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The Best Beauty Gifts To Buy For Your BFF — Or Yourself
Your cheat sheet to the most covetable skin care, hair, makeup, and fragrance products.
The holidays are fast approaching, which means the age-old dilemma: What do you gift someone who already has everything? Trick question — you can never have too many beauty products, especially when they keep getting better every year.
And in 2025, they really did. Brands embraced innovation and personalization in a major way: tools became infinitely more intuitive, skin care turned more tech-forward, and makeup leaned into buildable pigments that work for you, not against you. So, when it comes to figuring out which products are actually worthy of gifting (or, let’s be honest, keeping for yourself), consider this your cheat sheet to the very best in beauty from 2025.
For the friend who hoards skin creams, upgrade their routine with Lumeo’s newest multitasking facial tool. For the family member whose blow dryer belongs in a museum, Shark Beauty’s latest launch will be revelatory. For the Gen Z-ers in your life, Rhode and Emi Jay both have kits that’ll hit the spot, while the budding makeup artist will love a palette that lets them nail a viral contouring technique.
Basically, no matter what that person on your list already has too much of — perfumes, hand creams, lip balms — there’s something ahead that will still feel special. These are the kind of gifts that feel instantly exciting to unwrap and very, very hard to give away.
1. A Luxe Night Cream
True joy is written on the face, so what better way to deliver that to a loved one than with a whipped, skin-firming moisturizer? With antioxidant-rich botanicals and line-smoothing goji berry, arrowroot extract, carnosine, and hydrolyzed soybean, this luxe concoction from Sulwhasoo is TLC in face cream form. The skin-boosting perks only compound with regular use — making it a gift that keeps on giving.
2. Self-Care Essentials
Parisian beauty brand Sisley is renowned for its Black Rose line — a collection of intensely hydrating skin care formulas infused with a subtle floral scent. This gift set features a trio of its bestsellers: the Cream Mask, Skin Infusion Cream, and Beautifying Emulsion. But they happen to come packaged in a box designed by British artist Luke Edward, making the products all the more covetable.
3. This Snazzy Facial Device
A good beauty tool is the cherry on top of a good skin care routine. The person on your list who always double cleanses and has their facialist on speed dial will love unwrapping this multitasking device from Laduora. It contains four technologies: red and infrared light therapy (to stimulate collagen), microcurrent (to sculpt), electroporation (for better product absorption), and massage (to depuff). The result? A brighter, more contoured glow, all via a three-minute at-home treatment. It’s a beauty upgrade you’ll be greatly thanked for.
4. The Jet-Setter’s Secret
Hailey Bieber is the blueprint when it comes to radiant skin, so anyone on the quest for a glazed donut glow would appreciate Rhode’s On-The-Go Set. It comes with three staples of the beauty founder’s cult-beloved line — the Peptide Lip Treatment, Glazing Mist, and Peptide Eye Prep, plus a compact mirror. Yes, all feature skin-smoothing peptides and deliver a selfie-worthy radiance.
5. The MVP Eyeshadow Palette
Maximalist beauty is reigning right now, making a versatile, high-impact eyeshadow palette a non-negotiable. Whether you’re into the holographic eye makeup trend, glitter, or statement-making eyeshadows, Isamaya’s Core Palette 1.0 has got you covered. Founder Isamaya Ffrench is a true artist, after all — you can trust that she’s brought the most covetable pigments to this drop, including iridescent green, violet with cyan shimmer, and champagne speckled with green. It’s almost too pretty to use. Key word: almost.
6. These Great-Hair-Day Goods
This one’s for the girls who are all about style switch-ups. JVN’s gift set covers a full cycle of hair days — from air-dried waves to blowouts and everything in between — all while giving serious bang for your buck. It includes a full-size Air Dry Cream (a grail product for anyone with wavy-to-curly strands who wants defined texture without the crunch), a mini Dry Shampoo (for no-wash days), and Blowout Styling Milk (for that extra-polished holiday party look). It’s the ultimate trio for anyone looking to up their hair game.
7. This Scent-Maxxing Set
Lore is the cool-girl perfume brand that just landed at Sephora, and this discovery set makes the (very real) challenge of choosing a favorite scent so much easier. It comes with four mini versions of the brand’s full lineup — each with its own personality, from the citrusy mezcal pop of Disfruta to the creamy, lived-in leather of Somewhere but Nowhere. Not every fragrance will be an everyday fit, but that’s the point. You can see how each one wears on your skin or play with the scent-maxxing trend by layering them together. Whether you’re trying out Lore for the first time or shopping for someone who loves a left-of-center fragrance moment, these minis are full of unexpected notes that keep things fun in the perfume department.
8. A Body-Care Upgrade
Having dolphin skin beneath the neck may be a flex only you can appreciate (and perhaps your SO), but it’s worth the effort. Anyone who’s experienced rough, patchy legs in the wintertime knows it’s true. Help out your bestie (or yourself) with this body care set from cult-fave brand Cyklar — complete with a body wash and body cream in the divine vanilla-meets-santal scent. It also comes with a chic body contour tool to relieve muscle tension and boost lymphatic drainage — because who doesn’t want a good excuse to linger in the bathroom a little longer?
