For this holiday gift guide, I decided to put together some of my favorite scented body products and some fun accessories. I also wanted for all selections to be under $50. Despite what beauty magazines tell you, you can really score some great, quality products on a budget. The second part of my holiday guide includes interesting finds like soap made with real sandalwood, luscious looking powder puffs and orange blossom scented skincare for men.
Holiday Gifts for All Senses : Perfume Discovery Sets
Rosewater or Orange Blossom Water
As a scented gift for someone who also enjoys cooking, floral waters are unbeatable. They are available at gourmet food stores, Iranian, Indian and Middle Eastern shops and Whole Foods. $5-15, depending on the brand. If your gift recipient is new to floral waters, including a note with some of your favorite ways to use them would be a nice touch. You can find extra ideas here: 10 Ways to Use Rosewater and 10 Ways to Use Orange Blossom Water.
Mysore Sandal and Other Interesting Soaps
Last year, I included Belgian Beauty Secret ($5), soap made from egg whites, on my list, and many of you mentioned liking it. Listing all of my favorite soaps would make for an endless list, so here are a few choices. First of all, I have to mention Mysore Sandal soap (reviewed recently). You really can’t find a better sandalwood soap. A bar costs $1-2. Available at Indian grocery stores and online.
Alcea Rosea Farm Goat Milk Soap Bar
Scented with tangerine and clove, this delicious soap leaves skin silky soft. $6. Available at Beautyhabit.
Victoria Royal Swedish Birch Leaf Soap on a Rope
Pale green and embossed with a design of birch leaves, this delicately scented soap makes for a lush lather. The scent is uplifting and bright. 200g bar/$9. Available at Beautyhabit.
Meow Meow Tweet Beer Shampoo Bar Soap
The large soap bars double up as a gentle shampoo, and the scent is herbal and creamy. The packaging is just too cute. $10. Available at Beautyhabit.
Roger & Gallet Soaps
The selection of scents offered by Roger & Gallet is huge, but I have yet to try a fragrance I didn’t like. Rose, Vetiver, Linden, Honey, and Almond are all excellent. Harder to find is the excellent carnation-scented soap, Oeillet Mignardise. $5-$25, depending on size. Available online and beauty pharmacies.
Fragonard Parfumeur Heliotrope Ginger Soap
I enjoy the creamy lather and the spicy, sweet aroma of this soap from the Grasse-based perfume house. The soap itself is gorgeous. 150 g/$14. Available from Beautyhabit.
Nuxe Rêve de Miel Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm
This moisturizing lip balm from Nuxe is a cult favorite. Or so the French magazines tell me. It has a creamy, rich texture and it leaves lips soft but not sticky. 15 g/$19. Available at Beautyhabit and beauty pharmacies.
Kai Hand Cream
This was a recent discovery and my latest favorite. The cream is based on shea butter and aloe vera, and a tiny amount is enough to moisturize even the driest skin. The lingering aroma of tropical flowers is wonderful. 60g/$19. Available at New London Pharmacy.
Erbaviva Hand Cream
A great rosemary scented hand cream. 75g/$17. Available at beauty pharmacies and Beautyhabit.
Klorane Hair Mask with Desert Date
Silicone and paraben free, this mask leaves hair shiny, soft and perfumed with a sweet, vanilla-like fragrance. 150 ml/$24. Available at Amazon.
Winter Rose Gift Set
I spotted this great 5 piece set at Beautyhabit, and I couldn’t resist it. It includes Manetti Roberts Acqua Distillata Alle Rose (Rose Water) 300 ml, John Masters Rose & Apricot Hair Milk 4 oz, Aromatherapy Associates Rose Infinity Serum 5 ml, Les Anis de Flavigny Rose Flavored Hard Candy 50 g, and Steamcream 75 g. $45.
Red Flower Hammam Cardamom Amber Oil
A richly scented oil for lovers of cardamom. It also includes notes of bergamot, rose, jasmine, litsea cubeba, ylang ylang, sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver, black pepper, sweet orange and apricot. The Vitamin E enriched oil will leave your skin not only perfumed, but also softened. 2.4 oz/$48. Available at RedFlower, Beautyhabit and Amazon.
