If you don’t know which skin care brands they like (and perhaps they’re yet to find the right one themselves), here’s a roundup of the best starter kits that can soothe your sensitive loved ones’ beauty worries away
If you’ve got someone with sensitive skin on your Christmas shopping list, you need to tread carefully when it comes to beauty gifts. Of course, the safest bet might be to avoid skincare altogether, but what if you could solve all their problems with an introduction to a great brand? That really would be the gift that keeps giving.
With this in mind, for this year’s Sense and Sensitivity gift guide I’ve selected the best starter kits and gift sets from some of my favourite brands, which could make a skin-changing discovery for the beauty lover in your life whose skin requires extra TLC. Trust me, they’re guaranteed to thank you for it. And if you're the one with sensitive skin? Put these on your wishlist, pronto...
Pai Everyday Hero Collection
£38, Buy online
This beautifully illustrated box is the far more stylish and helpful equivalent of a ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ gift for their skin - a soothing, gentle kit of the best products in Pai’s range to help you get their angry, irritated or temperamental skin back on an even keel. With a full size of their award-winning cleanser, a full size rosehip oil and a travel sized moisturiser as well as their super-soft cleansing cloth, it’s a great first step into sensitive-friendly organic skincare; plus compared to buying the products individually it saves you an impressive £22. A no-brainer if you’re stumped for gift ideas.
Green People Soothe Facial Trio
£15.95, Buy online
A perfect stocking filler or Secret Santa gift, this mini trio of scent-free products from Green People is prettily presented in this illustrated gift box, with a donation from each sale going to the Butterfly Conservation. With a soothing cream cleanser, a hydrating serum and a gentle moisturiser inside, it has everything your sensitive loved one needs for a fresh skin start.
La Roche-Posay Toleriane 3 Step System
£22.50, Buy online
Sensitive skin may require taking your products back to basics but there’s nothing ‘basic’ about the effects of this super gentle range from La Roche-Posay. The Toleriane range is repeatedly recommended by top dermatologists for problem skin, and this three-step kit is ideal for starting someone off on the right path to a healthier complexion. Containing a cleanser, toning spring water spray and moisturiser, all three products are free from parabens, fragrance, alcohol, colourants and lanolin, and the range is even approved by Allergy UK. An effective range that suits everyone.
Little Ondine Deluxe Five Piece Set in Pink
£34, Buy online
For the truly conscientious beauty consumer, this nail brand is the one to stock up on - a completely natural formula, each polish contains only three ingredients; natural resin, organic colourants and water. But are they any good? As someone who has painted their own nails for over 15 years, I can happily say yes. Highly pigmented and with a high gloss finish, you wouldn’t know any different - but best of all, the formula peels off without damaging your nails so that the truly sensitive can not only avoid harsh nail varnish ingredients but nail polish remover chemicals too. This gift set will delight any prolific painter with two beautiful pink shades, a shimmering gold and a 2-in-1 base and top coat, plus a glass nail file to finish off those edges.
Eau Thermale Avene Sensitive Skin Saviour Kit
£20, Buy online
Avene’s moisturisers for intolerant and reactive skin are a must in my book; this kit of sensitive skin saviours is great value at just £20 for two small cleansers, a thermal water spray and their Skin Recovery Cream, which has saved my skin on many an occasion. Fragrance-free, non-comedogenic and an ideal first step for someone looking to pare back their skincare and keep their routine simple, you can’t go wrong with wrapping this up for someone this Christmas.
Clinique Flawless Skin Essentials
£43.50, Buy online
If fragrance is their nemesis then Clinique is a great brand for them to test - and the added makeup in this festive set gives it that slightly more gift-like edge. With the hero Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm (the best balm cleanser I’ve ever used), Smart Custom Serum, which works in a tailored way to their skin’s needs, as well as the eye serum from the same range and their unbeatable High Impact Mascara and lip colour, it’s the ultimate party season It-kit without any of the irritation. Sensitive beauty junkies will love it.
Ruby Red Bath and Body Gift Set
£25, Buy in store at Fortnum and Mason
This limited edition set houses four hero products from the natural brand and is a great introduction for a Ruby Red newbie. In a stylish black box is the Soothe and Gentle Body Cleanser, Soothe and Nourish Body Moisturiser in Jasmine, Revive and Gentle Body Cleanser and Revive and Repair Moisturiser in Lime; a great body kit for those with sensitive skin who need to be pampered. Free from SLS, parabens, sulphates and synthetic fragrance as well as being suitable for vegetarians, it ticks all the (gift) boxes.
Do you have sensitive skin? What would you like for Christmas? Let me know in the comments... you never know who might be reading