Play Santa...

You are probably wrapped up in all that holiday frenzy and you are sick of running around the mall just to find some gifts for your friends and family. I want to make things easier for you, so I am going to present a few possible alternatives. I shall resume myself to 5 products from each category. Let�s get started.

Let us begin with the holiday gifts suggestions:

1. La Fleur Organique Masks- if we are to look at their appearance, we would think they are expensive, but guess what? They cost only $20 and can be bought at select Walgreens stores.

2. Davies Gate LemonMade Lemon Drop Bath Fizz with Body Splash Inside-not the not so attractive powdery lumps wrapped in cellophane but the real thing, looking like a real lemon and packaged in a small box tied with string and citrus scented as to release an effervescent blend of soybean oil and vitamins A, E and K, plus a skin-softening center of aloe vera and glycerin. The price? Quite low if you ask me-$12. Go here and check it out.

3. Eau d�Italie Scented Soaps-a great trio of soaps with bergamot, magnolia and amber (the signature fragrance of Le Sirenuse, a luxury boutique hotel on the Amalfi Coast). The tag says $25 on this product. Available here.

4. Lollia Shea Butter Handcreme-a tube of extremely rich hand cream in three scents: Believe (rose and citrus), Wish (vanilla and honey) and Inspire (pink lotus flower, violet and green cassis). Notice the pretty box: it�s decorated with decoupage flowers and 14K gold. Go here and buy it for $24.

5. Malin + Goetz with Holiday Sleeves-its �sleeves� nicely slip over the 8 ounce bottles of Bergamot Body Cleanser, Peppermint Hair Shampoo and Cilantro Hair Conditioner. Wrapping anyone? The prices range from $18 to $36. Find them here.


Now, to the perfumes section (my favorite).

1. Miller Harris Bespoke Service-before becoming famous, Lyn Harris used to create eaus for fragrance houses and private clients. Now, she has her own house and has developed her signature line of eponymous scents. Once a year, access to her �nose� is granted, meaning that via her bespoke service, one can go through her library of notes that result in the perfect bottle of perfume (registered in Grasse to make it official). Pricy ($10, 000 for 30 ml) but worthy. Follow this link to see what I�m talking about.

2. Strange Invisible Perfumes-by Alexandra Balahoutis are telling a story with every scent. For instance, Vine-her ready-to-wear fragrance made by blending osmanthus, lavender, grapefruit and black currant is based on the Greek myth of Persephone. All her perfumes are developed after a careful research and the result is as multilayered and complex as the person it�s created for. If you are willing to take $2, 100 out of your pocket, go here and see what it is all about.

3. Creative Scentualization Fragrance Journey-by Sarah Horowitz-Thran includes a history of scent, an in-depth question-and-answer period in which the client selects up to 50 essential oils and 2 final rounds to whittle down the playing field. The result is bottled on the spot and you can use it pronto. Available for $250 to $500 here.

4. Yosh Olfactory Sense Signature Perfume
When it comes to creating bespoke fragrances, San Francisco botanical perfumer Yosh Han relies on a client�s intuition. Depending on the type of scent to be created, she�ll have her customer sample from 50 to 150 essential oils; then they�re edited and grouped until a clear composition naturally emerges. After some fine-tuning, the final version contains �everything that makes a person feel incredibly blissful,� says Han. Price: from $1,895. Available from Yosh Han, and here.

5. Le Labo-they say that fragrance does not resemble with wine as it doesn�t age well so the execs opened a NoLta boutique where the scents are blended and packaged on the spot, being also given an expiration date. Price: $45 for 15 ml to $180 for 100 ml. Available at Le Labo, NYC and Barneys New York, NYC and Dallas.

Well, those are just a few ideas. Maybe some of you might find them useful as I truly hope so.