8 Beauty And Pampering Gift Ideas – Christmas 2023

Items in this beauty and pampering guide have been provided in exchange for inclusion but all thoughts and opinions are my own

I’ve been creating Christmas gift guides for years now, and I absolutely love creating them. But every year I get blown away when it’s time for the first guide to go live. It means it’s mid October and just over two months until Christmas. And the thought of that is pretty mind blowing when I think about how quickly 2023 has gone.

For the next 6-8 weeks I’ll be bringing you a different themed guide every Monday. Today we start with one of my favourites, the beauty and pampering guide. I love getting these types of goodies at Christmas, especially if it’s a bit luxurious and I wouldn’t usually buy it for myself.

Protect your hair with silk accessories

Silk is so much better for your skin and har as the protein structure of silk contains amino acids in common with the body. The acids help moisturise and penetrate the skin, aid in adsorption and in skin healing. Plus it’s 100% natural and hypoallergenic so suitable for people with sensitivities.

Cocoonzzz love their sleep, and in particular beauty sleep. They offer a whole range of silk items from pillowcases and eye masks to turban’s and scrunchies. The items are made from 100% Grade A pure mulberry silk which is the highest quality available.

I have exclusively used silk hair bands for the past few years, and I could not so back. Unlike other materials which can tug on your hair silk just glides out and helps avoid kinks and creasing. This set of silk scrunchies (£42.50) comes in a pack of six skinny bands, two of each colour (black, pink and platinum). I find silk scrunchies last so much longer than a regular one as they don’t stretch in the same way, or lose their elastic.

You can also go for a silk headband (£27) to keep your hair off your face without flattening your hair. It glides on and off really easily and I love using it when I’m doing my makeup or skincare routine.

More beauty and pampering gifts for your hair

Philip Kingsley is one of the best haircare brands I’ve tried. I remember getting my first mini bottle of the Elasticizer in a Birchbox subscription box and loving it. The haircare sets are a great way to introduce someone to the brand, and they work out fantastic value for money.

The Megawatt Shine Moisture Balancing set (£38) delivers the right amount of moisture for combination hair (oily roots and dry ends).

Within the set you get a full sized moisture balancing shampoo and conditioner set. The shampoo is gentle and cleansing, offering frizz control and leaving the hair with a great shine. The conditioner is quite light and won’t weigh your hair down.

Then you get a small bottle of the cult elasticizer which is a deep conditioning treatment. And even the small bottle will last quite a while. Finally there’s a finishing touch polishing serum. The serum is the only product I’ve not used before, but it’s designed to leave your hair hydrated, protected and polished to perfection. It sounds like a dream.

Treat your skin right as you get older

When I’m trying a new skincare brand I love getting a set so I can try out a few of their products. The Sensitiv Skin Care Essentials set (£34.95) from Lavera includes a Q10 moisturising cream, a Q10 night cream and a Q10 eye cream.

All of the products are enriched with organic and natural ingredients to provide intense moisture. For me moisture is the most important thing I want from my skincare, and these items do just that. They’re all designed to visibly reduce wrinkles, combat signs of skin ageing and support the skins natural regeneration for a soft and smooth complexion every day.

The day cream is rich and nourishing, but isn’t heavy or greasy. The night cream is more intense so it can support cell regeneration while you sleep, but it sunk into my skin pretty quickly.

Beauty and pampering fragrance gifts

For me there’s nothing more indulgent than getting a new scent for Christmas. I rarely buy myself perfume so it’s always really special to receive it.

Perfume Direct supply some of the biggest fragrance and cosmetics brands at affordable prices so are great place to check out if you’re looking to buy a scent. They have loads of brands such as Hugo Boss, Armani, Paco Rabanne and DKNY including some beautiful gift sets.

If you’re looking for a floral fruity fragrance then the Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia set (£82.99) is a great option. I’m not the biggest fan of floral scents, but mixed with the fruity tones it works beautifully.

The set comes with a large 50 EDT, but also a mini 5ml EDT which is the perfect size for travel. I’ll be keeping hold of the little bottle to refill for on the go.

Christmas beauty trios

If you want to discover a new and sustainable brand then check out FRUU Cosmetics. They’re a London-based brand who make affordable cosmetics by up cycling wonky fruits that would otherwise go to waste. All of the products are vegan, cruelty-free and PETA certified which is great.

This lip balm trio (£10) features the brands best-selling watermelon, coconut and cherry lip balms. My favourite out of the three was cherry as the scent was beautiful. But there are also two other combos the Watermelon (featuring watermelon, strawberry and avocado) and Avocado (featuring avocado, mango and coconut). So there’s a combo for everyone.

If you prefer something with a bit of colour, the colour balm trio (£14.99) includes three tinted, moisturising lip balms including Strawberry Créme, Rare Coral and Mulberry.

When the weather starts getting colder we all need a good hand cream. The hand cream trio from FRUU includes Lavender Blossom, Grapefruit Garden and Mandarin Orchard (my personal fav!).

Beauty and pampering hand care gifts

If you’ve followed my last few years of guides you’ll know how much I love SEAMs. If so you’ve probably seen a lot about their hand cream, but I wanted to talk about their cuticle, hand and nail oil (£26). Historically I’ve been really bad keeping up with nail oil, but if ever there was one to keep my on the straight and narrow this is it.

If you’ve got dry and bottle nails like me then this oil can help work wonders. Not only does it soften and maintain cuticles and encourage your nails to grow quicker and stronger, but it moisturisers and hydrates rough and sore skin. And you can put it on your painted nails to stop the varnish from chipping.

It’s full of natural actives and essential fatty acids so the oil absorbs quickly with no greasy residue.

Having strong and neat looking nails and hands can make such a huge difference to the way you look and feel.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Baylis and Harding

I love a Baylis and Harding set, especially the signature Sweet Mandarin and Grapefruit collection. It’s their most iconic scent for a reason!

The perfect pamper set (£22.50) features everything you need for an indulgent pamper session. The set includes 300ml body wash, 300ml shower crème, 130ml hand & body lotion, 150g soap and 100ml body butter.

The Baylis and Harding items are suitable for vegans and not tested on animals. Plus they come with a plastic free outer packaging so it’s 100% recyclable.

Give your feet a treat

You can not beat a really comfortable cosy pair of slippers, and the Shearling Suede slippers (£95) from FitFlop are going to be my go to Winter slipper. I actually wish it was colder right now so I could wear them all day every day.

When you’re wearing them these slippers look like a pretty smart, minimal pair of black slippers. But its what’s on the inside that counts. The shearling inside is made to keep your feet cosy and warm. It’s super-soft and the slippers are softly padded so they’re comfortable to keep on for long periods of time when you’re at home.

They come in a wide range of sizes, and a tan colour if black isn’t your thing. Or, browse the full women’s slipper collection here.