BEAUTY BUZZ | Holiday Beauty Gift Ideas for Teens

Bobbi Brown’s Beauty Rules book

Looking back and thinking fondly of my first encounters with make-up in high school makes me think that I would have loved to receive a step-by-step beauty manual (to spare myself the trial and error…or let’s just call it teenage experimentation!).  I would have known not to over-tweeze my brows and that just because my gorgeous mom rocked the colour didn’t mean that a bright fuchsia lipstick would also look good on me! I have three of Bobbi Brown’s beauty books, and I love how she uses ‘real’ models to break down step-by-step the easily achievable make-up looks.  The looks are always fresh, clean and never overdone (which is how it should be when you’re a teen….please less eyeliner!!).  Beauty Rules covers the usual teenage beauty essentials like covering up blemishes, and more importantly talks about ‘beauty from within’ – everything from eating well to being your best ‘you’ (a concept that can be foreign during the teenage years when you want to look like the popular girls or the women you see in magazines!!  Right?!)  Brown’s approach to make-up and beauty is realistic and attainable, and the overall message of her book is greater than any beauty lesson!  ♥.

I saw this book on sale at a local Chapters recently for $20 CAD…such a good deal and even if you buy it for that young person on your list, there are great beauty tidbits in there for women of all ages!

Cromatico Eyeshadow Palette – Mozzarrella

The cute and fun packaging behind Tokidoki will definitely appeal to the teen on your Christmas list!  The limited edition holiday palettes are complete with four co-ordinating eyeshadows that are inspired by a Tokidoki character each palette has been designed after (meet Mozzarella at left!).  The shadows of the Cromatico palettes are well-pigmented and quite shimmery, which is a perfect texture for the teen to early 20s age range…not only because teens don’t have wrinkles + fine lines to worry about overdoing the shimmer with, but moreso that a shimmer texture helps keep the application ‘light’ (rather than using a matte texture that can be darker and aging to youth).  Each palette also comes with a collectible charm of the Tokidoki character it’s designed after and is housed in the bottom compartment of the palette.

*Side note:  the teenage years to early 20-ish years are probably the only years that I would recommend such a bright blue eyeshadow.   See the palettes also in Adieu and Diamante for more flattering everyday tones for teens.

Sephora’s Endless Colour Blockbuster Set

If there’s anything that will incite shrieks of joy from a teenage beauty junkie on Christmas, it’s this massive make-up set – the Sephora Endless Colour Blockbuster!  The name of this kit says it all.  The Colour Blockbuster is complete with 98 eyeshadows, 70 lip glosses, 9 eyeliners, 2 lip liners, mascara, blushes, and applicators.  What truly makes this set a ‘blockbuster’ is the price you can score it at – all these products at a collective value of over $500 CAD retail for approximately $60 CAD.

(So yes definitely shrieks of joy…but maybe moreso at the indirect message of approval you’ll be conveying to your teen that it’s ok to wear more make-up and take longer to get ready!)

The Blockbuster usually sells out quick (not available online anymore), but there may be some at your local Sephora.

CoverGirl’s Liquiline Blast

What mom of a teenager doesn’t know how much her daughter loooves eyeliner?!  When I used to work at a make-up counter, moms would often bring their teenage daughters (let’s just say it wasn’t always voluntarily!) and ask for tips on how to wear eye make-up ‘properly’.  The answer in most cases was usually to use less….no need to have such smudged kohl-rimmed smoky eyes when you’re in high school!

So more as a stocking stuffer or as part of a bigger beauty gift, CoverGirl’s Liquiline Blast makes for a pretty gift choice for teens (for instance, when paired with Bobbi Brown’s book above perhaps?  …because then no excuses and no inevitable visits with Mom to a make-up counter…teens could learn how to wear eyeliner properly!).  I have spoke of my love for Liquiline Blast here in a previous post. I have Black Fire and Brown Blaze in my personal kit, but if I were a teen, I’d probably want to own Blue Boom and Green Glow too!

For a quality eyeliner, Liquiline retails for a great pricepoint at under $10 CAD…so just as your teen would hope, you could buy them more than one colour!  :)

anything by MAC

There’s a special soft spot for MAC in my heart, as it was the first department store quality brand that I treated myself to as a teen. You can’t deny MAC’s street credit right?!  From their killer ad campaigns to of-the-moment spokespeople, MAC knows how to appeal to the masses.  (Oh yeah, their products are great too!)

As a teen, MAC products were always cool to tote around too…as one of the first companies I was exposed to that offered sleek, non-cheesy packaging and a wild selection of colours, MAC clearly was not our mother’s make-up (no offense, Mom!).

MAC’s A Tartan Tale gift sets, glosses, pigments or shadows would make amazing gifts for that teen on your list (insert more shrieks of joy here!)…the only problem is that you may want to keep said items for yourself.