I Have an Eye for the Best Luxury Beauty Products—Here's What's at the Top of My List
From fragrance to makeup.
I anticipate the holiday season all year long and absolutely love to stockpile gorgeous beauty launches as potential gift ideas. From gilded compacts to decorative combs and hair accessories, I want the beauty gifts I give to look and feel high-quality, luxurious, and special. Of course, I want my gifts to be useful and practical, but I also want them to dazzle. Below, I've curated 12 stunning beauty items that absolutely sparkle and are sure to be universal crowd pleasers. Keep scrolling, and prepare to start checking off your shopping list as you go.
This jaw-chiseling bar from Jillian Dempsey has become a gold-standard beauty tool among makeup artists, editors, and celebrities alike. The 24-karat-gold design looks stunning on any vanity, and the satisfying vibration technology instantly gives the face a more toned and lifted appearance. It's become a personal pre-makeup staple.
Cyklar has me in an ongoing choke hold, and I've been unable to use any other bodycare brand since its launch. The Vanilla Verve scent is a universal crowd pleaser, and anyone on your list will be completely enamored with this gorgeous body-contouring tool paired with the brand's delicious bodywash and cream.
I'd purchase this stunning Cartier fragrance just for the bottle. (The gilded panther evokes the iconic 1948 emerald brooch designed by Jeanne Toussaint.) However, the scent is just as spectacular as its packaging. It artfully weaves notes of sensual musk with earthy chypre and delicate gardenia.
The second fall and winter chills set in, my skin wants to turn absolutely reptilian. To keep it soft, hydrated, and radiant, I love and recommend this French staple from L'Occitane. The molten shimmering gold oil is the best decorative eye candy, and I always make sure I keep it close at hand on my vanity.
A stunning gold compact makes for the perfect understated yet elegant beauty gift this season. This model from Violette_FR was designed by Violette herself and looks expensive and indulgent. Not to mention it can even be used as a makeup mixing palette to customize shades you're working with as you do your makeup.
I've tried nearly every brand of makeup brushes under the sun, and I swear Hourglass makes the absolute best. This travel-friendly set is filled with six velvety-soft vegan brushes, and the refined vegan-leather case is the cherry on top for a touch of absolute luxury.
I always know someone has good taste when I see a Nette candle in their home. This French chocolate–inspired release is a must for the holidays and is the work of the perfumer Gwen Gonzalez. It’s filled with notes of roasted cacao, milk chocolate, lavender, and Madagascar vanilla for a rich and festive feel without smelling too sweet or saccharine.
This is not your basic lip balm! Obviously, the gilded packaging is gorgeous, as is the sheer, glossy-gold finish, but the formula itself is so impressive. It exfoliates to buff away cold weather–induced flakes and cracks, provides deep hydration, and also plumps and smooths.

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content for Who What Wear for over five years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie and Who What Wear family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor.
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