Rather than break down stocking filler ideas into a series of posts, I thought I’d put together a comprehensive list of some ideas that I think make for great stocking fillers. I’ve got 8 categories in total, so without further ado, let’s crack on!
Make-up – Budget
Budget make-up is probably the easiest way to please a beauty lover with regards to stocking fillers as there are so many great options available. You can go the traditional route such as Rimmel – link – (brow pencil pictured above), Boots No7 – link – (eyeshadow and liner) or Avon – link – (lipsticks) or take advantage of the relatively newly launched Makeup Revolution – link – where you can get a huge array of budget-friendly fillers such as their answer to a brow pencil or the palette pictured, which comes from their sister line I Heart Makeup – link. Lastly, MeMeMe do a great range of reasonably priced takes on more expensive brands with examples such as the pictured lipglosses – link.
Make-up – Luxury
What beauty lover wouldn’t be at their happiest tipping out the contents of their stocking to find a selection of luxury beauty products? Some of my favourite brands to find include Bobbi Brown, who have some great stocking fillers like the lipgloss trio or the Cream Shadow Stick Trios – link. If you fancy demonstrating your beauty knowledge then how about investing in some of the newer luxury brands, such as the gorgeously presented blush and bronzer powder compacts pictured above link. 2014 saw a rise in the popularity of contouring and sculpting make-up, so Studio 10 – link – offer some wonderful palettes to make application a breeze, whilst newly launched Rodial Makeup also offer some extremely useful makeup products such as the pictured Cheek Sculpt – link. Clinique recently launched their Nutcracker collection that includes the most beautiful palettes that would fit snugly into a stocking – link – and lastly, Smashbox have some great shades in their Lip Lacquers – link.
Nail Polishes
A sparkly, bright or flattering nude shade of polish makes for the perfect addition to a stocking, and with so many amazing new brands on the market there are so many to choose from! Starting with one of my personal favourites, Only Fingers and Toes – link – who do some amazing and unusual shades alongside the more traditional colours. Eve Snow – link – is one of my favourite new introductions as the finish and wear is unbelievable! Vivien Kondor is another very new nail brand that does some great shades including some amazing neons – link. Zoya produce some of my all-time favourite pinks as well as some gorgeous glitter shades – link. Speaking of gorgeous glitter, The Lacquer Lab have some stunning glitter shades as well as the most beautiful pale gold in their latest release – link. Lastly, high street favourites Bourjois have some beautiful festive shades that come with a level of sophistication that you can always trust Bourjois for – link.
Lip Balms
Cheap or luxury, you can’t beat a good lip balm, can you? Plus they make especially good stocking filler fodder. Lanolips – link – do the most beautifully flavoured balms that last for ages. New-to-the-market LipGlam also do a good, solid and reliable balm that melts away dryness – link. Balmi are both novel and brilliant with some great flavours available such as the gorgeous raspberry one pictured – link. Lastly, a beauty stocking is incomplete without something lovely from L’Occitane – so if your receiver doesn’t like hand cream, why not pop them in a lip balm instead – link.
Hand Creams
Speaking of hand creams, little hand creams minis are great stocking fillers as we all use them, so we all need them! As mentioned, L’Occitane do some great ones – link – as do Elemis – link – but if you want something budget friendly that’s still pretty fab, you can’t go wrong with the E45 ones that are perfectly sized for stockings and extremely well priced – link.
Hair Minis
There are soooo many great hair minis available, making them a great choice for stocking fillers. Cheap and cheery brand Phil Smith do some great styling minis – link – as do John Frieda – link. Schwarzkopf also do some fab styling products such as the powder above – link – and Swell is a new brand designed specifically for fine hair that offers a lovely sized dry shampoo – link.
Skincare Minis
Just as there are plenty of hair minis, there are also lots of lovely skincare minis too. You could buy a set of minis and take them apart to slot into the stocking, making for a wonderful new set of skincare whilst still being stocking-friendly! Ole Henriksen do some amazing skincare minis that would no-doubt get any skincare junkie jumping – link – and the same can be said for Philosophy, who also have some lovely mini sets – link. For me, there’s something extremely Christmassy about a mini skincare set from Clinique – I think it’s the fact that their three step contains a full routine in dinky sized packaging – link.
Sachets
To finish off the perfect stocking, you can’t go wrong with a few sachets of something lovely. You can get quite a few masks in sachet form such as the Montagne Jeunesse – link – or newly launched Masque Bar – link – as well as the wonderfully fragrant Apivita – link – but there are also haircare options like the John Frieda hair mask pictured – link – as well as peel pads like the pictured one from Trish McEvoy – link – although they form part of a set. You can also get single use goodies such as bath salts or hair oils (The Sanctuary are a great option for these – link) and as they’re usually no more than £2 a go, these make for fantastic stocking fillers.
So there we have it! Lots and lots of stocking inspiration for the beauty lover in your life. Pretty much everything I’ve mentioned can still be purchased in time for Christmas, but you’ll need to work quickly to get it all in time. A lot of these are available in store too, meaning you’ll just need to pop along and pick them up.
*PR Samples – mostly, with a few exceptions.
