The holidays have really snuck up on me this year. I mean, they kind of do every year – but this year it felt like November was merely a blip, and suddenly it’s December and I am scrambling to get everything done. Holiday decorating, shopping, and gift wrapping are just a few things on my to-do list still. Yikes!
Every year, my family draws names out of a hat to decide the person we are each buying a gift for. This year, I lucked out and got my mum. In my opinion, she is the easiest person to buy for because I know that almost anything I love, she’ll love, too. That means I am mainly focusing on skincare and makeup when it comes to her holiday gift.
Laura Mercier
Custom Setting Duo | Matte & Glow Translucent Loose Setting Powders & Puff
Laura Mercier is already super well-known for their Translucent Setting Powders, but this year they came out with a matte and glow duo that is seriously so practical and beautiful for makeup-lovers. I had never used their glow powder before and since using it these last few weeks, I can tell you with 100% confidence that this will be in my beauty bag permanently.
The glow powder adds such a beautiful luminosity to your skin, while the matte powder simply takes away unwanted shine and sets your makeup in place. Sometimes, I have felt that the matte translucent powder can make my skin look a little dull and flat so the glow powder has really been a game changer. This duo is $48.00 and the mini-size is great for those who just want to try out these products before buying the full product.
Mood Glow Face Illuminator Trio
If you have a makeup-lover on your list then there truly is no easier go-to product to get them than a beautiful highlighter. Highlighters have really been the “it” item these last few years and this highlighter trio is particularly stunning.
The packing for this product is sleek, stylish, and beautiful. The shades offer a bit of variety and they add a beautiful shiny glow to your skin. I love that this trio has a pink-toned highlight, champagne-toned highlight, and a deeper copper-toned highlight. I personally love creating “custom” highlights by mixing and matching my highlighters together so this trio is particularly exciting for me.
Shiseido
Limited Edition Lipstick Set
This year, Shiseido released their ModernMatte Powder Lipstick Expressive Deluxe Mini Set and you guys – never have I been more excited about mini lipsticks.
I love the formula of these lipsticks so much. It’s creamy, soft, and velvety. They are extremely comfortable on the lips and they are easy to apply. I would absolutely consider these lipsticks to be a “one swipe and it’s on” kind of lipstick – they are completely opaque.
While these aren’t a “longwearing” lipstick, I still have found that they wear fairly long (3-4 hours), though they do stain and transfer. The colour range in this gift set is absolutely beautiful – ranging from soft neutrals to vampy reds!

The highlighters are amazing. I hope they expand this line 🙂