Luxury Gift Sets for Christmas

By Kim Myers
This column is for the "big spender" who doesn’t mind playing Santa Claus. These sets are $100 or over. There were many sets to choose from, but these were narrowed down accordingly. So here they are. The nice thing about sets is not only does "one" person receive pleasure from it because it’s so lavish, but also each item in the set can be used as separate gifts or stocking stuffers for many others. Therefore, you get your spending out of the way in one shot and sometimes for males/females at the same time.
1. One of the coolest lipstick sets I’ve found especially if you are a "red" girl and can pull it off is the "Noir" collection by Julie Hewett ($100). Hewett was the makeup artist on the set of the movie Pearl Harbor. She wanted lipsticks that were similar to the colors of the period and also waterproof for the climate and underwater scenes. The set contains 6 shades of noir reds from "Nude", which is a neutral light golden shimmer red, "Femme", "Belle", "Coco", which is kind of a reddish brown tone for anyone afraid to wear red, "Rouge", which is an orange/red, and "Sin", which is a darker aubergine color that can be used as a stain or deepened for full effect. All lipsticks are heavily pigmented and long-wearing. The colors are remarkable, but if there is a color you don’t like, it can be exchanged for another color on her website. Just write the color you want to exchange for the color you’d rather have in the "comments" box (juliehewett.net or 818-559-7488).
2. If you’ve never experienced "Lush" products, you don’t know what you’re missing. These are all natural, some vegan, and smell heavenly. They use many essential oils and the company has a variety of unusual bath and body products. For Christmas, I like the "Merry Christmas Holiday Gift Set" (139.95). This is a huge set containing the following bath and body products: Christmas Party bath bomb; Jingle Spells bath bomb; Lush Pud bath bomb; Mr. Butterball vanilla tonic bath bomb; Twinkle Star bath bomb; Witches Ball bubble bar; Candy Cane solid bubble bath; Christmas Kisses bubble bar; Marzibain bubble bar (an almond favorite); Frothy the Snowman (he’s coated in real coconut) bubble bar; Snow Fairy Shower Gel; Angel’s Delight Moon; Snowcake Soap (clean and wintery fresh); Christmas Cake Soap; A Gold Star bubble bar; Chocolate Santa bath bomb; Christmas Morning bubble bar; Let Them Eat Cake lip balm; Strawberry Santa shower jelly; and "Snowdrops" bath bomb. I can’t even begin to give the scent ingredients in each product, but they are all different and surprising. They look like you could eat them, but don’t because it would be the equivalent of eating soap. The bubble bars, bath bombs, and shower jellies are used in the bath. You can even wash your hair with the shower jellies(lush.com or 888-733-5874)
3. Now that we’ve covered cosmetics and bath and body, you guessed it, perfume time. "Bond No.9" N.Y.C. has an exclusive boxed set of their most popular fragrances called "The Bon Bon Box". The box contains 18 different 6ml purse sprays for ($260). The purse sprays alone are ($45) each. This is one of those gifts that can be split for both guys and gals because all but approximately three of them are unisex. The different scents are grouped in areas of N.Y.C. like Uptown, Midtown, and Downtown if you’ve been there and can picture that description. The actual fragrances themselves depict a certain location in the former three areas. The original bottled fragrances are a creative work of art. They are imaginative and are great for collectors. Here are the following 18 eccentric fragrances in the Bon Bon box: Bryant Park, Chelsea Flowers, The Scent of Peace, Chinatown, Riverside Drive, Eau De New York, Bleecker Street, West Side, Nuits De Noho, Wall Street (great for men), Eau De Noho, Little Italy (think Coney Island and caramel), Park Avenue, Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory (also great for men and very distinctive), Madison Soiree, So New York, Hamptons, and West Broadway. I wish it contained New Haarlem (spiked w/a little bit of coffee) and Saks 5th Avenue for Her. This is not a bad value considering you’d be paying nearly $810 if each were bought separately. Considering the full sized bottle is quite pricey, this will allow you to pick your favorite Bond #9 signature scent. You may also wish to create your very own scent box to accommodate your personality. Go to the Bond website to obtain the fragrance notes (bondno9.com, Saks 5th Ave., and fragrancesandmore.biz.
Next week there will be one more luxury item for the holidays. It would even be good for New Years too so take notes.