The Golden Oasis Couture Face Palette comes in a stunning limited-edition mirrored compact with six cheek colors. Three of the colors are shimmery highlighters, three are blushes with two shimmers and one matte. I think out of all the recent blush launches the YSL Make Me Blush formula is the best for the soft blendable texture and colors. Original review here. Having multiple shades in a palette is a beauty lover’s dream come true. You can see all the shades in action here.
A few of the colors are really similar to individual shades I own. The peachy shimmer resembles Restless Rose and the rose pink shimmer is really close to Nude Lavalliere.
Shades in this palette include a soft peachy gold shimmer, pale gold shimmer, pale iridescent pink sparkle, rose shimmer blush, deep magenta matte blush and warm copper gold shimmer.
The highlighters are very shimmery so if you can’t wear high shimmer shades, I recommend opting for a different face palette.
I really love this one. I think it really does have everything you need for a holiday look and I love that you can also wear the shimmers on the eyes.
New Holiday Lip Colors
There are two new shades of the Loveshine Plumping Lip Oil Gloss in 100 Sparkling Dream and 12 Honey Moon. I tried these earlier in the year and reviewed them here. I love the colors + shine but the plumping factor is extreme and the sting and tingle is overpowering for me. I decided to try these again anyways since the colors are SO beautiful but I still cannot wear them comfortably on the lips. I will say though that if I layer them on top of a lipstick, the lipstick underneath acts as a buffer and making the plumping gloss more bearable to wear. All shades swatched in this video here.
As a Candy Glaze lover I could not be more thrilled they launched new shades in this particular formula (original review here). 21 Shimmer Nude is a beautiful pale opalescent champagne beige shade but pulls very pale on my complexion. 22 Shimmer Rose is the one MUST-HAVE in my opinion. It’s such a stunning soft rose pink shade. It’s currently sold out online but I still highly recommend using the Buy Online Pick Up In Store option – it’s a great way to reserve the products online and pick them up at your convenience. I also use it to make sure my local store has things in stock before heading over in person. By popular request I pulled a few comparisons to other rose tones and other Candy Glaze shades. I really love that Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 083 Sparkling Rose which is a slightly warmer version of the YSL 22 Shimmer Rose (but in gloss form).
Overall love everything in this collection color-wise. I still cannot wear those plumping lip glosses but the colors are 10/10 stunning. If you pick up one thing from this launch though I do think that Candy Glaze 22 is the best one. I highly recommend adding these to your list for the upcoming Sephora Sale starting on the 31st for Rouge Members!
I picked up some Dior Holiday launches and quite a few things are still in stock! They have some really beautiful gift sets too although this year I focused on the Holiday Makeup Launches. I’ll list where I’ve still found things in stock right now online, although you might also want to check your stores too. FYI right now Saks is having 15% off the Dior items (and other beauty as well). Here is what I picked up:
There are two Forever Couture Luminizer Highlighters this holiday. I opted for the golden champagne one in 001 Or Lumiere which still seems to widely available at a lot of retailers. It’s a pale champagne gold with a complex mix of shimmers but still applies smoothly on the skin and on me does not emphasize pores or texture. Although I have a multitude of other golden highlighters this one pleasantly surprised me. I think it’s worth the splurge but it is one of the most dupeable items in the holiday launch.
The texture is very soft and pigment pulls on the sheer to medium side. You can layer for more pigment but the overall look is still soft. It has a cool rose pink with tons of silver sparkles, a soft off-white-pink pearl, a soft gold shimmer, pale silvery mauve with a hint of taupe shimmer and a deeper reddish matte.
Dior Vernis in 114 Lumiere
I haven’t bought a Dior nail polish since they reformulated them so this is my first purchase in the newer formula. Dior Vernis in 115 Lumiere is a sparkly gold which is SO pretty for the holiday season. It’s on the sheer side and I’m wearing it with 2 coats but I love the subtle polished effect it gives. I haven’t worn it long enough to test wear time but the sparkles adhere very well to the nails.
I picked up 100 Dreams (currently sold out) and 323 Dazzle (still available at Saks and Neimans). These are liquid lipsticks with incredibly long-wear time. They have a matte finish like the regular Rouge Dior Forever Liquids, but these have a sparkle in them! After it dries if you press your lips together more sparkles appear for a glittery finish.
