GIFT GUIDE: MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE 2019

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MOTHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE 2019

People always ask me why I don’t do a Mother’s Day Gift Guide every year. The answer is that I would love to do it that often, but I don’t always find enough items that I feel will make fabulous gifts. So, happily, this year I discovered several of them!

There’s something on this list for every kind of mother. And for all other females, as well. (I only wish I had ever received any kind of “Auntie” gift from one of my nieces and nephews, blood-related or not.)

Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this page.

Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this page.

I want to thank my trusty Review Panel for their hard (but fun) work in going through very many products so that we can recommend only the most worthwhile ones to my cherished readers.

So whether you give these as Mother’s Day gifts next week, (yes, it’s upon us that soon,) or for any other occasion, or are just treating yourself, (which we should always do,) I’m confident that everyone will be happy with any one, or all, of these choices. I’m happy to say that they cover a whole plethora of categories.

And perhaps best of all, we INAM ladies recently ordered all of them for ourselves, and they got here pretty quickly. (But don’t sleep on them—Mother’s Day is next week-end already!)

So we’re happy to bring you this year’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide:

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 5.27.18 PMCirque du Soleil’s Amaluna—Tickets to see any Cirque du Soleil production are among my top gifts of all time! It seems that they have a show playing somewhere around the world every day and night. I’ve seen many of their presentations and have never been disappointed. I’m always amazed at how these people come up with different and creative ways to constantly entertain us. And for my SoCal readers, Amaluna is the perfect gift for Mother’s Day because that actual title is, as the powers-that-be over there explain, “a fusion of the words ‘ama,’ which refers to ‘mother’ in many languages, and ‘luna,’ which means “moon,” which is a symbol of femininity that evokes both the mother-daughter relationship and the idea of goddess and protector of the planet.” And on this mysterious island where it all takes place, the queen “directs her daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony in a rite that honors femininity, renewal, rebirth, and balance which marks the passing of these insights and values from one generation to the next.” How much better of a story can you see for this occasion?! And it’s all just the backdrop for new jaw-dropping athletic feats, of course. To make it all even more special, this particular show is once again under Cirque’s signature blue-and-yellow Grand Chapiteau, on the waterfront in San Pedro. What a great gift to anyone on earth! www.cirquedusoleil.com

Screen Shot 2019-04-27 at 11.31.54 PMGerard Cosmetics Glitter Lipsticks—One of my favorite gift suggestions of the past few years, for all occasions, is the assorted lipsticks from this fun cosmetics company. My friends and I all love every iteration of lip adornment they’ve offered through the years, but I almost passed-out from excitement when I recently discovered their new Glitter Lipstick! Talk about having luscious lips! My Review Panel and I tried all six of the shiny colors, and we agreed that any one of them would make a great gift! But we voted the gold-tinged “Hollywood Blvd.” and the rich red “Cupid” to be our faves. (Don’t let the “Glitter” moniker scare you—they’re not crazy sparkly. But these lipsticks make your lips so shiny that you do not need a gloss!) And pair the lipsticks with one of their creamy lip pencils, (“Sugar and Spice” is perfect,) and your gift recipient will love you forever!  www.gerardcosmetics.com

Screen Shot 2019-05-03 at 12.37.35 AMMariBelle Confections–A business associate who used to always send me weird gifts, (one of them was a faux fur blanket that Mr. X and I both thought was a dead raccoon when we opened the box…and screamed,) finally sent me the famous stunningly-adorned MariBelle chocolates from New York. They are so gorgeous, luxurious, and delicious that I said he never had to to send me another gift ever again! And guess what? He never did!!! But that was fine; these chocolates are that good. I recommend any one of their confections at any time, but for this particular occasion, I suggest something in their special lovely pink boxes, and their Mother’s Day Vintage Ganache Cake, the description of which sounds like it’s a slice of chocolate heaven! Just looking at their website, and feasting my eyes on their famous teal-and-brown logo, makes my mouth water! (And Mr. X’s, as well; he just looked at it and told me he’s ordering something from there for every culinary gift he ever gives!) www.mariebelle.com

Screen Shot 2019-04-27 at 5.21.02 PMKaren Michelle’s Destiny Candles—Someone once gave me one of these wonderful candles and I adored it! I doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t love a good candle. And these Karen Michelle ones have so many extras to recommend them.  First of all, they come in an array of yummy fragrances. I love the Fresh Rain the most, because it evokes romance. And my Panel members say that the combo Strawberry and Champagne one is especially delicious; even the name is sumptuous. Secondly, when you melt them, the skin-conditioning ingredients, (coconut, soy, apricot, aloe vera, vitamin E, shea butter, and jojoba oil) turn into massage oil! (So an extra Mother’s Day gift would be to give her a massage, too!) But best of all to me, (and to the entire Panel,) they all come with a surprise trinket (such as a pair of earrings or a little ring) at the bottom, to cheer you up when the candle has burned down! What more do you need to be sold on them? Not a thing.  www.karenmichelle.com/product/destiny-candle

