Helene Ravlich: Local beauty The best of Holiday 2020

I’ve rounded up some of my favourites for the loved ones in your life, benefitting from top to toe. The gift of great hair days.

Every year come holiday season, ghd really hits one out of the park. Their Christmas collections are always beautifully presented and always unabashedly glamorous - which I love. This year’s collection is inspired by constellations, and comes in a riot of iridescent whites, and deep luxurious midnight blues. At the top of the pile is the incredible ghd Deluxe Gift Set, which comes with an RRP of $650, so definitely for those on Santa’s ‘good’ list! Featuring the iconic ghd platinum+ SMART styler and the new ghd helios professional hairdryer, both dusted with a luxurious white finish and satin gold accent details, they come ready boxed in a luxury vanity case that has to be seen to be believed. They are also offering their iconic styling tools in a variety of beautiful packaging options, such as the ghd platinum+ SMART styler presented in a luxury vanity case all its own.

For the M.A.C obsessive
M.A.C always creates beautiful Christmas gifting, and at all sorts of price points depending on your budget. Their 2020 Holiday collection is called Frosted Firework, and it looks as dazzling as it sounds. The line-up celebrates glimmer, shimmer, and shine, and was inspired by ‘the surprise, delight and ambient beauty of fireworks’. The 20-piece collection consists of frosted pink-packaged products for eyes, lips, and face, with five shades of eye-shadow, five lipsticks, five lip glosses, three dual-ended eyeliner pencils, and two shades of highlighter. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a holiday collection without a line-up of drool-worthy gift sets to go along with the individual offerings for loved ones or just yourself!

For the luxe haircare lover
Oribe, the eponymous product line from one of the most influential hairdressers of all time, defines luxury in hair care. The brand doesn’t compromise on any detail, and its creators leveraged skincare technology and natural actives to deliver high-performance, treatment-based products that deliver major results. Its award-winning packaging was designed to make the experience of using the products as beautiful as the formulas themselves, and this year their holiday gifting sets are a collaboration with Native American artist Rowan Harrison of Two Tribes Pottery. Harrison’s original designs utilise traditional Southwestern indigenous decorative motifs that draw upon the ancient beauty of the natural world, and the kits contain all you need for beautiful hair.

The gift of wellness
One of my favourite rituals is to spend 45 minutes in an infrared sauna every Sunday afternoon at Hana, a beautifully warm and inviting wellness space in the Scrapyard development in Grey Lynn. Buying a concession card and committing to a weekly session was the most amazing gift to self, and it would also make a great surprise for a loved one who maybe needs a nudge to slow down. The main attraction for many is most definitely the aforementioned private infrared saunas, and the photobiomodulation (red light) therapy pods, which you can just lie back in and enjoy.

For the clean beauty fiend
Gucci Westman’s Westman Atelier makeup brand – available at Mecca Cosmetica – is the place where clean, nourishing beauty meets serious luxury. The brand’s holiday offering this year includes The Shanghai Edition - a special edition makeup wardrobe inspired by the energy and spirit of Shanghai. Tucked inside a lacquered box symbolising joy, luck, and happiness, it contains a luxurious clean beauty edit built on the classics: a vibrant red lip and supernaturally beautiful lashes which come in the form of Lip Suede in Les Rouges and Eye Love You Mascara.

For the aesthete
Aesop’s 2020 holiday collection continues the brand’s history of curating elegant and inspired gifting options. This year the theme is ‘Sensory Chronicles’, and pays tribute to the remarkable power of the imagination. In a year of restricted travel, they are offering the opportunity to grant the gift of flight– albeit imaginary flight – with formulations to rouse the senses and delight the mind. Each gift kit, housed in a biodegradable case made from 100 per cent recycled materials, offers a mix of Aesop’s most desired products along with a forgotten work of literature available to download as an eBook or audio file providing escapism and discovery.

The perfect festive candle
An overlooked fact: Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a festive candle to get you into the spirit of the season. From warming cinnamon scents to fresh pine and fir, the best of the bunch conjure up Yuletide atmosphere with a single sniff. Diptyque’s limited-edition Christmas candles are practically collector’s items, and this year’s offering now at Mecca Cosmetica is as covetable as ever. My pick is ‘Sapin de Nuit’ for the perfect warm woodland scent, which is also available as a room spray to take on the road. (HELENE RAVLICH)