Holiday Gifting Challenge 2022: Week 9 - Share how you're treating yourself!

[TeamBIC]

Holiday Gifting Challenge 2022

It’s officially holiday season here at Sephora, and we’re celebrating with all of our Community friends the best way we know how – by sharing beauty recommendations, of course! 🎁 The Beauty Insider Community always seems to have the best beauty buy, trick, or tip for just about any occasion, and now we’re truly putting you all to the test with a Holiday Gifting Challenge!

Here’s how it works: we polled our Community Ambassadors and had them come up with different hard-to-shop-for people (some of them real, some hypothetical… all very relatable) and turned them into weekly prompts to challenge our Community to brainstorm the perfect gift ideas for each. Each prompt will include two different people or gifts that fit under that overall category -- you can reply with different ideas for both recipients within that prompt, or share ideas for just one of them, or however you feel inspired to participate in this ultimate present-picking challenge. In your replies, be sure to tag those products using the “#” sign -- and don’t forget to come back each week to share your recommendations for the next batch of “giftees!”

• Week 1 (11/1-11/7) – office party picks 💻
  • White Elephant giftee for an office party - @Buootiful 
  • For the coworker who’s perpetually stressed out - @Mochapj 

• Week 2 (11/8-11/14) – scent-sational gifts 🌺
  • For my children’s teachers who love a good holiday scent - @lmaster 
  • For the teen boy who’s ready try something nicer than drugstore body spray - @heartsmyface 

• Week 3 (11/15-11/21) – hosts (and hostesses) with the most 🏠
  
  • For your hostess who has the coziest house that makes you feel like your home away from home - @Guessgal 
  • First-time gifts that dazzle your new in-laws celebrating your first Christmas together - @niki172 

• Week 4 (11/22-11/28) – gifts of gratitude 🙌
  • Your friends that are essential workers! Especially those who have to mask up and wash up daily -@danielledanielle 
  • The sweet woman who voluntarily keeps the neighborhood tidied up all year round -@itsfi 

• Week 5 (11/29-12/5) – for the skincare aficionado 🧖 
  • For the skincare lover who probably has all kinds of lotions and potions but maybe not all the tools -@Saradestin 
  • For my friend who loves skincare, has acne-prone skin, and who loves to bounce from brand to brand -@ather  ‍️
    
    
• Week 6 (12/6-12/12) – for the beauty newbie in the family 👼
  
  • For my teen family member just getting into makeup and building a collection - @Kim888 
  • A teenage boy who started getting acne but doesn’t like to put anything on his face - @fatimamummy  

• Week 7 (12/13-12/19) – presents that pamper 🛀
  • For my mom who I love to spoil every holiday with beautiful gift sets -@Missnur 
  • The person who could use a confidence boost or be reminded of their self-worth -@Samtian 

• Week 8 (12/20-12/26) – travel-ready 🧳
  • For the international traveler who’s always on the next flight -@CookieGirl1 
  • For my sister-in-law who is always on the go -@SportyGirly125 

• Week 9 (12/27-1/2) – treat yourself! 💁‍️
  • For someone who appreciates luxury product and packaging at a steal -@haleyvvvv 
  • A gift wrapped perfectly for me! ‘Cause we deserve to get something too! -@missjeanie 
  
  
  

Happy gifting season! Hit reply to share your present picks for the challenge at hand, tagging products using the “#” symbol!

[Saradestin]

Wow @makeitup305 ! All these are so cute! I love them

[Cissy63]

Oh I love that idea @makeitup305,.❤️

[pocketvenus]

@lmaster Festive holiday scents

• Serge Luten's Fille en Aiguilles is a classic Christmas scent. There's pine needles but also warm amber and spice.
• Comme des Garcon's Yoyogi actually has a bit of a green, coniferous edge that's Christmas tree like. 
• Etat Libre's Noel au Balcon is a festive spicy fragrance with orange
• Hiram Green's Hyde is a smoky fragrance, reminds me of the holidays in a wintery cabin
• #Jo Malone London Myrrh & Tonka Cologne Intense 3.4 oz/ 100 mL Spray

@heartsmyface Crowdpleasing scents for a teen boy

• #Mugler A*MEN 3.4 oz/ 100 mL Eau de Toilette Rubber Flask Spray aka a popular dupe for KILIAN Paris Intoxicated 1.7 oz/ 50 mL, more gourmand leaning
• Maison Margiela REPLICA' Jazz Club Eau de Toilette, an easy entry into this niche genre
• Calvin Klein ck one Eau de Toilette 1.7 oz/ 50 mL Eau de Toilette Spray , a throwback but a classic for a 90s vibe
• If the packaging doesn't put him off, Jo Malone London Wood Sage & Sea Salt Cologne or Jo Malone London Lime Basil & Mandarin Cologne 
• HERMÈS Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver Eau de Parfum , couldn't get the original non-vetiver one to tag, this is just a beautiful and very versatile scent

[Cissy63]

@pocketvenus  These sound like wonderful scents 🌺

[Saradestin]

Wow @pocketvenus ! So many possible options! 👍

[CynthieLu]

You came up with so many great ideas 💡 @pocketvenus these are sooo good!