These are super fun and I’m glad I picked them up! I will say though they do look a little dry since it has a matte finish. They don’t necessarily feel dry and I’m happy to report they did not dry out my lips though. I swatched the Sequins next to the regular Rouge Dior Forever Liquid in 100.
Sequins 100 Dreams
Sequins 323 Dazzle
That wraps up my Holiday Review. I know it’s very late since these launched months ago but if you had any of these on your Christmas wishlist or radar I hope you found this helpful!
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If you’re looking for last minute gifts:
Dior.com is offering free 2-day shipping with orders $150 more if you order by 12/19
Sephora offers Same Day Delivery for select items and locations, or the Buy Online Pick Up in Store Option
Ulta Beauty also offers Same Day Delivery for select locations and they also have the Buy Online and Pick Up in Store Options
Nordstrom holiday cut-off shipping is 12/18 for standard shipping
Dior still has a number of cute holiday gift sets and bundles. I don’t think they are offered at a discount value price but sometimes it’s nice to have some beauty staples packaged in a festive pouch.
Shop Holiday Makeup SETS
Dior has started to launch bit of Spring 2025 Beauty. There are already some new shades of the Addict Lip Maximizer at Dior and Sephora (Pinkmania, Bluemania, Peachmania, Glowmania, Nude Mania) – I ordered all the shades I could find and will be swatching them when my package arrives!
It also looks like they are reformulating the Dior Addict Lip Glow again or changing the colors. I have to admit I’m a little confused why they keep reformulating or changing this balm. This version says they now have “warm and cool” tones. I don’t know that I’ll order any of the new ones but if you try them in the near future let me know your thoughts!
Christmas is just around the corner! Time during this month seems to move so quickly I can barely believe it. If you’re still looking for some holiday gifts I have a few more roundups for you.
Many of these discovery sets offer a voucher towards the purchase of a full-size perfume (I’ll note which ones have them below). There are still lots of ways to save on beauty sets this month. Some sales on my radar:
Sephora’s Gifts For All Event is happening now – save 20% off your order with code HAVEITALL (one time use) and 30% off Sephora Collection now thru 12/15
Ulta Beauty has lots of sales and promos each week, right up save up to $20 off in store and online – get $10 off $40 qualifying purchase with code CHEER24 or $20 off $100 qualifying purchase with code JOY24, they also have their Big Holiday Beauty Sale going on (my last minute gifts all on sale shared here and here)
Saks Fifth Avenue has their Spend More, Earn More event with code WNTRGCSF
Bloomingdale’s has their Beauty Treats Event to take $25 off every $150 you spend on beauty (some exclusions apply)
Onto today’s gift guide! I think Perfume Discovery Sets are such a fun gift idea whether you’re looking for something for yourself or a gift. There are quite a few brands I do not have in-person access to and the sets allow me to try perfumes without having to buy blind. I will admit that some sets have been a total fail in the sense that I didn’t end up liking any of the perfumes or notes, but it was still fun to try. I have a few friends who have completely different tastes in perfumes so I can usually find someone else who will gladly take any of them off my hands!
Celine
Celine makes some of my favorite scents. Right now they’re only sold online at Celine or in Celine boutiques in the US so they can be a bit hard to find. I bought the Coffret Miniatures a year ago when it had 10 perfumes and absolutely loved trying the scents. You can see my review of each one in this post here.
They’ve since updated this Coffret Set to include 12 scents including Zouzou (new) and Bois Dormant (10 ml each). They’ve also increased the price to $445 for 12 minis versus $385 for 10 minis (the older variation).
A more affordable option is their Discovery Set with has 11 mini vials each 2 ml for $48. This one comes with spritzers.
Guerlain
Guerlain Holiday is stunning this year! They have some beautiful discovery sets I’ve reviewed in depth here. I think these are among some of the best high quality perfumes I’ve ever tried. These are quite the splurge but I know some of you are die-hard loyal fans to this perfume line and I think the sets make for the most beautiful luxury gifts.
The Iconic Eaux de Parfum Set has three minis ($190, three 10 ml minis) from the L’art and La Matiere Line in Neroli Outrenoir, Angelique Noire, and Musc Outreblanc.
