URGENT Buying makeup as a gift

woollyhat_2

I want to buy one of my closes friends a makeup gift but I need to get it soon (possibly tomorrow) so it reaches her in time after posting.

I'm not too sure of the different sets out there now but I want something worth the money.

I know Boots have £12 points if you spend £50 tomorrow so I can pop into the store as we have a big Boots nearby but they don't sell all of the great brands.

The present should look kind of big, so maybe I can put other bits and bobs with it.

Should I buy a big gift set like the Estee Lauder ones you get? Or should I put together different things from different brands? This will probably work out more expensive?

My budget is £30-£50. I was thinking of brands like MAC, Clinique, Urban Decay, The Body Shop but there must be others which are good as well so I'm looking for ideas here.

What would I be able to get from MAC with a budget of £50? I took a look at their website and thought of getting a case to fill in eyeshadows with but it looks pricey and their website isn't a good one to browse.

HELP.

Gillyx

Boots have the Lancome giftsets at the moment, they're about £20 and have a full size mascara, smaller eyeliner and a small eye make up remover. The Mascaras themselves are around the £20 mark so a decent price.

I'd get that and maybe a decent eyeshadow pallet, probably Urban Decay (who's eyeshadows are as good as Macs imo)

That would probably take you to about £45ish and I'd love that for a gift. hth

VfM4meplse

woollyhat wrote: »

The present should look kind of big, so maybe I can put other bits and bobs with it.

Big is great but not if you are going to post it - then it just becomes expensive!

woollyhat wrote: »

Should I buy a big gift set like the Estee Lauder ones you get? Or should I put together different things from different brands? This will probably work out more expensive?

I would forget EL unless you want something for yourself too. I struggled to find a fragrance gift to buy - purely because there are only so many sets you can use! - in order to qualify for the £50 gift set at Debenhams, which admittedly was a gift worth giving. As a bonus EL do gift wrap everything beautifully.

BTC have some offers on EL gift sets - plus some money off.

woollyhat_2

Gillyx wrote: »

Boots have the Lancome giftsets at the moment, they're about £20 and have a full size mascara, smaller eyeliner and a small eye make up remover. The Mascaras themselves are around the £20 mark so a decent price.

I'd get that and maybe a decent eyeshadow pallet, probably Urban Decay (who's eyeshadows are as good as Macs imo)

That would probably take you to about £45ish and I'd love that for a gift. hth

I looked at the mascara gift set and felt it was too small a set, I dunno, didn't seem like it was her type of thing. But I'll keep it on the list.

I like Urban Decay too, but now that I think of it, I think she has their palette and Urban Decay do very similar ones, so I don't mind getting a different brand if it means comparing them or having a choice of two brands.

woollyhat_2

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Big is great but not if you are going to post it - then it just becomes expensive!

I would forget EL unless you want something for yourself too. I struggled to find a fragrance gift to buy - purely because there are only so many sets you can use! - in order to qualify for the £50 gift set at Debenhams, which admittedly was a gift worth giving. As a bonus EL do gift wrap everything beautifully.

BTC have some offers on EL gift sets - plus some money off.

It won't be posted but passed on with someone, otherwise I will give it when I see her, but I wanted to make use of the Boots event so need to decide quickly, if there is anything there. But I am probably better off looking online and finding things cheaper elsewhere.

I looked at the Estee Lauder gift sets, and don't really want to buy the perfume, but the actual makeup gift looks great. Now if only I can find something similar, or maybe put together my own gift set from MAC or someone else, but their products are so expensive.

Emmala

Some of the No7 sets are lovely, you can get the three for two offer.....but i must say, what a lucky friend!!!! You are very kind thinking about spending so much! Happy shopping!

melancholly

benefit have some nice sets around the £30 mark (i've bought them in the past - but thinking about it, never for myself..... that doesn't seem right!!). they wrap it up very nicely in gift bags too, which saves having to wrap it and looks better than my homemade wrapping! their products are meant to be good (and right now i can't really remember why i haven't tried them myself.....!)

sarah*a

Rachel_G wrote: »

Some of the No7 sets are lovely, you can get the three for two offer.....but i must say, what a lucky friend!!!! You are very kind thinking about spending so much! Happy shopping!

I was going to suggest the Boots No7 3for2 as well especially the new Poppy King range

You can get quite a lot for your £50. In fact you could get all 6 of the Poppy King sets for £52 :T


No7 3for2 Mix and Match Beauty Gifts LINKY

woollyhat_2

Rachel_G wrote: »

Some of the No7 sets are lovely, you can get the three for two offer.....but i must say, what a lucky friend!!!! You are very kind thinking about spending so much! Happy shopping!

LOL that's probably because I don't have to spend on people much throughout the year, so I have more left for each person.

I don't think she's into No7 that much, so don't want to risk buying it. I remember a long time ago I bought a makeup gift set and it was a very cheap type of brand that doesn't do very well (I didn't know that, it looked good) so ended up returning it, so I want to make up to that and show how much I have learnt since then!

woollyhat_2

melancholly wrote: »

benefit have some nice sets around the £30 mark (i've bought them in the past - but thinking about it, never for myself..... that doesn't seem right!!). they wrap it up very nicely in gift bags too, which saves having to wrap it and looks better than my homemade wrapping! their products are meant to be good (and right now i can't really remember why i haven't tried them myself.....!)

That sounds like the type of thing I am looking for if it has more than a couple of products in it, but, as fussy as I may be sounding in this topic, I don't really want to buy Benefit makeup. Their packaging looks really good and it may be good for others, but I feel their products make my skin break out so I feel apprehensive gifting it to others in case they get the same reaction, unless I know they don't, and I've never seen her with Benefit makeup so I won't want to risk that.

jenniewb

With most Boots items if you have a reaction you can take it back to the store and they will often exchange- its worth asking when you purchase if they'll do this as many will.

I haven't seen Mac in Boots -if you have well done but none in London AFAIK.

Stila have just launched some of their products in Boots, they have great quality and really pretty colours, prices are Mac sort of prices and they have one or two sets, Debenhams used to have more and have read in magazines they have stock in but I've not seen it for years in there. Stila are great though and my skin is fickle (Benefit isn't moisturising/too drying for my skin) Stila works great for me.

Lancome are good for gifts as they come in nice boxes. Yes they do go into sale but its like gold dust trying to get any of their products in the sale as they can easily sell out within seconds if they do make it into the sale! They are most well known for their Juicy Tubes lip glosses and they have had this in a gift set the past few years. Tell your friend to store them in the fridge, they last a lot longer!

Nails Inc are another to look at, available in some Boots stores, not sure if they have sets-pretty sure they do but eitherway you could easily buy a few of the polishes and put them in a pretty box for a great gift.

Going back to Benefit, they do have quite a few non-skincare type gifts where the makeup is mainly or only for eyes such as the smokey eye set.

Its worth noting that Benefit, Estee Lauder and Mac (and I have been told also Stila) are made by the same company.

If nothing seems likely, Lush have their gift boxes out and they look great! They'll also box something up for you if you pick a few items out and if you have a 10% off voucher (come in the gift boxes) get to them before 1st December to use it as you can't use them in December!