Beauty bible

An expert’s guide to buying the right beauty gift

How to give the gift of pampering

BEAUTY BOOTY MAKES for ideal last-minute pressies. Provided you choose tactfully, you might even nudge someone into a future of good habits. I’m thinking specifically here of Margaret Dabbs and her cunningly named Medical Pedicure (from £85, margaretdabbs.co.uk) – ideally christened for men who haven’t yet discovered their inner metrosexual (and may never do so), but can at least, thanks to you and your thoughtful voucher, move on from their manky feet. How could anyone fail to be impressed by a thorough excavation of every nook and cranny of their toes, and dutiful treatment of their hanging nails, especially when it sounds like a medical exercise rather than a vanity project?

Shampoo may sound almost as prosaic as foot care, but only if you’re not with the 2018/19 programme, which has turned every mundane step in the grooming process into an ‘experience’. There’s an impressive galaxy of luxury products for your delectation: the brands that really do it for my babyfine, rubbishy hair are the cruelty-free (but not 100 per cent vegan) Christophe Robin, which offers rose-scented volumising paste and conditioners (there’s a Christmas gift set, £54, at spacenk.com); and Virtue, whose cruelty-, paraben- and sulphate-free line containing a patented human-derived keratin is genuinely groundbreaking (from £12, cultbeauty.co.uk). If you want to ramp it up, add a voucher for a blow-dry.

Talking of vouchers, Smashbox, one of Team Telegraph’s favourite cosmetic ranges, offers makeovers from £20, redeemable against products – top value, as their make-up artists are well trained and often work on fashion shoots (smashbox.co.uk).

And who – apart from those yet-to-be-metrosexualised men – wouldn’t love a bespoke perfume from Alexandra Soveral, who’ll design your own scent, based on your preferences, using all organic ingredients (and yes, she’s done lots for men; from £120, alexandrasoveral.co.uk)? Or a partymake-up session, mani or blow-dry in their own home (from £35, blowltd. com)? Or one of the two best facials to be launched this year: Romilly Wilde’s and Votary’s, both at Harrods, both using gorgeous plant-based products, and both incorporating hefty servings of facial massage(from £110, harrods.com)?

I also love a useful product you can add on to. Muji’s clear plastic (yes, I know, but they’re not going to throw them away) cosmetic pouches are just the thing for small handbags, but so cheap (from £1.95, muji.com) you’ll want to amplify. In which case, slip in one or three of Kure Bazaar’s natural nail polishes (lovely shades, £15 each at contentbeautywellbeing.com); The Organic Pharmacy’s excellent new Precision Liquid Eye Liner (£19, organic pharmacy.com); a dry face mask (the latest thing) from Miss de Gaspé (also the latest thing, £30 for three uses, victoria health.com); or one of those fabulous eye palettes from the Nars/erdem collaboration (£35, net-a-porter.com). Nars’s pigments have the softest, most blendable textures and intense but subtle shades – and Erdem’s charming packaging is the ideal showcase. Style and substance.