Diptyque Eau Rose Hand Lotion
A fancier version of Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater collection. Nevertheless, the lotion has a light, creamy texture, and it will make your hands smell of rose petals. 1.7 oz/$28. Available at Luckyscent, Aedes and other Diptyque retailers.
Aesop Moroccan Neroli Post-Shave Lotion for Men
You can also buy it as a part of The Supple Gentleman set. Three everyday essentials for discerning men is how Aesop advertises this trio. It includes Fabulous Face Cleanser, 100ml/3.4oz, Moroccan Neroli Post-Shave Lotion, 60ml/2.1oz, Coriander Seed Body Cleanser, 200ml/6.8oz. $90. I don’t think that the face cleanser warrants the high price, so I’m a little less enthusiastic about the set. On the other hand, Moroccan Neroli Post-Shave Lotion is very good, and its orange blossom fragrance is refreshing. $49. Available at Luckyscent.
Clarins Eau des Jardins Collection
This gift set contains Eau des Jardins Spray 100ml, Eau des Jardins Delicious Body Cream 100ml and Eau des Jardins Uplifting Shower Gel 50ml. And they all come in a pretty bag. $49. Available at most department stores.
Herbacin Glycerine Hand Cream
My husband discovered this glycerine based hand cream at our local supermarket. I just love the soft floral aroma. In the US, it’s sold at more upscale places and has a somewhat higher price, but it’s still a very good product. Makes a great stocking stuffer. 75 ml/$8.
The Laundress Wool & Cashmere Spray
If you like the idea of Guerlain’s cashmere and lingerie sprays but can’t bring yourself to spend LVMH level prices, then The Laundress is a great alternative. The fragrance is based on cedarwood, which is a natural moth repellent. In contrast to moths, I love it, and I have a small stock of these sprays. The Laundress refreshes cashmere and wool, and while the scent is mild, it’s uplifting. 4 oz/$10. Available at Amazon and beauty pharmacies in the US.
La Fée de Paris Down Powder Puff
A less expensive, but equally good, alternative to Caron’s “cygnet” down puff, this 2 1/2 inch goose down accessory will make you feel like a Hollywood starlet, even if you do your makeup in front of a bathroom mirror. Available in several different shades. $36. Look for it at Amazon, Beautyhabit, and La Fée de Paris’s website.
For more holiday gift guides, please see The Scented Hound and EauMG.
69 Comments
solanace: Thank you for this enchanting list, Victoria! Taxes on beauty products here are too crazy, though, so this year I’m considering making green mango chutney for everybody. May I ask if you have any experience with it? December 8, 2014 at 7:26am
Victoria: I feel for you. Here, ordering outside of the EU is a bad proposition, because the customs duties are outrageous. I probably mentioned it already, but I still can’t get over a shock of having to pay 35 euros in fees on a 65 euro valued product.
Your idea of an edible gift sounds great. I usually make either pickles or fresh chutneys with green mangoes, but in making sweet, cooked chutneys, I found that green mangoes go really well with coriander seeds. December 8, 2014 at 7:58am
solanace: Here we pay three times the product’s price on taxes! Certainly not a law made by women, lol! December 8, 2014 at 8:29am
Victoria: Yikes! You have such a vibrant local market for perfumes, but these protectionist policies are pretty rigid. December 8, 2014 at 10:32am
Martha: WOW! Three times?! December 8, 2014 at 1:22pm
maja: I once paid 19 euros for a small gift (hand scrub) my friend sent from Canada worth probably about 10 dollars. I begged her not to send gifts anymore. 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 4:43pm
rainboweyes: That’s strange because I ordered Iris Pallida from Luckyscent three years ago and I only had to pay the German VAT (19%)… December 9, 2014 at 3:32am
Victoria: In Belgium, The VAT is more than 20% and then there is a flat rate handling fee. Belgian customs also count the cost of mailing into their calculations. So, the final fee comes out to be quite big in relation to the value of the item. December 9, 2014 at 9:00am
Victoria: P.S. I forgot to say that in some cases, they will also make you pay “the right to import” fee, in addition to everything else. December 9, 2014 at 9:06am
Victoria: Ouch! Here, packages under 28 euros (or maybe, 30, I don’t remember exactly) are exempted from fees, but anything above will be taxed. December 9, 2014 at 8:54am
Austenfan: Love this list. Is the colourful soap in the background Nesti Dante? Recently bought a lavender bar from this brand and the scent is amazing. December 8, 2014 at 7:38am
Victoria: It’s Alighiero Campostrini, a small Tuscan brand. Until I googled it a moment ago, I didn’t realize that it’s sold in the US too (and various European pharmacies as well), so I’ll have to review it one of these days. It was around 8 euros for a large bar, and I can’t get enough of its violet fragrance. They have other scents too, like rose, fennel and mint.