[Buootiful]

• For my children’s teachers who love a good holiday scent 

Definitely a Unisex scent and perfect for the snowy Holidays:

Ellis Brooklyn APRÈS Essentials Gift Set 

Could be used as a Room spray as well if they don't want to use it as a cologne/perfume:

Ellis Brooklyn APRÈS Eau de Parfum Travel Spray 0.33 oz/ 10 mL 

• For the teen boy who’s ready try something nicer than drugstore body spray

A unique scent, absolutely: 

Dior Fahrenheit 1.7 oz/ 50 mL 

There's more fragrance notes out there other than CK One🤣 

Ellis Brooklyn Scent DIARY Fragrance Discovery Set perfume set 

[makeitup305]

@Buootiful I didn't realize there was a room spray for the Apres. The scent isn't for me as a perfume but it would be delightful as a room spray I'm sure.

[Cissy63]

@Buootiful  Great scents that would make welcome gifts 🎁 

[Saradestin]

Great choices @Buootiful ! 

[Buootiful]

Thanks. Im not familiar much with teenager scents and its the best I could think of @Saradestin 

[CynthieLu]

Those bottles look very pretty @Buootiful 

Nice choices, they would make excellent gifts 🎁 😀 

[Buootiful]

Thanks! @CynthieLu 

[niki172]

@TeamBIC this one is a little tougher. I agree with a lot of people here for the teacher's gift of maybe a candle set like the NEST New York Eau de Parfum Holiday Set 3 x 0.2 oz/ 6 mL or Sephora Favorites Holiday Perfume Sampler 

For the teenage boy maybe the Sephora Favorites Men's Cologne Sampler or maybe Commodity EXPRESSIVE Eau de Parfum Scent Space Set there's also the Armani Beauty Acqua di Gio Pour Homme Cologne Trio Set that would be a nice gift.

[ChooseDior]

I love the idea of a sample set! Scents can be tricky and really personal preference 

[Cissy63]

@niki172  I do think sets make very good 🎁.  Letting them try out 1st and see for  themselves what they would like to buy is a good idea especially if you don’t know someone very well . 

[CynthieLu]

The sets are the popular choice of the season @niki172  these are good ones you mentioned 🙂

[Saradestin]

All those are winner sets @niki172 ! 

[niki172]

Thanks @Saradestin as I've not been around teenage boys since growing up with my brothers that one was a bit tricky. I may be dating myself here but Axe spray really wasn't a thing when we were growing up and started becoming popular while I was in college. Yup I can still remember the cheap smell of drugstore colognes like Stetson and you were hot to trot if you were wearing Cool Waters or CK1 lmao!

[Saradestin]

You are so true @niki172 😅😅

[greeneyedgirl107]

Oh what fun!

For my children’s teachers who love a good holiday scent  I'm not sure about what seasonal scents Sephora offers, but I wonder if NEST Cocoa Woods would be a fun one for this time of year.  I'm not seeing it on Sephora's site, though.

For the teen boy who’s ready try something nicer than drugstore body spray  Praise be to avoid drugstore body sprays!  I'm not up on men's scents, but back when my husband wore EDT ages ago, I liked Armani Beauty Acqua Di Gio Profumo Set (can't seem to tag just the EDT) and Ralph Lauren Polo (can't see to tag this, either).  

Apparently my husband bought some things from Swiss Army and they sent him a ton (over half a dozen) EDT samples (most were for men) and also three travel atomizers.  While I didn't smell any of them as I find most men's scents to be too powerful, I thought the packaging looked really intriguing.  They all looked fresh and inoffensive.  And I can't believe how many scents he got - I wonder how many different EDTs they sell.  I wish Sephora did EDT free samples like that with only about $30 orders or so.

I can rarely think of men's cologne without a flashback to MTV's "Sex in the 90s" with The Dog Brothers.  I wish I could have found a quick pic of one of them spraying cologne *everywhere.*