday Gift Giving Guide - Skincare Edition
The holidays are here and it’s time to splurge on yourself and your loved ones. Here’s the ultimate guide to gift give your favorite people the skincare that will actually make a difference. Happy shopping! And remember, don’t buy a gift for nobody that you can’t post.
Skincare Sets for Him and Her - For Under $100 and for all Skin Types
When gifting skincare it’s important to make sure it’s something the recipient can actually use and understand how to use. This means quality skincare that can be used daily - hydrating and skin barrier strengthening products. This is a double win because during the holidays/winter time people are usually suffering from seasonal skin dryness. Here are some value sets that’ll help your loved ones keep their skin glowy and hydrated all winter long.
Youth to the People’s “The Youth System” Set ($55) - This set is perfect for the skincare junkie in your life. Youth to the People is one of my favorite brands with high quality formulas. The set features a travel sized version of their iconic Superfood Cleanser, 15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum, Superfood Air-Whip Moisture Cream, Superberry Hydrate + Glow Oil, Dream Eye Cream, and Yerba Mate Resurfacing Energy Facial. Here’s a breakdown on what these products do:
Superfood Cleanser - This is a daily hydrating cleanser. Loaded with skin soothing, anti inflammatory ingredients and antioxidants to help with skin cellular repair. This cleanser is the perfect gift because it can be used all the time!
15% Vitamin C + Clean Caffeine Energy Serum - This is a daily hydrating serum to treat dull and uneven skin. The serum hydrates with ingredients like aloe leaf juice and squalane and treats uneven skin tone with vitamin C.
Superfood Air Whip-Moisture Cream - This moisturizer is perfect for the wintertime. It’s hydrating and has skin soothing and nourishing ingredients like vitamin B5 and green tea extract. It’s suited for all skin types.
Superberry Hydrate + Glow Oil - This is the final layer of the night time routine of the dry skin babe in your life. It seals the hydration to your skin with ingredients like prickly pear and squalane oil and evens skin tone with vitamin C.
Yerba Mate Energy Resurfacing Energy Facial - This is one of my favorite physical facial exfoliants (yes, “scrubs” can be safe!). It works for both men and women, especially men with beards. It physically exfoliates with bamboo and diatomaceous earth and chemically exfoliates with gentle enzymes. It’s the perfect mid week skin pick me up for the skin care lover in your life.
innisfree Green Tea Hydrating Heroes Set ($35) - This set is a great intro to skincare kit for someone looking to pamper themselves without having to deal with a complicated skincare regimen. Every item in this set are focused on hydration and nourishment, so they’re safe to use daily both day and night. Here’s a breakdown on what the kit includes:
Hydrating Cleansing Foam with Green Tea - This is a daily hydrating cleanser for all skin types. This creamy cleanser uses green tea extract to hydrate and soothe the skin and a little bit of lactic acid to brighten and even skin tone.
Intensive Hydrating Toner with Green Tea Seed - This is a daily hydrating toner. Hydrating toners help deliver hydration and help serums penetrate better. This toner uses green tea an panthenol (vitamin B5) to restore the skin barrier and calm redness and inflammation.
Green Tea Seed Intensive Hydrating Serum - This is a powerhouse hydrating serum for all skin types. It features niacinamide for oil regulation, hydration, and evening skin tone as well as hydrating and soothing ingredients like green tea, squalane, and hyaluronic acid.
Intensive Hydrating Cream with Green Tea Seed - Finishing up the total hydrating regimen is the ultra nourishing moisturizer with calming and moisturizing ingredients like green tea extract, vitamin B5, and cocoa extract. It’s especially good for oily and combination skin.
The Ordinary Daily Set ($19, on sale all November for $14.63) - This is another good intro to skincare set for all skin types. The products are focused on hydration and skin barrier repair so it’s safe for daily use. Here’s the lineup:
Squalane Cleanser - This is one of my favorite hydrating cleansers and products of The Ordinary. It also doubles as a makeup remover. It’s main ingredient, squalane, works to nourish the skin barrier and provide added hydration so the cleanser doesn’t leave you feeling stripped after a 60 second cleanse.
Hyaluronic Acid 2% B5 Serum - The cult favorite, this hyaluronic acid gets the job done for adding moisture to the skin. It also includes vitamin B5, a skin soothing ingredient that also calms redness. Note, this product MUST be applied on damp (not dry!) skin. Safe to use daily twice a day.
Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA - This is a daily, nourishing, moisturizer. It uses amino acids, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and more to deliver hydration to the skin and seal the hydration in to prevent water loss throughout the day.
Kiehl’s 5 Piece Ultra Hydrators Set ($30) - This set features Kiehl’s best face and body products (an eye cream, moisturizer, body lotion, and hand cream). They’re all focused on hydration and skin barrier repair and it’s suitable for all skin types. It’s the perfect hydration kit for winter skin. Here’s what it includes:
Ultra Facial Cream - This is their classic nourishing moisturizer. It’s a lightweight, but nourishing, moisturizer with key ingredient squalane to get the job done. It’s a great winter moisturizer for oily and combination skin types.
Creamy Eye Treatment - I’m not gonna sell dreams here, it won’t help with dark circles or bags but for the dry skin sufferer in your life who probably deals with seasonal dryness in thinner areas of the skin, like their under eyes. It features avocado extract and shea butter to provide all day under eye hydration for all skin types.