Off to google Nesti Dante! December 8, 2014 at 7:49am
Austenfan: I’ll keep an eye out for Alighiero. Nesti is very easily available in Holland. December 8, 2014 at 8:24am
Victoria: I’ll have to check it out. I like these small soap brands, because the scents are often very interesting and the quality is very good. December 8, 2014 at 10:31am
Karen: Ohhhh la la! I can’t wait to try, oops! I mean buy some of these goodies for people on my holiday list! December 8, 2014 at 8:50am
Victoria: Well, I was making the list for others, but I ended up getting a couple of things for myself. 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 10:33am
Therése: Oh that cardaom oil sounds divine!
And I’m glad to see a soap from my hometown (Helsingborg in Sweden) on your list! Victoria have been making soaps since 1905 and their soaps are lovely. December 8, 2014 at 10:01am
Victoria: I’m obsessed with cardamom, so that oil caught my attention immediately. I’m surprised no fragrance company made a perfume with a gourmand accord of cardamom buns. I made some over the weekend, and the house smelled wonderful.
And what a coincidence about Victoria’s soap! When I saw these bars at the store, I loved their color, shape, and scent. And the lather turned out to be so lush and creamy. December 8, 2014 at 10:37am
Hamamelis: I love cardamon, and am curious Victoria, what are cardamon buns? I use cardamon pods in curries, and the powder to sweeten dishes. December 9, 2014 at 12:09pm
Victoria: You take any brioche dough, roll it out, smear it well with butter, then add lots of ground cardamom and sugar. Roll it up, cut into small pieces, and voila–cardamom buns! Cardamom is one of my favorite spices. December 9, 2014 at 12:15pm
Hamamelis: That sounds lovely, and a good alternative for the (also very lovely) christmas bread with currants and raisins. I may try this over the holidays! December 9, 2014 at 1:21pm
Ariadne: just came home with loaf of cardamon bread from a Swedish gift shop near me that had slices almonds and lemon sugar glaze drizzled on top . It was AWESOME!!! December 9, 2014 at 6:27pm
Victoria: It sounds so good, Ariadne! I have a little book on Swedish baking, and there are so many recipes with cardamom than I don’t even know which to try first.
My local Scandinavian shop also carries delicious rye bread scented with gingerbread spices. It’s not sweet, so the spices really shine. December 10, 2014 at 7:49am
Polly: Oh a down powder puff! I don’t just yearn for that puff, I want to be the kind of woman who uses such things even though I am not entirely sure what you use if for. No matter, it makes my heart beat with the desire possess it. I shall sneak it onto my wish list and find a use for it on days when I wear Ombre Rose and feel like a 1940s pampered woman. I shall sew myself some vintage style silk undies to complete the outfit. December 8, 2014 at 10:37am
Victoria: You use it to apply loose powder. These kind of puffs are great for applying an even layer. After I apply moisturizer and sunscreen, I use loose powder to take away any shine. Unless my sunscreen has a very sticky finish (and some heavier formulas I use in the summer do), a down powder puff is a good accessory. So, it’s not just pretty, it’s also practical. If you want a super matte, heavy finish, then no, a powder puff won’t work, and you’ll need a brush.
I fantasize about having a real vanity table, with mirror and all of the trimmings, but for now my makeup is done in the bathroom, with the washer/dryer as my table top. 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 10:53am
Polly: Excellent! I use a loose mineral powder. Based on this, I have promoted the powder puff from “would like” to “need”. And I am sure that there are things on the list that I could actually give to other people too! Sadly, that means purchasing them and then parting with them. Never an easy thing. December 8, 2014 at 11:26am
Victoria: 🙂 Glad to help!
