The Ultimate
Beauty enthusiasts are the easiest people to shop for during the holidays. I definitely fall into this category and present my family with an entire list on my Notes app filled with everything from skincare and haircare to tools and devices. I imagine aestheticians are the same—they’re the most dialed in when it comes to the beauty industry. I’m sure they’re constantly keeping a running wish list of things to try and, if they’re good enough, to give to others as gifts too.
This year, I decided to draw inspiration from those behind Hollywood’s most flawless faces. I asked a few celebrity aestheticians to share their ultimate flawless-skin gift guide with me for the season. They drew on years of expertise in the treatment room and what’s on their own wish lists. For the ultimate “best skin of your life” gift guide, keep scrolling. Three master celebrity aestheticians shared it all below.
Sarah Akram’s Ultimate Best-Skin Gift Guide
Having worked with celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Laura Harrier, Mindy Kaling, and Rachel Zegler, Sarah Akram is your go-to gal for luxury skincare recs. Not only does she use the best of the best in her treatment room, but she also co-created the Haute Couture Treatment at Dior‘s first recently opened flagship spa in New York. I had the pleasure of getting an amazing facial with Akram once. We chatted about her favorite skincare, and I can definitely confirm that her gift guide is full of picks that she uses and loves herself.
She shared, “I would gift [people with] each of these products because they’re luxurious, they’re effective, and they deliver visible, meaningful change. These are formulas I trust on my own skin and on the skin of every client who walks into my treatment room. Gifting them is like gifting confidence—glow, radiance, smoothness, firmness—everything that makes someone feel their most beautiful. If I were gifting the people I love [with] the products that deliver the best skin of their life, these are the exact formulas I would choose. Each one is a staple in my professional world because they transform the skin—elegantly, intelligently, and with real clinical performance behind them.”
When asked what’s on her own holiday wish list, she likes to go big—think devices that make a difference. “It always comes down to the tools and treatments that make the biggest impact at home,” she explains. “As an aesthetician, I’m incredibly selective, so the devices I love are the ones that deliver professional-level results with consistency and elegance.”
Biologique Recherche
Lotion P50 PIGM 400
“This is the one product I think everyone should experience at least once. P50 PIGM 400 is my go-to for clients who want brighter, more refined skin without compromising their barrier. It gently exfoliates, balances pH, evens tone, and literally resets the complexion. I love gifting it because it’s a true skin changer—results start almost immediately, and people never go back.”
Biologique Recherche
Biokiss Lip Balm
“The perfect stocking stuffer! Truly one of the chicest, most restorative lip treatments ever created. Biokiss is the ultimate little luxury gift. It repairs, smooths, and comforts the lips instantly. I love gifting it because it feels indulgent yet essential. There is nothing like a perfectly hydrated lip.”
Auteur
Definitive Retinol Serum
“This is the retinol I trust for results and elegance. Auteur elevates retinol to a couture level—high performance, beautifully stabilized, and surprisingly gentle. I love gifting this to anyone ready to take their skin to the next level. It smooths texture, softens lines, boosts radiance… everything. It’s pure sophistication in a serum.”
BIOEFFECT
Bioeffect Egf Power Serum 15ml
“This is the serum I reach for when the skin needs to look firmer, denser, and truly rejuvenated. The growth-factor technology is unmatched. Gifting this feels like giving someone a little bottle of time reversal—skin becomes plumper, smoother, and more resilient. It’s powerful and incredibly elegant.”
Augustinus Bader
The Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50
“No skincare routine—no matter how luxurious—is complete without protection. Bader’s sunscreen is lightweight, hydrating, and beautifully formulated so it works under makeup and never pills. It’s the sunscreen people actually want to use, which is why I love gifting it. It keeps all your other products working harder and your skin looking its absolute best.”
getomnilux
Omnilux Contour Face
“Omnilux is always at the top of my list. It’s one of the few LED devices I wholeheartedly trust because the clinical research is exceptional, and the results are truly visible—firmer skin, calmer inflammation, softened lines, a more even tone—everything I want for my clients and myself. I love wishing for (and gifting others with) this device because it gives you that ‘post-facial glow’ at home. It’s noninvasive, soothing, and keeps the skin functioning optimally between professional treatments. It’s one of the smartest long-term skincare investments you can make.”
