Beautiful Compacts

As much as I love a nice lipstick a beautiful compact is its essential companion. After all, how can you apply your lip color without a mirror? Doable with sheer shades but as soon as you go for a more pigmented formula you have to see what you're doing otherwise you'll end up looking like my aunt Marie-Louise! A lovely woman bless her heart but, sometimes, her bright red lipstick ended up just below her nose. Not very elegant!

With Christmas just around the corner some of us are struggling with the lack of gift ideas and this is not because there are not enough "gift suggestion lists" out there. They are in fact everywhere at this time of year. Kitchen gadgets for the foodie, "At Home Pedicure Kit" for the beauty geek, teapot or salt & pepper shaker for the collector, hmmm! Been there done that maybe?




In most cases we want to give something personal, something that will show how much we care. Now let's face it, it's hard to chose a gift for a woman. Best friends, sisters, mothers, sisters in law, mothers in law are most often the ones for which we will make an extra effort, the ones that are indeed the hardest to buy for because they are the closest women in our lives.


Skin care

Unless you know specifically what the person uses I personally would not take any chances. Who's to say the products you choose will be appreciated or more importantly, agree with your loved one's skin? If you want to offer skin care items, best to go for body care.

Makeup

Easier to buy these days with all the beautiful palettes out there. Armani, Dior, Sephora and many other brands make them. I saw some nice ones at the drugstore the other day and several where reduced. Oh and they didn't look cheap in any way. You do know that drugstores have come a long way don't you? Still I believe these would be more appreciated by the younger women on your list. Especially the ones starting to built their color collection.

An elegant compact

Is often not on our list of priorities. At the cosmetics counters we usually go for colors. When we look at makeup displays we barely look at compact powders. Removed from their packaging they look bland and unattractive. Let's be honest, for most of us we find it boring to buy something that will "vanish" on our skin and we often forget that they come in nice sleek little containers equipped with a mirror.

To give something that we can use every day, actually several times a day, that we wouldn't buy for ourselves because we think it's either too expensive or not that useful. Not useful? You may think that if you've never owned any but once you start using one you'll wonder, why on Earth didn't I get one of those before now? This makes it the perfect gift!

Shiny nose, lipstick application and making sure our eye makeup is still in place, a compact is pretty useful for this! Do know that it's not for doing your face, it's for discrete touch ups. If you need to re-do your lip liner, eye liner or anything other that putting on a little powder and lipstick, best to take a little trip to the ladies room. They are also called powder rooms for a reason.

It's funny but as I was preparing this entry I stumbled on an article from Beauty Geeks about the etiquette of applying makeup in public called: Scene Stealing: What’s With Today’s Public Displays of Makeup Application? A good read and if you do go and read it, make sure to watch the video.


The one I want!

Chanel Poudre Universelle Compacte

$68.00 at The Bay

The Classics

DiorSkin Forever Invisible Retouch Powder

$42.00 at The Bay

Guerlain Météorites Compact

$66.00 at Sephora

YSL Matte & Radiant Pressed Powder

$59.00 at Sephora

The Multi Purpose
Perfect for the woman on the go or the traveler, a three in one compact that can be used wet or dry as a foundation or as a finishing powder.

Lancôme Dual Finish Versatile Powder Makeup

$49.00 at Sephora

The Extra Shiny One

Clarins Poudre Prodige Compacte

$32.00 at The Bay

The Smart One
In a convenient compartment, this compact includes oil blotting papers

Lise Watier Mineral Compact Powder

$35.00 at The Bay

The Girly Ones

Shiseido Trnaslucent Pressed Powder

$38.00 at The Bay

Too Faced Absolutely Invisible Translucent Pressed Powder

$32.00 at Sephora

Tarte Provocateur Mineral Pressed Powder SPF 8

$39.00 at Sephora

The Professionals

Laura Mercier Smooth Focus Pressed Setting Powder - Shine Control

$40.00 at Sephora

Make Up For Ever Compact Shine On

$34.00 at Sephora

The Price Friendly

Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder

$27.00 at The Bay

Marcelle Pressed Powder

$14.95

Do not underestimate mark by Avon. This powder is excellent and the compact looks as good in your hands as it does on this picture. 

mark Matte-Nificent Oil-Absorbing Powder

$10.00, Avon

The collectibles

Every year Estée Lauder introduces beautiful refillable compacts. Many collect them and with good reason. This year they came out with a stunning Zodiac Collection. I chose to show you the Aries compact since I was born in April.

Estée Lauder Limited Edition Zodiac Compacts

Aries, $70.00 USD info from Neiman Marcus

If you don't want a powder compact, a dual mirror compact is a great option. You can find them in all price range. Some can be the perfect little stocking stuffer. These two below from Birks are stunningly elegant and classy. Imagine giving your mother in law a nice little Birks box.

Double Face Mirror with Scattered Cristal, Silver-Plated

$85.00 at Birks

Double Face Mirror with Lined Crystal, Silver-Plated

$85.00 at Birks

Which one would you go for?

Update. From Beautiful With Brains, this great entry about how to repair your compact if ever you drop it! Yes it has happened to me! :(