15 Personalized Holiday Gifts for 15 Types of Friends

by Victoria Vallecorse

Published Nov 14, 2018

The “one-gift-fits-all” approach almost never works—especially when shopping for your friends. Every one of your besties has unique interests, styles and personalities that should be reflected in your holiday present. So this year splurge on something that each member of your crew will actually want to use! I’ve picked out personalized gifts for fifteen types of friends you may have. Read, add to your bag, gift, and become the best friend ever.

The Foodie: Benefit Cosmetics Triple Decker Decadence | $39

If there’s food involved, your ever-hungry friend comes with a fork in hand. She always takes your squad to the best restaurants, but won’t let you eat until she’s taken photos of everyone’s plates for her foodstagram. There’s only one gift that every foodie has room for this holiday season: dessert-centered beauty! This triple-tiered cake tin holds Benefit’s best-selling goodies including, The POREfessional Face Primer, BadGal BANG! Volumizing Mascara, High Brow Eyebrow Highlighter, and cherry red Gogotint Cheek & Lip Stain.

The Traveler: Oribe Travel Essential Collection | $98

One minute she’s here, the next she’s on a plane to Turks and Caicos. Your jet-setting friend loves to hostel-hop her way around the world and her phone is always on airplane mode. While globetrotting is fun, repeatedly filling TSA-approved bottles can be time consuming. The Oribe Travel Essential Collection includes travel-friendly versions of everything she needs for her international journeys. Complete with luxurious shampoo, conditioner, dry shampoo, rollerball perfume and a hydrating lip treatment, this gift will have everyone wondering how your friend manages to look drop dead gorgeous while travelling.

The Dreamer: Anastasia Beverly Hills Dream Glow Kit | $45

This friend has big goals and aspirations. She often lets her creative imagination run free and believes that the future is filled with endless possibility. This season, give your hopeful friend a magical gift that will grant her wildest beauty wishes! This ultra-reflective highlighter palette features six lustrous shades that create a kaleidoscopic 3D effect on skin. With dream-inducing names like Magic and Wish, this ethereal glow kit is sure to bring your friend’s enchanting thoughts to life.

The Health Enthusiast: Boscia’s Botanical Besties | $45

With a yoga mat in one hand and a bottle of cold pressed juice in the other, this friend treats her body with the utmost care. She religiously takes her supplements, eats cleanly and drinks herbal teas—the epitome of wellness in your crowd. Help your friend achieve her goals with the ultimate skin detox routine. This four-piece set features Boscia’s award-winning lineup of skin superstars for a refined, purified and bright complexion. Formulated with charcoal, the cleanser, mask and pudding treatment remove dirt lurking in pores while the moisturizing cleansing liquid removes makeup. The complexion-saving kit will make your healthy friend so happy you’ll be (botanical) besties forever!

The Free Spirit: Viseart Libertine Palette | $49

This friend simply can’t be tamed. You never know exactly where she’s going or what she’ll do next, and all of your friends admire her independence and nonconformist attitude. This holiday, give your free-spirited friend a collection of bold eyeshadows to match her uninhibited personality. The Viseart Libertine Palette features a nine-shade collection of striking matte and metallic options with daring names like Unleashed and Boundless. The triple-milled pigments provide intense color that will last throughout every one of your friend’s unexpected adventures.

The Glam Addict: Lashes In A Box N°16 | $25

She’s basically the low-key MUA of your group. Every girls’ night out, you and your friends marvel at her perfect cat eye. You all know she wouldn’t be caught dead without her favorite lip color. Although she makes it look effortless, great glam involves great financial responsibility (a single pair of fake lashes can cost upwards of $30!) so if you want to help your fabulous BFF stay fierce, give her enough falsies to last until spring. Complete with 10 cruelty-free pairs, these voluminous strands from Lashes In A Box can be reused up to 5 times per pair, saving your pal a whole lot of cash!

The Fashionista: Anna Sui Makeup Coffret | $40

This friend won’t hesitate to remind you that she was wearing micro sunglasses before 90s fashion made a comeback. She’s the type of person who watches the Oscars and can correctly identify who designed each celebrity’s dress before the actress tells E! News. It’s only fitting that you give your fashion-forward friend something created by one of the greatest designers of all time, Anna Sui. The limited edition Makeup Coffret features chic liner, lipstick, and nail polish within an illustrated tin adorned with Anna’s signature style.