They also have two eight-piece Perfumers Sets in the Iconic Harmony and Floral Harmony ($395 each). This year they launched a six-piece discovery Exceptional Set with the Extracts and it is STUNNING ($630).
Creed is another beautiful perfume line and I think their Discovery Sets are stunning. I gift one to Andrew every year and he uses every single scent. Creed has a lot of variations including 3-piece sets ($250 each) or 5-piece sets ($345 each). They have variations for men and different ones for women. Right now at the time of this post Nordstrom is offering a discount on the Creed Sets.
Women’s 5-Piece Set includes: Aventus for Her, Love in White, Wind Flowers, Royal Princess Oud and Spring Flower
Men’s 5-Piece Set includes: Aventus, Green Irish Tweed, Silver Mountain Water, Aventus Cologne and Millesime Imperial
Men’s 3-Piece Set includes: Aventus, Green Irish Tweed, Silver Mountain Water
The Creed Refillable Atomizer is another beautiful gift option. They have different colors to pick from and both Andrew and I own and love these.
Byredo
Byredo offers the biggest selection of discovery and travel sets. I love that they have SO many options!
This year they’ve launched a stunning 24-piece discovery set called La Grande Decouverte ($250). This set comes with a $225 voucher to use towards any Eau de Parfum and they give you 6 months to redeem it. Each vial is 2 ml.
Byredo also offers several smaller 6-piece Discovery Sets ($60) and these also come with a $60 voucher to use towards a perfume. This one has a shorter window to redeem of 4 weeks but I think it’s still a great way to try them. The sets this year include:
The 3-piece Travel Sets ($174 each) are still widely available at multiple retailers like Nordstrom, Saks, etc. I picked up La Selection Boisee with Super Cedar, Mojave Ghost and Black Saffron but there are multiple variations available with different combinations.
This year Glossier added two new scents to their line and they launched a Glossier You Discovery Kit ($82) for the holiday with travel sizes. At the time of this post there are a few left at Sephora.com but it’s sold out at Glossier. The good news is you can find the Travel Editions (8 ml each) individually now in Glossier You, You Reve and You Doux for $32 each. Glossier is offering 20% off online until 12/15.
Parfums de Marly
Parfums de Marly is a new-to-me brand this year. I bought the Feminine Discovery Set ($50) from their website (comes with a voucher to use towards a full-size fragrance). The line is more widely available at retailers like Nordstrom, Saks, Neimans etc. and they carry it near me but I really liked having the discovery set to try them at my own pace.
I also love their Discovery Collection ($230, Saks) with four 10 ml sizes perfect to try or for your purse. It has Delina, Delina Exclusif, Oriana and Valaya. I’m a huge fan of the Delina line for the prettiest rose scents but my heart still belongs to Creed Spring Flower so I haven’t bought any of the Delina scents.
Victoria Beckham Beauty
I’ve been a huge fan of Victoria Beckham Beauty for the makeup and was super curious when they launched perfumes. I ordered the Original 3-Piece Discovery Set ($30) when it launched (this comes with a voucher). Out of the three I liked Portofino 97 the best which has notes of Bergamot, Amber and Vetiver (all my favorite notes) but I didn’t like it enough to buy any of the full sizes. It pulls unisex but slightly more on the masculine side on me.
They’ve since added a new scent and updated the Discovery Set ($40) to include the new one Reverie which has notes of Vanilla, Cedarwood and Plum. I haven’t tried the perfume but the PR team sent over their Hand Cream Collection Set ($144) which has all four scents in a hand cream and I really love Reverie. It has a similar vibe to MFK Baccarat Rouge 540 which I actually don’t wear anymore. I think the VBB Reverie is a much better variation. If you like vanillas I think it’s definitely worth checking out.
The Hand Creams are very smooth in texture without any sticky residue. I think they’re really nice. You can purchase them individually and they also launched a Hand Cream Tube Key ($12) to twist the end of the tube.
The Harmonist
I discovered The Harmonist line this year and fell head over heels in love with Moon Glory and Yin Transformation. They’re truly unique with exceptionally long lasting power. There is a Discovery Set ($85) I’m working my way through. I think it’s a truly special line.
Linking a few more Discovery Sets. There seems to be one for almost every perfume line!