Screen Shot 2019-04-27 at 5.11.06 PMSexy Boss Babe Nails—Even though everything else about my looks is totally real, I recently began rocking fake nails, and I’m here to tell you how fun they’ve been!  And comfortable, too, which I was surprised to discover. And if you deem the ones from this company to be too long, or in some cases pointy, for you or your giftee, they’re very easy to file down, while still keeping the attractiveness. A file and glue even come in each package, along with two dozen nails in twelve sizes! The Panel tried-out several colors, which we had such fun doing, and we deemed the red “Fearless” and the aptly-named “Shine Bright” to be the sexiest.  Best of all, though, is that not only does this company have very affordable colors/designs for every taste, but they have a charity component, as well. One hundred percent of the proceeds of one of my favorite colors of theirs, a holographic light blue, with the luxurious “Like A Diamond,” goes to charities that support foster youth and survivors of human trafficking. They chose that hue because light blue is the national awareness color for foster care, and blue, in general, is the national awareness color for human trafficking. So by giving a mom these nails, you’re helping her be fashionable and a good person at the same time! It’s a winning gift, on every level!  www.sexybossbabe.com

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 12.37.56 PMCailyn Gen Lux Eyebrow Gel—I’ve long been a fan of this cosmetics company’s products, so I was thrilled when I discovered that they’re also in the brow game. My Review Panel and I tried out four colors, and found that there is truly something for everyone! It very conveniently comes in eight shades.Nutmeg and Cocoa seemed to fit most of us on the Panel, with the more dramatic among us voting for Mahogany. And we all loved the ease of the built-in brush. With summer coming up, we’re especially appreciative that the gel is waterproof and smudge-proof; there’s nothing worse than getting out of the pool with eyebrow make-up dripping down your face! www.cailyncosmetics.com

Screen Shot 2019-05-01 at 7.11.08 PMDouble Dare Spa Masks—My entire Review Panel went nuts over this company’s OMG Red + Snail Masks. We all actually uttered, “OMG!,” when we took them out of their packages! They’re made of some special material that adheres to your face better than the rest of the masks we’ve tried, so nothing drips down when you have it on. And they come out of the package pretty chilled, so you don’t even have to refrigerate them. (Maybe it’s the snail secretion ingredient in them—those little critters must be cold-blooded!) And to hold your hair back when you’re using the mask, (which is so important, isn’t it my fellow long-tressed beauties?,) use their adorbs oversized terrycloth OMG Mega Hair Band, which comes in several bright colors.  (Here’s a fun tip: You can get these two items in a set, so it’s an even nicer, more visually-enticing gift.) A few of us followed the masks with this company’s Light On Serum Primer, which is designed to brighten and blur, and we were the belles of the ball that night! www.doubledarespa.com

768975_ddc9e52c03ff4f969de90bbffcf170d6~mv2_d_4032_3024_s_4_2Chietowa Tokyo Crane Card Case—You can’t go wrong with any item from this purse company out of Japan, but I especially admire their card case, the one adorned with cranes. That symbolic design, of a flying crane, (which is the national bird of Japan,) is considered to be a lucky charm. (And who among us doesn’t need that?) The company writes on their site, “The crane bags were designed with our sincere wishes that your days will be filled with hopes like those of cranes flapping their wings to the world.” You can’t give your loved one a gift with a more loving sentiment than that!  www.chietowatokyo.com

Screen Shot 2019-05-06 at 3.40.04 PMYon-Ka Time Resist Night Cream—It might be worth it to me to have a child if they would be good enough to give me this amazing night cream from Paris! For people who are too time-constrained, (or lazy,) to take care of their skin during the day, (you know who you are,) this is indeed the product for you. It’s the only facial product you need at night after you wash your face, for repair purposes. (And who does not need that.) And because of the luxuriousness of the entire product line, it’s a very classy gift for any Mother’s Day person in your life. www.yonka.com

thumbnail_Photo01_750Toddlecraft Baby Book—With so many of my gal pals getting married and having kids these days, I thought I’d include a little something-something for all the new moms, and moms-to-be, out there. Not only is a baby book a very thoughtful gift, but this particular one is really cute. It includes pages to commemorate all of baby’s first holidays, space for photos, and a built-in keepsake pouch attached to the back cover. And it comes in its own gift box, to boot! You don’t have to do anything to make it more special, (unless you would be happy to include an offer to baby-sit! Just suggesting.)  www.amazon.com/dp/B07H3BHCD9

IMG_20190302_144638912Marc Edward Facial—This one is just for my SoCal readers. For special occasions such as this one, I always appreciate receiving a gift certificate for a beauty service, and you cannot get better than a facial with Marc Edward in Hollywood! He’s incredibly knowledgable about product ingredients, and he uses some of the over two dozen specialized machines to achieve the best results for each of his clients. But best of all to me is how caring he is about his clients’ health, not just looks. He’s actually the person who may have saved my life last year! In my very first facial with him, Marc noticed a tiny dot on my forehead, and made me promise to show it to my dermatologist right away, which I did, (only because I had promised.) And it turned out to be the c-word, which needed to be removed asap. So he makes my skin look good and keeps me alive! That makes a gift certificate for a facial with Marc the gift that keeps on giving!   www.marcedwardskincare.com

Happy Gifting!

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12 Comments

  1. And the winner is . . .the baby book. Okay, Im a typical dude. I just like gifts that are already set to come out of the package, throw away the receipt and ready to give to my female pals. This one would make me look really sensitive too, lol.

  2. That’s quite an impressive array of gifts. I’d pass on the show tickets because I’m not a CDS fan but everything else is quite interesting.

    And a little history lesson: Although many people think the crane is Japan’s national bird, it isn’t. It’s the Green Pheasant. China’s national bird is the Red Crowned Crane.

  3. Jill Parker Landsman on

    Love most of these. Makeup, event experiences, baby book…. top my list. Great suggestions. Do we get the ItsNotAboutMe.TV group discount when we order? Fun products… Cannot wait for your Father’s Day gifts review…. I need two of those!

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