Holiday Gift Guide: Easy Gifts Under $50 for Her ♥

The holiday shopping season is in full force – seriously, I almost died 4 times driving to the area of the city one of the major malls is located in.

Anyways, I survived the chaos, and I know sometimes its easy to get stuck shopping for someone, so I came up with a quick list of easy (and nearly fool proof) gift options – all under $50!

1. For the Book Lover 

If you know she loves books and you can’t afford to buy her a new Kindle, then opt for a couple she doesn’t have yet; and when in doubt cross reference the NY Times, Amazon and Barnes & Noble Bestsellers lists for some that just her style.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble gift cards work too, especially if she already has an e-reader!

Featured Books Above: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins and The Millenium (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) Series by Stieg Larsson.

2. A Little Luxury Gloss

MAC has some genius little holiday sets out, with lovely packaging, for the make-up lover. I don’t think I know a make-up lover that would be disappointed!

Featured Set Above:  MAC Guilty Passions Lavish Rose Lip Gloss Set.

3. Pamper your lips

One of the best products I have come across for all day lip love is the Korres Lip Butter. They smell great, feel great, look gorgeous with just great flushes of color, and keep your lips healthy all day.

Sephora offers two sets – perfect for the holidays and a non-lipstick/lip gloss girl!

Featured Sets Above: Korres The Lip Blockbuster Volume II and Lip Butter Collection.

4. Something to keep her warm

It’s December!! Almost every girl I know loves a new pair of cozy socks, or a cute beanie and scarf, and of course – don’t forget the gloves!

Featured Items Above: Scarf and beanie from Banana Republic. Socks and Gloves from Gap.

5. For the body

A little sexy, a little sensual, but oh so amazing! The Victoria’s Secret Love My Body collections of body lotions, creams, sprays and oils. Perfect for a winter bath.

Featured Set Above: Jasmine & Water Lily (in my opinion the best fragrance of all the LMB scents) Lotion, Oil and Body Mist.

6. For the body… again 😉

For the girl that prefers the fresh and clean scent over the sexy and sensual. Soap & Glory body and hand products are some of the best out there and Sephora offers some awesome Soap & Glory sets – complete with travel totes!

Featured Set Above: The Best Things In Life Are Three Set.

7. Great for the home, great for the hostess

If she loves her place to smell lovely and inviting, Bath & Body Works 3-wick candles are great options. They offer some warm and fun scents for winter and they often have 2 for $20 sales – just make sure you smell them in-store. It is always best to avoid online ordering of candles, in  my opinion.

If you’re not sure what scents she prefers – gift card!

Featured Candles Above: Hot Buttered Rum, Spiced Apple Toddy and Frosted Cranberry.

8. Something a bit more personal

As many of you may know, I sell Chloe + Isabel, and we released some gorgeous holiday pieces – one of the most popular being the Pave Inital Disc Charm Necklaces! I have picked up a few myself for me and as gifts – so pretty in person!

Featured Initials Above: Pave Inital Disc Charm Necklaces in Gold-plated “M” and Silver-plated “S” (available in the 12 most popular letters).

9. For the true fashion and art lover

Coffee table books are awesome, but most people don’t buy them for themselves – they tend to be a bit pricey. Fashion and Art books are often beautifully put together and contain some very interesting/exclusive behind-the-scenes type content.

Perfect for fashion and art nerds!

Featured Book Above: Vogue: The Editor’s Eye.

10. Foolproof jewelry

Seriously, C+I’s Petite Rhinestone Open Bangles Sets are some of they most popular pieces selling as gifts for the holidays!

Four flexible rhinestone covered bangles, available in four different sets. I can wait to order mine!

Featured Sets Above: Deep Sea, Starry Night and Cha Cha Cha.

11. Something sweet

Fine chocolate and good wine! Need I say more.

Featured Items Above: Chuao Chocolatier Chunky Honeycomb Bark and Risata Moscato d’Asti.

12. For the TV addict 

Sometimes my life is run by my favorite TV shows schedules and I’m not the only one, so why not give her a season or two of her favorite show! Perfect to hold her over for the winter show hiatuses 😉

Featured Sets Above: The Walking Dead Seasons 1 and 2!!

There you have it Hopefully this inspired a few gifts for you – after doing this I think I’ll be back with a Gift Guide for Him in a few days!

♥

Soap & Glory HAUL

I LOVE coming home and finding boxes with my name on them …especially when they are marked SEPHORA on the side!

I went on a little Soap & Glory spree through Sephora.com last week, picking up a few new products and my well loved Soap & Glory favorite: Flake Away.

New stuff!!

My favorite body polish of all time (or at least until I find something even more amazing)!

Soap & Glory “Flake Away”

Read more about Flake Away here.

Now I don’t have particularly thin lips, but I still like to try out lip plumpers on occasion because well sometimes you just want an extra-pouty look. Now, I’m sure a small part of me only bought this because of the name – but I just couldn’t resist it. It did plump my lips up somewhat, but again I don’t have small lips to begin with. It also has that tingly after effect for a short time,  which could be a bit uncomfortable for some people, similar to the way your skin might feeling after waxing. Oh and it is quite sticky (something I am not a fan of)!