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If you’ve been looking for some last minute beauty gifts I hope you found this roundup helpful! If you have any favorite perfume line you’re loyal to please let me know in the comments. I am always looking for more to try.
Happy Thanksgiving week! I’ve put together a series of gift guides for the beauty lover, fragrance lover, fitness aficionado and for the home. I hope you find some inspo and ideas if you’re still looking for gifts!
I’ll be hosting a giveaway on my Instagram page @beautylookbook so be sure to check it out on Stories this week! My Guerlain Giveaway is still running a few more days here too!
Chanel launched another Holiday Beauty Set for this year called the Active Beauty Set ($221). It seems to be exclusive to Chanel.com and and Chanel beauty boutiques. The set has three full-sized permanent items in a large pouch. I love that Chanel released two sizes of pouches this year, the fluffy bag with the snowflake charm is so cute.
I ordered the Active Beauty Set online at Chanel.com and my order came with a cute little charm. I am not sure if all online orders come with one but I do know a lot of stores and counters have them with holiday purchases. The snowflake charm is one I got from my SA in store.
This set has the La Creme Main hand cream (my favorite for a non-sticky formula), UV Essentiel (love this formula) and a Hydra Beauty Essence Mist (scented but I love it).
Quick side by side look at the Active Beauty Set (large pouch) and Maximum Brilliance Set (small/regular pouch, swatches in this post here, still in stock!). You can buy all the items individually and they do not give you a price break for buying a set, but for a holiday gift I think the pouch sets have such a beautiful presentation and definitely have that wow factor.
Long time no see here! What a month it has been! I have been meaning to write a little life update here to check in and say hello, but things have been chaotic these past few weeks. As most of you know, I am located in St. Pete (the Tampa Bay area) and we just went through two back to back hurricanes. I have been more active on social to share updates on life but haven’t had a chance to share much here on the blog. If you want to see what I’ve been up to everything has been saved to my Instagram @beautylookbook October Life and NYC Highlights!
I’m back with a quick Chanel Beauty review! They launched their Holiday 2024 Collection and Part 1 of their Holiday Gift Sets. There are 6 sets online now with the beautiful soft fluffy zippered bags and this year they have 2 sizes of bags, the standard one we’ve seen for years and then a larger one (so fun!).
I picked up one set Maximum Brilliance Lipgloss Trio ($128) as the others I have my eye on aren’t launching until November 4th (I will pick those up on launch day).
This year the boxes are gold and white and the bags have the cutest snowflake detailing on the zipper. I am not sure about the packaging for online orders but if you purchase in store they also have two options for gift wrapping charms, I opted for the snowflake which is super cute.
These gift sets have full-sized items and usually don’t have a price break for buying the set, but they are beautifully packaged and while you can buy the products individually I really love that you know you’re getting full-sized high quality items.
Maximum Brilliance has three Rouge Coco Glosses in Icing (sheer milky white pink), Bourgeioise (classic mauve with shimmer) and Melted Honey (sheer gold shimmer). All three are super glossy with a thicker texture. They’re hydrating and have a beautiful shine.
Here’s a quick look at what’s online now, there are lots of other fragrance sets and bundles but these are the sets that come with the beautiful gift bags:
Two other sets I know are coming out include one with the UV essential and another one comes with the baume essential in the set. If you have your eye on any I recommend ordering soon or calling your local boutique as they tend to sell out very quickly!
Life update: Lots of things have happened the last month! We had two back-to-back hurricanes. I also took a weekend trip to NYC right before Hurricane Milton and came back just in time to help prepare our home for the hurricane and pack as much as we could to evacuate. In our eight years of living in Florida this is the first time we had mandatory evacuation orders for our neighborhood. Andrew booked us an Airbnb to Miami for a couple weeks since he knew even if the hurricane didn’t end up hitting Tampa directly, the size and strength was going to be destructive enough that it meant power would most likely be off for a couple weeks if not an entire month. With the grounds being so saturated with storms, a lot of the counties would also most likely shut off the water for a few days.