Well, if you decide to give someone a bar of sandalwood soap, getting one for yourself won’t break the bank. They are so inexpensive but very good quality. December 8, 2014 at 12:26pm
Martha: I’m loving solid perfumes from Fragonard you mentioned in your other gift post. I got a couple for gifts and one for myself. That soap also looks great. Decisions, decisions… December 8, 2014 at 1:23pm
Victoria: I love embossed, decorated soaps. 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 8:45am
maja: Properly scented soaps are perfect gifts for me, they make me happy the same way perfumes do and I always think it is a good thing to have tens of them around. Can not resist anything scented violet, rose and linden somehow. I have to check out that Italian brand, I myself have ordered recently some Savon du Midi bars, very happy with them.
ps. I have ordered that sandalwood soap you talked about as well so I keep checking my mailbox too often. Can’t wait actually! 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 3:47pm
Victoria: I mostly check local stores and see what they carry. Our farmer’s market has a couple of stalls selling soaps, and they are fantastic. But it’s hard to recommend them, because they aren’t sold outside of Belgium.
Savon du Midi soaps are wonderful, especially their linden and orange blossom scented bars. December 9, 2014 at 8:50am
rainboweyes: I’ve also discovered some interesting soaps which I have to try. The manufacturer is Klar Seifen from Heidelberg and their scents include peony & basil, lily & quince and linden & rhubarb!
I love Savon du Midi too, especially the linden soap. December 8, 2014 at 4:00pm
maja: I love their linden soap, too! 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 4:41pm
Victoria: The combinations sound amazing, all three of them. I will have to see if I can find this soap around here. December 9, 2014 at 8:50am
Jessica: Thank you for your post on Mysore Sandalwood soap. I bought it last week and I adore it. December 8, 2014 at 4:09pm
Victoria: I’m happy to hear it! Enjoy it! 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 8:51am
Bela: Oooooh, pretty smelly things! 🙂 December 8, 2014 at 4:28pm
Victoria: My favorite kinds. 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 8:51am
Barbara Lee: Great post! I love soaps 🙂 what are the violet sticks in the photo? Look interesting! December 8, 2014 at 4:34pm
Victoria: Those are the violet scented incense sticks from a Japanese company called Kyukyodo. December 9, 2014 at 8:53am
Barbara Lee: Many thanks for your reply, Victoria, I am writing from Ireland, and I just want to say that I love your posts! December 9, 2014 at 9:15am
Victoria: 🙂 I’m very happy to hear it, Barbara! December 9, 2014 at 9:23am
JulienFromDijon: I’ve been trying l’Occitane line recently. In a boutique you can ask for the soap of “Roses et Reines”, they hide them in a drawer (less you have to buy the soap among other things in a package). They smell divine and cost only ~4,5€.
The same for the “cade” (juniper tree oil) soap for 9€. I like the very masculine and spicy feel of their cade product.
The classic verbena EDT is very fine too.
And their shea butter cream for hand smell very nice, somewhat of rosemary and god knows what. They have the tiniest tin box of 3x10ml of them for 5€.
It’s been my routine gift since a month, after I visited their factory shop in Manosque. December 9, 2014 at 5:28am
Karen: I love their Verbena edt! So refreshing. And their rose fragrances are really nice. Good quality lotions at decent prices. December 9, 2014 at 5:55am
Victoria: Thank you for these extra ideas, Julien! I haven’t shopped at L’Occitane for a while, since we don’t have a store nearby, but I’m very curious about the juniper tree oil soap. December 9, 2014 at 9:01am
Tourmaline: Hi Victoria,
Today I was doing some Christmas shopping at the David Jones department store in Brisbane and I found the three-packs of Roger & Gallet soap available in Oeuillet Mignardise and about six other fragrances, along with single packs in a couple other fragrances. With any luck it might be available in DJ stores right around Australia, although I just checked and it doesn’t appear to be available via the online shopping website. It was $30 for the three bars.