The Party Animal: Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Carnaval Extravaganza | $59

The party doesn’t begin until this friend shows up. Her weekend schedule is usually jam-packed, but she’ll drop everything for a spur-of-the-moment trip to Vegas. The best way to celebrate the Life Of The Party this season? Give her a gift filled with festive essentials! Inspired by Brazil’s bash of the year, Bum Bum Carnaval Extravaganza includes Sol de Janiero’s cult favorites for hydrated, toned and radiant skin ready for anything from a local dayger to a weekend at Lollapalooza.

The Workaholic: Charlotte Tilbury’s Instant Magic Facial Dry Sheet | $80

We all have that friend who has her mind on the dollar signs. She’s an absolute star in the office and will happily work through lunch to finish all of her assignments ahead of schedule. You admire her dedication, but also wish she would take some time to unwind. Give the overachiever in your life the gift of rejuvenation with Charlotte Tilbury’s Instant Magic Facial Dry Sheet! This revolutionary mask features Skin Solution IQ technology that recognizes skin’s needs and responds with a customized replenishing treatment. I love how this reusable sheet yields celebrity facial results in just 15 minutes. Now even the busiest bees can pamper and still make it to work on time!

The Fitness Aficionado: BKR Winter Star Set | $50

This friend puts in major work at the gym. Treadmill, StairMaster, leg press—you name it and there’s a day dedicated to that body part on your friend’s schedule. Since athletes need to stay incredibly hydrated before, during and after a workout, this star-studded water bottle set makes the perfect gift for the sports superstar in your life! BKR Winter Star Set gifts two leak-proof, glass water bottles perfect for holding 8-16 ounces of water, juice, smoothies, protein shakes—just about anything to quench her thirst while she powers through her next gym sesh.

The Nature Lover: Farmacy Cream of the Crop Set | $42

Your outdoorsy friend loves parks, hikes, pretty much anything that puts her in direct contact with nature. The main reason she never picks up her phone? She’s outside harvesting ripe produce from her garden. It’s only fitting that the agriculturist in your circle receives a gift that’s literally the cream of the crop! This limited edition set includes three of Farmacy’s greenest beauty staples each infused with a pure blend of oils and extracts. Featuring best-selling farm-to-face formulas, this present hydrates and detoxifies for naturally radiant results.

The Organizer: Brush Works Artist Easel Pro | $65

Her closet is color-coded, her papers are filed, and there isn’t a speck of dust on her counters. Yes, I’m talking about your most organized friend. She’s known to start a group chat by sending a detailed list of fun activities for your next outing, proving that sometimes there is such a thing as the perfect plan. Your tidiest gal pal deserves a present just as neat and helpful as she is, making the Brush Works Artist Easel Pro the perfect gift. And it’s versatile—she can zip up this clutch-sized pouch to protect her tools from damage, or convert it into an upright easel for easy brush access without cluttering up her space!

The Animal Supporter: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked | $80

From armadillos to zebras, this friend appreciates all animals. While she loves her many ASPCA adopted pets, she would adopt as many endangered species as possible if she could. The best holiday gift for an animal enthusiast? Vegan beauty from Hourglass, of course! Aside from delivering six photoluminescent shades for glowing radiance, the Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked set is completely cruelty-free. Your friend will also be happy to know that with every palette sale, Hourglass donates 5% of profits to the Nonhuman Rights Project.

The Wine Connoisseur: Caudalie Beauty Secrets Set | $49

A mere utterance of the word “wine” sparks sheer excitement in this friend. She will go on to describe varietals, acidity levels, and blends to no end. She loves trips to Napa and feels at home in any tasting room. For the sommelier in your life, I recommend this beauty secrets set from the vinotherapy skincare line, Caudalie. Formulated with antioxidant-rich grape extracts, these three vineyard-inspired treatments detoxify skin and tighten pores for a more radiant, youthful-looking complexion.

The Holiday Fanatic: Omorovicza Christmas Gold Facial Set | $375

It’s all about Christmas for your most season-spirited friend. By December 1st, you can guarantee that her tree is lit, stockings are stuffed, and sugar cookies are in the oven. In fact, she’s probably curled up watching a Hallmark holiday movie as you read this! This year, gift your winter loving friend a Christmas-inspired beauty box that basically doubles as décor. Omorovicza Christmas Gold Facial includes colloidal gold infused firming serum and rescue cream, so your friend can enjoy a complexion so radiant it glows brighter than her tree topper!