Lip balms and glosses
Left to right: Secret Agent Beauty Kiss-Kiss Rendezvous Agent: Lips-Galore; Secret Agent Beauty Kiss-Kiss Rendezvous Agent: Golden-Spy; Shea Terra Organics Organic Shea Lip Balm in Menthe Cardamom; C.O. Bigelow Mentha Ultra Lip Shine in No. 1122; Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Happy Honey; NYX The “Blue Lipgloss” Smile Brightener; Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 with Grapefruit & Ginger
Lip balms are the easiest things to put in a stocking, aren’t they? Drop one for every girl and you’re done. But that’s why it’s worth the extra five minutes or so to put in some extra effort—go with a different flavor or finish to switch things up.
For different flavors, there is Shea Terra Organics Organic Shea Lip Balm in Menthe Cardamom, a perfect holiday taste; C.O. Bigelow Mentha Ultra Lip Shine in No. 1122, which is super-minty; and Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 with Grapefruit & Ginger, which is fruity and citrusy.
For different finishes, consider Secret Agent Beauty Kiss-Kiss Rendezvous Agent in Lips-Galore or Golden-Spy, which both plump and add multidimensional shine; Lancôme Juicy Tubes in a delicately subdued shade like Happy Honey; and NYX The “Blue Lipgloss” Smile Brightener, which is supposed to make your teeth look brighter and whiter.
Your typical balms and glosses, these aren’t.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY: $16 each for Secret Agent Beauty Kiss-Kiss flavors at RonRobinson.com; $4 for Shea Terra Organics Shea Lip Balm at SheaTerraOrganics.com; $7.50 for C.O. Bigelow Mentha Ultra Lip Shine at BigelowChemists.com; $15 for Lancôme Juicy Tubes at Lancome-USA.com or Lancôme counters; $4.49 for NYX The “Blue Lipgloss” at Ulta.com and Ulta stores; $7.50 for Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm at GetJackBlack.com.
Divide and share
First picture, left to right: Pixi Lid Last Shadow Pen Duo, Pixi Nail Colour Trio, Nails Inc. Autumn Winter Collection
Second picture, left to right: BareMinerals Cool as Ice Marvelous Moxie Lip Gloss Set, BareMinerals Hot to Trot Marvelous Moxie Lip Gloss Set
Beauty companies always put out more affordable sets of their products around the holiday season, and I always snap up ones I like and divvy them up to use as presents. For stocking stuffers, mini lip glosses and nail polishes are perfect.
For affordable options, look to Pixi—their offerings include the Lid Last Shadow Pen Duo, with one each of champagne shade Shell Sheen and cool brown Brun Beam, and Nail Colour Trio, with full sizes of polishes 043 Diamond Glitter, 044 Ruby Glitz, and 045 Gold Glimmer.
For mini sizes, there’s Nails Inc.’s Autumn Winter Collection, with six little polishes of Chelsea Bridge Road (tomato red), Bruton Mews (deep forest green), Sloane Gardens (navy glitter), Jermyn Street (pink taupe), Chester Street (pearly nude), and Richmond Terrace (deep plum).
And you can go glossy with two different sets from BareMinerals. Here at About Face, we were pretty impressed with the brand’s new Marvelous Moxie gloss formula, and these collections offer six mini shades each.
The Cool as Ice set includes the cool-toned shades Hot Ticket, Dare Devil, Fashionably Late, Socialite, Gutsy, and Rebel. The Hot to Trot set includes the warmer shades Maverick, Crowd Surfer, Smooth Talker, Firecracker, Smarty Pants, and Dreamer. These sets sold out exceptionally fast online at BareMinerals, Sephora, and Beauty.com, so I’d snap them up while you can.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY: $12 for Pixi Lid Last Shadow Pen Duo at Target.com and Target store locations; $12 for Pixi Nail Colour Trio at Target.com and Target store locations; $25 for Nails Inc. Autumn Winter Collection at Sephora.com and Sephora store locations; $25 for each BareMinerals Marvelous Moxie set at Sephora and BareMinerals store locations.