9. A Beauty Advent Calendar
Sometimes the best gifts are those that contain multitudes — like an advent calendar. e.l.f. Cosmetics did beauty lovers a solid with this 24-day box, which is stocked with the most swoon-worthy, holiday-ready makeup and skin care staples. Your bestie will enjoy everything from blush to lip products, face gems to brow essentials, and so much more. Come Christmas, they’ll have a whole new routine — how fun!
10. Blush That Doubles As A Trinket
You don’t even need to be a Wicked fan to appreciate this blush from Sheglam’s Wizard of Oz collection — I mean, look at it. The adorably cheeky red heart clock, inspired by the Tin Man, features a creamy pink-red pigment for the perfect flush. It’s a makeup item you can take on the go — simply clip it onto your bag, since it doubles as a Labubu-like accessory (or accessory for your Labubu).
11. A Loud Luxury Hand Cream
The packaging on this hand cream tells you everything you need to know. It’s luxury, down to the signature Prada triangle, but the formula is where it really earns its spot in your stocking. The cream is loaded with shea butter and niacinamide to deeply moisturize and smooth skin — a must if you're constantly washing or sanitizing this season. The addition of biotin is a smart detail, strengthening nails so your entire hand routine gets an upgrade. The texture sinks in fast, leaving a touchable, non-greasy finish, but the scent will stay with you all day — a warm floral with notes of vanilla and iris.
12. This Essential Eye Makeup Kit
Anyone’s eyes would light up upon unwrapping a gift from Chanel. Gift this makeup set to the person on your list who’s always rocking an enviable smoky eye and can nail the perfect eyeliner flick in their sleep. It comes with a mascara primer, volumizing black mascara, and waterproof twist-up eyeliner pencil in an espresso shade — all inside a limited-edition star-inspired Chanel pouch with gold detailing and a camellia flower-shaped zipper. Chic.
13. A K-Beauty Must-Have
Your chronically on BeautyTok friends are well familiar with Medicube, the K-beauty brand behind countless viral sheet masks as well as its Hailey Bieber-approved facial tool. This PDRN Pink Vita Coating Sheet Mask will surprise and delight that person on your list — especially since its star ingredient is PDRN, aka the ingredient molecule in salmon sperm and every celeb’s current fave skin care secret. Self-care sessions just got more exciting.
14. A Holiday-Ready Nail Polish
Though mani devotees typically have a stacked nail polish collection, they know they can always use just one more. Their dream stocking stuffer, then, would be this Dior polish in Rouge. First of all, it’s Dior. Duh. But it’s also the ultimate red — ideal for holiday party season and well beyond.
15. Their New Fave Hair Tool
Styling tools can be hit or miss, but trust us when we say your loved ones will appreciate this baby from Shark Beauty. It does the hard work so you don’t have to, offering heat-controlled air to gloss strands and doubling as a ceramic styling wand for quick, fuss-free blowouts — sans frizz. It works on all hair types and textures, all without as much damage as you’d get from a blow dryer. Yes, please.
16. This Viral Makeup Palette
Celebrity makeup artist Mary Phillips brought pro techniques to the masses with her new makeup line, m.ph — but especially with this underpainting palette that features an undereye color corrector, plus two concealers and two contour shades. The cream formula melts into the skin, adding dimension without any extra greasiness. Everything is sheer and buildable, designed to get that perfect low-effort, high-payoff glam. (Foundation and setting powder not included.) And for holiday travelers? It’s a dream: your base essentials in one slim compact. TSA won’t be stopping you anytime soon.
17. The Perfect Slickback Duo
Not sure what to gift the Gen Z-er in your life? This Emi Jay slickback kit is a safe bet. Inside, you get a mini boar-bristle brush in the color Pink Sugar and the cult-favorite Angelstick, a rare styling balm without parabens, sulfates, or synthetic fragrances. The two work together to smooth flyaways and create a snatched look without any residual stiffness — leaving your hair feeling shinier and healthier than before you pulled it up. Plus, you can easily throw these little beauties into a tote bag or purse for an on-the-go styling moment. Gen Z is notoriously difficult to shop for, but Emi Jay’s Sweet and Sleek Styling Kit nails three things they love: slickbacks, clean girl aesthetics, and matching sets.
18. The Chic Vanity Case
Saie’s vanity case went viral earlier this year, and it’s lived up to the hype — so much so that the brand dropped a mini version just in time for the holidays. The slightly smaller silhouette is perfect for everyday essentials, with four roomy compartments that fit blushes, pencils, powders, and even a brush or two. And it still has all the features that made the original a must-have: a structured shape that keeps products upright, a wipe-clean interior for inevitable spills, and a sturdy top handle that makes it feel more like an accessory than a cosmetic bag. Chic, compact, and equally functional — say hello to your new vanity essential.
19. A French-Girl Lip Duo
These two lip products are bestsellers for a reason. Violette_FR’s Plume Lip is a mousse-like matte formula that’s creamy and never drying, while the Bisou Balm delivers the most perfect blurred pout we’ve ever seen. Don’t be surprised if your BFF ditches the rest of their lippies for these MVPs.