Soap & Glory “Sexy Mother Pucker” in the shade Candy Gloss (very sheer)

What Soap & Glory say: Fasten your seatbelts! It’s Super-Colour Sexy Mother Pucker with SUPERFILL™ Lip Plumping Spheres and LIPSWELL™ Volume Boost Technology. As ALL OUT Pout-Plumping as our ‘Original Formula’, in a seductive Candy Gloss colour with a fabulous vanilla flavour.

Now since I absolutely love the Soap & Glory “Hand Food” hand cream, I thought I would try out their foot cream. It does not have the same signature Soap & Glory ‘Pink’ scent, but the scent is still nice. It’s not greasy (awesome!) and the consistency is also a cross between a gel and  lotion.

Soap & Glory “Heel Genius”

What Soap & Glory say: Better than a pedicure? It renovates rough feet in a single overnight session, doubles as a foot cream, and will give even the roughest of cuticles a run for its money. Featuring allantoin, glycerin, macadamia oil, menthol, bilberry, orange and lemon fruit acid smoothers.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
Massage a generous layer onto clean feet every night [or at least as often as you remember]. Slip cotton socks overtop and let it soak in while you sleep.

Onto what I am most excited to try out, since my skin has been acting up lately. Review to come after I properly try it out for a few weeks.

Soap & Glory “The Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser” – with FREE Muslin Cloth included

What Soap & Glory say:  3-IN-1 CONCENTRATED DEEP PURIFYING FORMULA – It cleans, it smooths, it melts away makeup! With panthenol, natural sweet almond, orange and lavender essential oils. Free muslin face cloth inside.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
Squeeze out a generous splodge, divide it between the pads of your fingers, and then massage onto your face and neck for at least sixty seconds. (Concentrate most on your nose, chin, or other clog-prone spots.) Leave on for another minute (if you’re too ‘type A’ to wait, fill the time by flossing) then press it all off with a warm, wet muslin cloth.

Overall, I’m quite happy with my growing love for Soap & Glory products.

P.S. 2 DAYS until THE HUNGER GAMES! Are you excited??? 

Product Fiend: Soap & Glory FLAKE AWAY Body Polish

I am addicted to this stuff – seriously!

If you haven’t discovered body polishes or exfoliators – you definitely should! I could go into an entire discussion on why it is important to exfoliate your skin, but perhaps I will save that for another day.

I just ran out of my tub of Soap & Glory Flake Away – a body polish that is truly amazing – and it made me realize just how much I love this product! I have promptly put in another order via Sephora for a couple more tubs of the stuff. It comes in a 10 ounce container for $18 – and worth the price tag. I would buy it by the gallon if I could!

I have quite a fondness for Soap & Glory as a brand, partially because of their quirky semi-provocative branding, just goes to show you the power of marketing. Many of their products hold up to their claims, but Flake Away may be my ultimate favorite out of all their products I have tried. This product is also my favorite body polish/exfoliator out of all the ones I have used.

If I made a Pros and Cons list, I would only have good things to say.

So onto what I love about this product:

• It’s a body polish that’s gentle enough to use quite often, personally I use it about twice a week. I use a little on other days if my knees, elbows or feet need some extra lovin’.
• It’s a great product to use before any kind of hair removal – you should always exfoliate before – it really does help!
• It’s formulated to be extremely hydrating and while I wouldn’t advise it, if you happened to skip the moisturizer after (like I admittedly have), it wouldn’t be as big an issue with this product, as say many other body scrubs/polishes/exfoliators.
• It smells amazing, with the signature Soap & Glory ‘Pink/ scent, but it isn’t an overwhelming scent, nor too sweet or floral or spicy. The scent is also what I call Man-Friendly – meaning men don’t mind the scent on themselves or you (as in it’s not ridiculously girly).
• It doesn’t leave any filmy residue on your skin.
• It is formulated without parabens (if you are unsure what those are click here).
• Most importantly, it leaves your skin luxuriously soft (AND hydrated).

So here’s what Soap & Glory claim: 

A superhero strength skin smoothing body polish with shea butter, sweet almond oil, peach seed powder, sea salt and sugar. Transforms your scaly legs from reptilian to radiant. Scented with our Original Pink™ fragrance.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

Apply a handful of Flake Away on to damp skin and massage in circular motions until most of the grains are gone. Rinse well, pat dry and apply body glossing oil or moisture butter. (Careful! Avoid application over irritated skin or abrasions, as salt scrubs can sting.)

Active Ingredients: 

-Sea Salt
-Sugar
-Shea Butter
-Sweet Almond Oil
-Peach Seed Powder

Full Ingredient List:

Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Maris Sal (Sea Salt), Sucrose, Glyceryl Stearate, Polysorbate 20, PEG-100 Stearate, Parfum (Fragrance), Prunus Persica (Peach) Seed Powder, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Dipropylene Glycol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, BHT, Geraniol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone

For anyone wondering, the Soap & Glory signature “Pink” scent combines fresh bergamot and mandarin, rose, jasmine, peach, strawberry, oakmoss, amber, woody notes and amber and warm vanilla notes on the bottom.

This product would be a great gift for anyone who loves to pamper their skin, or maybe for someone who should – it’s a nice way to suggest a product to someone who needs it!