All the shiny catalogs full of beauty gift sets are coming with the newspapers and in the mail lately. I’m sure you’re inundated with them too.
I don’t class these along with the other junk mail because I love to look through them and plan out lots of indulgences for myself I can’t afford and won’t buy – at least not this side of Christmas.
My flexible friend issuer is already sending me letters about exceeding my credit limit again….
The latest Christmas gift catalog I just glanced through was from Boots – 32 pages of perfumes, makeup and skin care – lovely! Then I read this
“Everyone we know in the beauty industry is raving about how fantastic Bioeffect is. It’s highly praised for reversing the ageing process in a matter of weeks. so if she’s a complete beauty addict she’ll love this.”
Wrong, so wrong!
I don’t think there’s a single woman alive that wants to receive skin cream designed to reverse aging effects as a Christmas gift no matter how effective she knows it is or how much it costs – £125 ( that’s about $190) in this case.
I remember my mother in-law received expensive face cream from a friend a few years ago when she was in her sixties and she was very hurt. It’s safe to say that the friend is now no more than a passing acquaintance. I can’t say I’d be much more forgiving.
Now if I won some Bioeffect EGF serum in a giveaway or something that would be a different story. I’d love to try it and erase any fine line that might be daring to lurk about, but as a gift – no thanks!
Beauty gifts are all very well for Christmas, but make sure they don’t come with a hidden insult or implied criticism.
You may think you’re being kind giving your spotty friend a clear skin set or the best, most glamorous concealer you can find. It seems like you thought about what was right for her. But it’s not kind at all. It means when you think about her, you think about pimples and knowing that will not give your friend the boost you intended.
Even giving perfume as a gift is tricky unless you know it is her signature scent or one she would love to own, as fragrances smell differently on the skin of each individual and are a question of individual taste, more so than most other beauty products. I’m sure that more than 50% of fragrances bought to suit the gift giver are lying in a drawer unused after the first unwrapping and giving of insincere thanks.
If you must give a beauty gift, then try an eyeshadow palette in the kind of colors your friend already wears or some fun lip colors or nail polish so she can experiment a bit. If you know there’s a brand she particularly likes then choose that because that means you have truly thought of her.
Oh and if anyone is thinking of giving me some Bioeffect EGF Serum this Christmas (as if!) (unless you are the company who makes it sending me a sample in which case, yes, please) return it to the store and get me something else or it will be pistols at dawn….
