Well folks, Christmas is officially less than two weeks away. And if you’re still struggling for gift ideas for the beauty lover in your life, you’ve come to the right place! This is part two of my annual holiday gift guide. If you missed part one, which is all things high end and fancy, you can find that here. Part two is devoted to smaller gifts, secret santas, and stocking stuffers. Everything I’ve picked out is (for the most part) available at the time of writing. And with the shipping windows beginning to close, now is the perfect time to get this post up. So, as always, let’s get into it.
We’ll kick this off the same way I do every year, I’ll always recommend the Australis eyeshadow palettes. They perform like high end and the colour stories are across the board gorgeous. My go to for this year was the AUSTRALIS MAKING WAVES EYESHADOW PALETTE – $21.95. I’m a sucker for a blue eyeshadow and this palette was made for summer
Staying with Aussie makeup, The Kind Collective had some amazing launches for holiday this year. One set that caught my eye was the THE KIND COLLECTIVE LIP GLAZE DUO in ROSE AFFECTION – $10.00. It comes with one of their liners and one of their glosses. They go on so easily and feel nourishing on the lips. You would swear you paid three times the price, they are so good. And they would work so well as a stocking stuffer.
It’s all good recommending makeup, but you need the tools to apply it. And this year’s brush set pick goes to the brand new Aussie brand Quick Faced. Their QUICK FACED 8pc. ESSENTIAL BRUSH SET WITH JELLY CASE – $34.00 comes with a dual ended powder brush, a dual ended cream brush, a dual ended eyesshadow brush, a dual ended brow brush and spoolie, and a jelly style bag to store them in. The brushes are all made of vegan fibers and feel very sturdy. This would be an amazing deal for someone who is just starting out and doesn’t have the space for a ton of brushes.
For my nail art lovers, I’ve really enjoyed the BARRY M GELLY HI SHINE NAIL PAINT – $9.95 (sent in PR) for adding a little something something to my toes or that rare occasion when I’ve broken an acrylic. The colour range is ginormous and they are such easy polishes to use. Super long wear without having to cure them. The shades I’ve featured are Peony, Sunflower, and Orchid.
The last makeup recommendation I have is from the absolute icons over at Tower 28 Beauty. They’ve been my favourite beauty brand for quite some time. And a duo of the TOWER 28 BEAUTY BEACH PLEASE BLUSH BALMS – $35.00 and the TOWER 28 BEAUTY SHINE ON LIP JELLY – $28.00 would make a great little stocking stuffer. I have the shades Magic Hour and Magic as duo number one and Finest Hour and Spicy as duo number two. But there are so many shades to choose from
Swinging over to skincare now, and I have to hand it to Go To. They’ve had some incredible bundles for holiday this year. One that I had to grab was the GO TO CLEAR AND CLEAN – $56.00. This set comes with one of my favourite skincare products from 2025, the Clarifying Face Hero (which is $56.00 on it’s own!) a mini of the Properly Clean Foaming Cleanser, and a cute little pouch.
Another one I want to recommend is the GO TO PERFECT PRESENT – $29.00. This set contains one of their Transformazing Sheet Masks and a mini of their Super Handy Hand Cream. Now, this set is sold out online on both Go To and Mecca’s website. But it might still be available in store at Mecca.
Moving onto fragrance, but staying with Go To, I had to shout out their new Fragrance Oils. The GO TO INTO THE BAKERY GOURMAND PERFUME OIL – $45.00 is one that I quickly fell in love with. It has notes of Chocolate, Golden Biscuit, Freesia, Caramellised Vanilla, Soft Woods, Hazelnut, Coconut, and Tonka Bean. The result is like stepping into the best bakery in the world. Creamy, sugary heaven. If gourmands aren’t your speed, they have two other fragrances in the collection as well.
Phlur’s launch at Mecca has high anticipated amongst us beauty lovers. They have a few sets available for holiday, including their discovery set which has many of their best sellers. My two picks from Phlur are PHLUR MOOD RING EDP – $55.00 (think sweet, fruity, juicy) and PHLUR SOFT SPOT EDP – $55.00 (think soft, silky,floral)
Gem has had an incredible 2025. Breaking into the bodycare game in a huge way. The GEM WATERMELON FRESH FRAGRANCE MIST – $12.00 quite literally smells like biting into a piece of juicy watermelon. The packaging is so sleek and great for on the go. If you want a little extra protection with your fragrance though, The GEM SKIN LOVING DEODORANT – $10.50 is the way to go. This would be a great pick for pre teens who still get their santa sacks or stockings (I had a sack growing up). The scents are fun, fresh, and so so delish!
My last recommendation is for the bookworms that I know follow me. I’m admittedly not a huge reader myself. But I devoured Jaysea Lynn’s debut novel FOR WHOM THE BELLE TOLLS – $34.99. Jaysea has had a long running one woman series on Tiktok about a group of people who run a Hellp desk in, well, Hell. For Whom The Belle Tolls is a prequel to the main series that centres around, Lily, as she starts up the Hellp desk after her death. I couldn’t put this down. Fully fleshed out characters, great worldbuilding, a little bit of spice for fun, and a fantastic ending that knocked me on my ass.
And those are my picks! I hope that this helped give you some inspiration for your holiday shopping. I hope you all have an amazing weekend. And let me know your present suggestions in the comments.
Cheers and love
Emily xo
Ok fantastic affordable picks AND some nice bougie picks but at good sizes. Always so well thought out. How good are the gem sprays right?!
I’ve gone through 5 this year alone. So good!