Creme de Corps Body Lotion - This body lotion smells like fresh baked pastries, it’s delicious. The travel size makes it great to touch up dry hands, feet, and elbows (you know you can’t be out here with ashy elbows). It’s a rich formula with shea and cocoa butter that’ll lock the hydration in all day long.
Ultimate Hand Salve - This is a super nourishing hand cream to fight dry and cracked winter hands. It uses shea butter and avocado oil to prevent the elements from causing moisture loss throughout the day.
Belif 4 Piece Moisture Festival Set ($38) - This set is focused on hydration and skin barrier repair, two things your skin needs in the winter time. It features a total skincare regimen with a cleansing balm, toner, moisturizer and eye cream. Here’s the breakdown.
Aqua Bomb Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm - Cleansing balms are the safe way to remove makeup without irritating skin like makeup wipes do. If you have a makeup lover in your life, this is a great gift to introduce them to proper makeup removal. This cleansing balm uses lotus flower and marshmallow root to hydrate the skin while cleansing.
Aqua Bomb Hydrating Toner - This is a daily hydrating toner for all skin types. It helps fight winter dryness with hydrating hyaluronic acid and soothing vitamin B5. Safe for daily use, twice a day.
The True Cream - This is a daily moisturizer designed to bond moisture to the skin and prevent moisture loss throughout the day. It’s a great winter moisturizer for all skin types with key ingredient comfrey leaf to help calm redness, inflammation, and treat dryness.
Moisturizing Eye Bomb - This is a moisturizing eye cream to fight dry and inflamed winter eyes. It features key ingredients centella asiatica to build collagen and help fight fine lines as well as comfrey leaf to treat dryness.
Paula’s Choice Glow Anywhere BHA Duo ($30.59) - Get this for the men in your life, I promise you they need it. It features a mini and a full sized of Paula’s Choice’s iconic BHA liquid exfoliant. This product is one of my favorite salicylic acid products. It’s a liquid solution, to be applied after you cleanse your skin at night, before you moisturize (since it’s an exfoliant you’d use it 2-3 nights per week). Apply it on your acne problem areas, and ingrown hairs for men, 2-3 nights per week and let it deep clean your pores while calming inflammation associated with acne. This is a great intro to exfoliation.
Supergoop 3 Ways to Play Travel Set ($56) - Get this for the traveler for your life. This is a 3 piece travel set created for your world traveling friend who always comes back with peeling skin because you KNOW they’re not wearing enough sunscreen on the go. It has a TSA approved size of their SPF 50 facial lotion, SPF 50 body mousse (a light hydrating body serum for sun protection), and SPF 50 body mist for reapplication on the go. Their SPF leaves zero white cast and agrees with even acne prone skin.
Krave Beauty Snack Pack Discovery Kit ($24) - This is a top to bottom skincare regimen to introduce your skincare loving friend to a regimen that hydrates, nourishes, and exfoliates. It’s a travel sized kit with a cleanser, liquid exfoliant, hydrating serum, and moisturizer. Here’s a breakdown on the products:
Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser - This is an antioxidant rich daily hydrating cleanser. It’s jelly to cream texture deeply nourishes dry skin while you cleanse and skin soothing ingredients like green tea extract help maintain moisture while cleansing.
Kale-Lalu-yAHA - This is an AHA treatment liquid. It’s formulated with 5% glycolic acid to boost skin cell turnover, clear hyperpigmentation, and smooth skin texture. Because this is an exfoliant, it’s meant to be used 2-3 nights per week after you cleanse and before you moisturize.
Great Barrier Relief Serum - This is a winter holy grail. It’s a skin barrier saving serum with ingredients like niacinamide, tamanu oil, and safflower seed oil to heal a damaged skin barrier and provide extra moisturization. It’s safe to use daily, twice a day.
Oat so Simple Water Cream - This is a daily nourishing moisturizer that’s suitable for all skin types. It uses oat extract to deliver hydration and calm irritation.
Sacheu Stainless Steel Roller ($35) - This is the perfect skincare tool to gift the skincare junkie and self care fanatic in your life. Tell them to throw away their fake “rose quartz” and “jade” rollers and get with the winning team. Pop this face roller in the freezer at night and use in the morning to get the depuffing and calming experience of your life. If you gift this I’d throw in a nice sheet mask for them to use while they steel roll their face, Neutrogena Hydroboost’s Sheet Mask ($2.79) is my favorite to use with a steel roller to really help that hydration penetrate and depuff my skin.
Topicals Duo ($56) - This iconic Black owned skincare set is a great gift for your skincare loving friend looking to fight hyperpigmentation and seasonal dryness. It has their full sized well loved Faded serum, a serum created with several tyrosinase inhibitors (meaning it stops excess melanin production, aka hyperpigmentation) and Like Butter serum, a hydrating serum to treat dryness and eczema.
Glossier Mask Duo ($40) - One thing about Glossier, they’re gonna make a bomb mask. This set features a full size of both of their best selling masks, their moon mask and mega greens galaxy pack. Their moon mask is a deeply nourishing hydrating mask with ingredients like licorice root, squalane, and hyaluronic acid to provide extra hydration to dry winter skin. The mega greens galaxy mask is a pore cleaning mask with kaolin clay to clean excess oil and antioxidants to provide skin nourishment.
Cheers,
Kahina