Reader, I am so relieved that this will be my last major holiday in quarantine. Here in Canada, everyone will be eligible for their first Covid-19 vaccination before the end of the month—and their second likely by the end of summer. I’ve nabbed a few last-minute Mother’s Day gift ideas from the products I’ve been loving and the products that I have earmarked for my mom, but man, am I glad that this is likely going to be our last distanced Mother’s Day.
We’ll be celebrating a little late to make sure we can fit in a safe, distanced visit, and I doubt we’ll be the only ones.
Luxurious body butters and grapefruit vibes
I’ve gifted my mom a lot of beauty products over the years, but there’s only one that I can remember her actually loving: a rich, sensuous body butter from Lise Watier. It had the most amazing scent, and Watier’s gorgeous gold packaging made it an extra-special treat. It was the first of many last-minute Mother’s Day gift ideas I had, and would have made a way better gift than what my mom requested.
(MOM. Why are you this weird.)
That body butter is no longer offered. This year, I’m loving the lightly moisturizing Lavido Thera-Intensive Body Cream instead. At $60 USD, it’s equally pricy, but it has that same, fresh butter feeling that I love from a high-end body butter. Each scoop of the product carves off of the rest of the jar like something precious, and its aromatic blend of tea tree and lavender is soothing and low-maintenance.
To pair, I’ve included Anecdote Candles’ Quarter-Life Crisis. It’s sold as having notes of grapefruit and mint, but to me, it smells like pink grapefruit (my mom’s favourite)! The two products are the perfect combo to use during a night to yourself, or for a mom in your life to use during a night that they’re having to themselves—perhaps with the splash-proof new Womanizer Premium Eco ($219 CAD).
Last-minute Mother’s Day gift ideas for beauty lovers
I’ve also tagged in a few products that I’m currently testing and loving for the spring. Guerlain’s Abeille Royale Anti-Ageing Lifting Eye Serum ($155 CAD) is bonkers gorgeous. With a lightweight, shimmery, silicone-free formula, it makes my face absolutely GLOW.
I apply generously (two drops are more than enough) and press the product in to my eye area and (importantly!) my cheekbones. The perfect shimmer gives the entire area a lifted look, and I lowkey can’t see past my cheekbones well enough to even get to my under eye circles.
I’ve paired my Abeille Royale serum with Guerlain’s KissKiss Shine Bloom Lipstick Balm ($49 CAD). This one is 258 My Kiss Glow, which adjusts after application. It was a sample, but I think I’m going to have to pop into a Shopper’s for 119 Floral Nude when I’m out. The sheer formula is right up my mom and my’s alley.
The final skincare/makeup product on my radar for last-minute Mother’s Day gift ideas? Some Sun-è-Serum Drops from Ava Isa ($50 CAD). This gorgeous bottle has one of the strangest sunscreen formulas I’ve ever tried—a lightweight, dry-touch, SPF 35 mineral sunscreen. It comes out of a dropper bottle, and so far, I’m really enjoying using it overtop of my moisturizer. (Whether or not this shake-before-applying formula will be truly transparent on my mom’s darker skintone is yet to be determined.)
Shopping my stash for last-minute Mother’s Day gift ideas: The hair edition
My entire matrilineal line suffers from the same problem: we have really thin hair. (Except my sister, for some reason???) Each strand is average to coarse, but our follicles are dotted around our heads like a poppyseeds on a budget breakfast muffin.
We also suffer from a problem of our own making. All of us, despite our chronically thin hair (and my sudden quarantine hair loss), refuse to put effort into styling it. At most, we’ll do some quick flatiron curls or a simple blowout. For the most part, however, we’re wash-and-wear folks.
I’ve been loving L’Oreal’s Wonder Water for getting my hair back into healthy, shiny condition, and I can’t wait to try the new L’Oreal Wonder Water Dream Lengths. It’s an in-shower rinse, like the original, and will hopefully be even better suited to my long hair.
This month, I’ve been using the K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask, which I’ll hopefully be able to get my mom hooked on too. It. Is. Incredible. You don’t have to use a lot, but it makes your hair feel thick and strong. It’s like Olaplex that you don’t have to wait for. You get the best of both worlds (which I, unfortunately, didn’t get from both of my parents): effective results and a quick application that doesn’t require any styling or extra maintenance.
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Disclaimer: This post contains product samples and affiliate links.