When I arrived home, I had a shower using one of my bars of Mysore Sandal Soap that I collected from the post office this morning. Now I know how sandalwood actually smells! It is indeed a very strong fragrance, and at first it seemed a little medicinal to my nose, but it is growing on me.
Last week I found the Nelum version of sandalwood soap at my local Coles grocery store, for only $1.40 on special. It has a sweeter fragrance which, like that of the matching talcum powder, can seem a little sickly in hot weather. (It is summer over here.) I think that I will save the Nelum soap for autumn and winter and use the Mysore in spring and summer! December 9, 2014 at 6:26am
Victoria: What a find! I hope that they will make this soap more widely available, because it’s really wonderful, and I don’t understand why they limit the distribution like this.
Glad that you’re enjoy your sandalwood soap. The scent is a bit sharper and more bracing than real sandalwood, but it’s nevertheless very good. The real sandalwood has a creamy, soft quality, which makes me think of milk boiled with rosewater. This is hard to replicated, and even the wood from young trees doesn’t have this aspect. Which is why the old trees were so prized. December 9, 2014 at 9:04am
Tourmaline: Hi Victoria,
Yes, we’re fortunate here in Australia that some products are so readily available.
On the subject of the Mysore soap, this morning after I woke up I was walking out of my bedroom when I began to smell the lovely aroma of the sandalwood soap coming from the bathroom, which is the next room. That was after just one shower with it late yesterday afternoon! I can see how easily it could scent drawers and cupboards for many years! December 9, 2014 at 8:58pm
Victoria: Yes! It’s a powerhouse, that soap. December 10, 2014 at 7:51am
Lynley: I bought the R&G Oeuillet soaps at DJ’s in Perth recently, (right after i read Victoria’s review!) so i can vouch that they’re here too. I want to try the Osmanthus one but we dont seem to have that. December 9, 2014 at 9:58am
Victoria: Their Osmanthus soap is good, but it doesn’t really smell like osmanthus flowers. I’m still searching for something that does. December 9, 2014 at 11:50am
Tourmaline: Hi Lynley,
I recall you saying in September that you were looking for the Roger & Gallet Osmanthus range, and I’m sorry to hear that you are still looking. I didn’t see it amongst the fragrances on offer at DJ yesterday, either.
I remember Don Burke praising “Osmanthus fragrans” as being the most strongly fragrant of all the Osmanthus varieties. Since then I’ve thought that perhaps one day I’ll try growing a shrub version of the plant in a pot on my balcony. I’ve read that the flowers can be used to make tea and jam. (For Victoria and others outside of Australia, Don Burke had a gardening show called “Burke’s Backyard” for about 17 years; it became a bit of an institution on Australian television, and I still miss it.) December 9, 2014 at 9:21pm
limegreen: I’m so glad you commented on Kai, Victoria! I love gardenia but it’s hard to find a true representation of the flower that also works with my skin chemistry. (EL Tuberose Gardenia is metallic on mine.) Kai is pretty, will have to try the hand lotion with your recommendation! As you have often commented, some perfumed body products are not high quality.
Have you tried the Kai Body Glow? I’m such a fan of oils and light misting soliflore oils are few and far between.