We packed what we could in our car along with the fur babies and drove to Miami Beach. With all the traffic it took us 8 hours to drive from Tampa to South Beach (it normally takes us 4 max). We made the best of our two week evacuation, did lots of exploring, ate to our heart’s content all the way through all our favorite spots, tried some new places and also celebrated 23 years together (we dated 7 years and have been married for 16). We checked the news daily for updates on our neighborhood and home. Our neighbors had also evacuated so they weren’t home either to report on our house. With the power out we couldn’t check on our home cameras to see if our house survived.
We drove home as soon as we received notice the power and water was back. So grateful our home is 100% ok inside and that we didn’t have any flooding or damage to the actual house. So many trees had broken branches or were blown over completely from the roots. Lots of homes had damage on the outside and inside – we were very lucky! Our backyard and fence needs a lot of work and repair but any damage is minimal and all things are fixable.
I hope to resume regular posting this week! I’ve had lots in the works for reviews and swatches. Also have a couple Sephora sale guides and holiday gift guides coming your way. I’ve been working behind the scenes while I’ve been away! Just haven’t had a chance to edit and put everything together to share with you.
Hope you are all well and that you had an ok October. Ours was chaotic for sure but we survived it and I am happy to be back!
Christmas is only a couple weeks away and if you’re looking for last minute gift ideas for the guys I’ve rounded up some of Andrew’s grooming favorites and things I am gifting him this year.
So many of you have asked for tips and ideas on how to get the guys in your life to up their grooming game. I highly recommend looking at the gift sets from Jack Black and Kiehl’s. I am so glad Andrew is a well-groomed man and has been since I met him when we were in our 20s!
My number one tip is to buy him a few simple sets with multi-taskers and replace (or rather REMOVE) his bar soap from the shower and put the sets front and center on the counter, near the shower or bath – pretty much right in front of him.
The Jack Black Turbo Wash is the best thing I think you can gift any guy in your life. They can use it on hair and body, so it’s two in one. Andrew uses it to wash his face too. (I actually borrow Andrew’s all the time because it’s the best at removing sunscreen.) Love this Body Best Sellers Set – Andrew picked it up during our travels so he could use them during our trip.
They have tons of body care sets, shaving sets, sets with a little bit of everything. Andrew has tried almost everything from the line. Even the lip balms. He also likes the Deep Dive Glycolic Facial Cleanser (doubles as a mask), Supreme Clean Shaving Cream and moisturizer – all found in the Carry On Essentials Set ($30).
Kiehl’s also has great products for the guys. The Energizing Essentials Kit is a great place to start and they have a bar soap that exfoliates too (it’s not your average bar soap).
For grooming tools I bought Andrew his own cuticle nail care set from Zwilling several years ago and he uses it all the time. I love the look of this one from Zwilling for travel (I just ordered it for him). He’s tried a lot of shaving tools and really loves the Braun Body Groomer. For an electric face shaver he really likes the Braun Electric Series 3 Razor. He also has used and likes the Manscaped Lawn Mower 4.0.
I know cologne and fragrance can be very personal but Creed makes some great discovery sets and in my opinion they make the best of the best. They have several different variations like the 3-piece discovery set or 5-piece discovery set. Andrew has a blue refillable atomizer which he really loves and brings with him every trip we go on. I just ordered him a grey one (new color) because he likes to wear a few different scents so now he will have two. His favorite scent is Aventus.
For clothes we’ve been really impressed with Vuori. The quality is great, styles are modern and the fit/cuts are very good and they’re comfortable without looking too casual. What Andrew likes the best about their tops and sweatshirts is they hold their shape really well, even during workouts and with sweat. We were able to see everything in person at the Vuori store in Miami. They have a lot of things on sale on their site right now. He loves the Tradewind Performance Tee. The Strato Tech Tee is super soft (I wish they made it in women’s sizes). He also bought some hoodies and joggers.
A few other fun gift ideas include dopp kits or travel bags from Away. I’ve bought Andrew so many travel cases over the years. He says the best one is the Away Large Toiletry Bag and it’s the one he’s been using on our trips. We’ve had the Everywhere Bag for several years now and we both use ours to this day. They’ve added other sizes and styles to pick from.
We saw some new leather goods at the Creed Boutique in Miami and they are quite the splurge but Andrew fell in love with the small case. I’m ordering it for him for Christmas.
If you’re looking for gift ideas for the guys in your life I hope you found this roundup helpful! I think any of these would suit a wide range of ages and styles.
