The Truly Beautiful Girl's Holiday Gift Guide: Drugstore-Brand Beauty Basket

For those pinching pennies this year, the thought of buying gifts for your friends and loved ones is a scary one. Never fear! You can still get your loved ones amazing gifts without going into debt - all it takes is a little bit of creativity.

I just had a brilliant epiphany and I am definitely putting these together for some of the Truly Beautiful ladies on my shopping list...
Holiday beauty baskets are a great idea! They are easy to make and allow you to personalize them for everybody and for every budget. All you need is a small basket (larger if you want to spend more to fill it), some cellophane wrap or tissue paper and a ribbon to tie it!

Next, hit up your local Walgreen's. They have better sales. Often you can find makeup with the little orange tags for 50% off or more!

Purchase whatever you feel your friend/loved one would love. For a natural beauty, try items by Neutrogena. For a glamour girl, try L'Oreal H.I.P.

The sky is the limit with possibilities, but not the price tag.

The Truly Beautiful Girl's Guide to Surviving Black Friday

Black Friday. The one day of the year that we have an excuse to shop until we drop - or until someone pushes us down in a frenzied rush to get a dirt cheap LCD TV.

Black Friday is your wallet's best friend, but your worst enemy. From waking up at the crack of dawn to the crowds, it's usually not the best experience, but it is worth it if you play your cards right. 

Truly Beautiful Online's Guide to Surviving Black Friday will help you make it through the day in one piece.

1) Get your beauty rest! Basically, that means go to sleep in the next few hours. The best sales, also known as door busters take place for a limited time, starting at 4 am. To get in the store, sometimes you have to wait in a long line. To try to avoid this, get to the store an hour before it opens. Make sure your Blackberry is charged so you can browse the Web while you wait.

2) Know where you're going to go. Black Friday is not a day for leisurely perusing the aisles. You have to go into the store with a purpose and know exactly what you went there for. Check out web sites such as www.bfads.net to see the complete list of door buster deals. Make a list of what you want.

3) Prioritize. Get your rare, big ticket items first. That TV or digital camera is on the front page of the ad, but the stores probably have 2 in stock! Maximize your chances of getting the biggest deals by going for the electronics before you check out the shoe sale at Macy's (well, it depends on your priorities).

4) Stay on Budget. This is a recession. Make sure that you don't spend beyond your means. You can accomplish this by writing down everything you want to buy and add up how much it will cost you. Try your best to stick to the list because debt is not sexy.

5) Break for Lunch. Shopping is an endurance sport, so make sure to nourish yourself. Take a break from shopping and stop at your favorite local spot to get a healthy lunch, such as a salad.

The Truly Beautiful Girl's Holiday Gift Guide: LAVANILA, The Healthy Fragrance

LAVANILA is the new, healthy fragrance and cosmetics line on the beauty block. Made with a mix of essential oils, goji berry, kakadu plum, olive leaf and other botanicals, these products nurture the skin without all of the chemicals that nobody can pronounce. 

On top of it all, it smells great if you like warm, Oriental fragrance notes like I do. If you or your friends hate the smell of vanilla, avoid purchasing these products as gifts. 

Sephora has the Vanilla Grapefruit fragrance in a gift set, along with the matching Body Butter for only $56. Not too shabby considering the fragrance alone usually retails for that price.

TB Tip: Fragrance gifts are best reserved for people you know very well, or if you know for a fact that someone has a signature scent they wear 24/7. Get a fragrance for your mom, aunt, sibling or best friend.               

MAC Little Darlings Lip Gloss Set

Little Darlings, the final release in MAC'S Holiday 2008 Collection, is now available online and at a counter near you. The gift sets feature 5 miniature products, including lipglass and lustreglass, pigments and eyeliners.

I have been eagerly anticipating this release because I have an obsession with lip products and you can't get a better variety of the best colors at any other time of year for only $29.50.

The Little Darlings lip set choices are:

Coral Lips featuring Underage, Ola Mango and Pink Grapefruit Lipglass, and Wonderstruck and Budding Lustreglass.

Pink Lips features Fleur Delight, Song and Dance, and Magnetique Lipglass, and Flashmode and Little Vi Lustreglass.

Neutral Lips features C-Thru, Mouthwatering, and Languish Lipglass, and Love Nectar and Beaux Lustreglass.

I reallllyyyy want 2 sets, but I feel like that might be overkill. I can't choose between Neutral or Coral.

Neutral lips can go with look you choose to put together, but there is nothing hotter than a coral lip, especially in the summer. Oh... decisions, decisions.

Check out some great Little Darlings swatches from Temptalia.com!

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Fabulous: Essie Nailpolish Set

Even though it's only October, this cold weather makes December feel that much closer. Before you know it, it will be time to start thinking about Christmas shopping (or another holiday you may celebrate). Along with holiday cheer comes long lines, fighting over the hottest items and stress. To nip that before it begins, I will be doing the hunting for you to find the best gifts possible that are sure to wow the lucky recipients. Check out my first suggestion.


Essie Winter 2008 Mini 4-Pack Nail Polish Set

This set contains all you need to keep up with the dark, vampy nail color trends of the winter. Also, Essie is up there with O.P.I. in salon-quality polish. Your fab friend is sure to love this set. It includes:

"...Sexy Divide, an electric violet temptation; Bold & Beautiful Rich, a ruby garnet; It’s Genius, a violet quartz shimmer; and Rock Star Skinny, a glamorous crimson red."

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