L’Occitane is getting into the body oil thing, with ancillary body oils for some of their fragrances but the oil base is sunflower (not a great oil). When I tried the body oil for Fleur d’Or and Acacia, the tester oil was rancid, really dreadful. December 9, 2014 at 9:59am
Victoria: I haven’t tried Body Glow, but I usually love oils. I just have to be careful, because some formulations can be very drying. The reason I like Nuxe oil is because it absorbs easily but doesn’t dry skin out. December 9, 2014 at 11:52am
limegreen: There’s too much humidity here to worry about anything being too drying! I love Nuxe, too, (great Paris pharmacy finds, thanks to your list!) but in my mind it’s more skincare than a “fragrance.” 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 3:45pm
rainboweyes: Speaking of oils, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with Max and Me body oils. The philosophy behind the products sounds a bit esoteric to my ears (it’s all about elves and spiritual beings) but the oils are of an exquisite quality. My favourite is the Protecting Circle Oil with magnolia, manuka, geranium, jasmin and vetiver. I’ll treat myself to a bottle for Christmas 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 4:43pm
limegreen: Elves?! How can I resist?! Thank you, rainboweyes — so nice to be introduced to a new line and the ones you mention sound like the kind I enjoy. I’m going to look it up and see if we can get it here in the US. The elves may not export this far! December 10, 2014 at 6:25pm
paola: Nuxe balm is really a must. In Italy it costs around 12 euros and it’s really a useful “cadeau”. Moreover your lips will taste of grapefruit… December 9, 2014 at 11:29am
Victoria: Ah, that taste is so nice! 🙂 December 9, 2014 at 11:54am
Joy: I am a Masterpiece Classic fan. A recent series, The Paradise, about a London Department store, third series, shows Denise, now ladies’ wear manager attempting to move the store into the new field of cosmetics. There is a lovely scene where she picks up a beautiful eiderdown puff such as the one that you show, Victoria. She dips it into a new powdered rouge and lightly touches it to her lovely cheek. The scene was transfixing. Now I know where I can get the puff if I want to replay the scene for myself. December 9, 2014 at 6:53pm
Tourmaline: Hi Joy,
That was such a wonderful series, and I remember that lovely scene. One of my favourite parts was when they would run the camera along the beauty counters and show all of the items on display. On several occasions they featured Guerlain fragrances, and in one scene, a lady sales assistant lifted up one of the bottles and announced to a customer that it was a new fragrance, “L’Heure Bleue”! December 9, 2014 at 8:30pm
Joy: So interesting that you should mention that Tourmaline. It was watching THE PARADISE and SELFRIDGES that caused me to become interested in perfume again and in a deeper way. The sight of those beehive bottles on the counter and the scene with the bottle of L’Heure Bleue were enticing. Oh to smell those fragrances the way they were then, although they were using materials from what are now endangered species such as whales.
Until I discovered Bois de Jasmin and began reading, I had no idea why my favorite fragrances were gone or had changed in unacceptable ways. December 10, 2014 at 3:47pm
limegreen: Hi Joy! I’m so glad you brought up the two PBS series. I love one of the scenes in “Mr Selfridge” where the manager of the newly expanded beauty department, Kitty, introduces a “new” perfume from France to Delphine Day and it’s the classic beautiful bottle with the balloon pump. Only after one spritz and a nano-second sniff, Delphine says “I must have a bottle!” (or something like that). I had to laugh (along with every other fragrance hobbyist), hey, lady, those were just the top notes! December 10, 2014 at 6:35pm
Tourmaline: Hi Joy,
Yes, I saw both those series. Now I’m wondering whether the “L’Heure Bleue” scene was in “Mr Selfridge” and not “The Paradise”! I think that it might have been in the former. Oh well, at least I know that it was in one of them, although I think that both shows had Guerlain perfumes on display. In any case, it’s wonderful that the shows re-ignited your interest in perfume.
I first learned about the changes to fragrance when I read “Perfumes: The A-Z Guide” by Turin and Sanchez. The consolation prize was the incomparable perfume reviews, which are a delight to read and re-read. December 11, 2014 at 6:04am
Victoria: Gosh, sounds so glamorous! A scene that must be reenacted. 🙂 December 10, 2014 at 7:51am
anastasia: I am going to go broke buying xmas gifts for myself this year! Definitely have to try the sandalwood soap!
Just wanted to add re: the rosewater and orangeblossom water can also be found in greek stores in Canada for $2CDN for 250 ml. I find when you go to non-ethnic stores like whole foods they call it gourmet and jack up the price. We use it in our baking…eye issues, face toner. If you ever get the chance to try rose petal jam or rose petal preserves OMG deeeeelicious! oh and rose ice cream WOW!!! December 10, 2014 at 7:42pm
Victoria: Good advice! The gourmet stores might even sell the same brand for much more money.
And the rose petal jam is another great idea to include in a gift basket. December 11, 2014 at 9:25am
Sheena Warecki: Sorry if this was touched on more in the comments but is the La Fee De Paris Puff really as good as Carons or is one softer than the other??? January 31, 2015 at 3:44pm
Victoria: Caron is a little bit softer and fluffier, but La Fee de Paris is very good. February 1, 2015 at 11:15am