Keren Bartov’s Ultimate Best-Skin Gift Guide
One of London’s most cutting-edge celebrity facialists, Keren Bartov’s celebrity client list includes Lily Collins, Victoria Beckham, Michelle Monaghan, Kate Moss, Gal Gadot, Julia Roberts, Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson, and more. With a namesake line of her own, Keren Bartov Advanced Skin Care, she brings more than 17 years of experience as an aesthetician to the table and a mastery of many different skincare technologies.
“When I choose skincare gifts, I think about results, joy, and products I personally trust. Gifts should feel thoughtful, personal, and genuinely transformative for the skin,” she says. As for her own holiday skincare wish list, she’s a busy traveler and needs products that accommodate her busy lifestyle. “My life is spent moving between Tel Aviv, London, New York, and Los Angeles, with breaks in the Maldives and Thailand whenever possible,” she shares. “I always look for products that keep my skin and hair balanced across different climates and long travel days.”
Her top favorite items she loves and is giving as gifts are below.
Keren Bartov
Advanced Skin Serum
This barrier-repairing serum is formulated with plant-based fatty acids, ceramides, and advanced emollient technology to deeply replenish moisture in the skin. It’s perfect for skin that’s compromised, irritated, or sensitive, according to Bartov. She also says it’s the perfect foundation for every skin type, really. “It strengthens the barrier, restores balance, and brings back natural radiance,” she says.
Keren Bartov
Booster Peel & Glow Serum
This multi-acid serum is made of a gentle blend of exfoliating fruit acids and brighteners that refine skin texture, improve dark spots, and restore skin’s luminosity. It’s one of those all-in-one products that allows you to drop a few others—the perfect kind of gift. Bartov says of this formula, “[It gives an] instant glow with gentle resurfacing. Perfect before events or any time someone wants a refreshed, luminous look.”
Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte’s Magic Eye Cream With Retinol
“This eye cream brightens and awakens the under-eye area—even on the busiest days.”
Victoria Beckham
Cheeky Posh Cream Blush
For the perfect everyday blush, she’s giving Victoria Beckham Beauty’s creamy, buildable, and pigmented formula. She’s sharing it with others because it melts beautifully into the skin and creates a fresh, elegant flush.
Dior
Miss Dior Body Creme
Bartov says this luxurious, decadent body cream in Dior’s iconic Miss Dior scent is relaxing and comforting at the end of a long day. She even calls it a “true treat for the senses.”
CHANEL
Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum
As someone who flies a lot, Bartov loves bringing this serum with her to keep her skin extra dewy. With blue ginger and camellia yeast extract, it support’s the skin’s barrier and provides antioxidant protection. She says it instantly replenishes and comforts dehydrated skin, and she definitely has more of it on her wish list this season.
Shani Darden’s Ultimate Best-Skin Gift Guide
Renowned celebrity aesthetician Shani Darden is known for her eponymous skincare line and long list of celebrity clients—including Shay Mitchell, Jessica Alba, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Chrissy Teigen. I’ve used and loved her products for years because they’ve worked wonders for my sensitive, acne-prone skin. There’s no one I look to more for gift recommendations.
“As an aesthetician, I gravitate toward gifting products that transform the skin with results people will feel and see immediately,” she says. “If I’m giving someone a skincare gift, I want it to help them get the best skin of their life, not just look pretty in a box.” Darden shared the top items from her line that give you your best skin ever.
Shani Darden
Retinol Reform
“My first go to is always my Retinol Reform. It’s the product I recommend most because it works for almost everyone and delivers such incredible results, including smoother texture, clearer pores, and brighter, firmer skin. It’s a game changer for fine lines and uneven tone, and it’s one of those formulas that gives consistent results over time.”
Shani Darden
Triple Acid Signature Peel
“For the holidays specifically, I love gifting my Triple Acid Signature Peel. It’s such a fun, instant-gratification product, perfect for events, photos, or any moment when you want your skin to look its absolute best. It gives the skin this gorgeous, fresh glow and creates the smoothest base for makeup.”
Beauty Editor–Approved Gifts to Buy
Innersense Organic Beauty
Hydrate Trio
If anyone in your life has curly hair, this trio from Innersense is totally elite. I use it on my own hair and have never been more obsessed. The products smell amazing and give your curls so much hydration. The brand’s Repair Mask ($34) has also become a fast favorite.
Flewd Stresscare
Stresscare Trio
Flewd became a fast favorite brand of mine this year for its stress-busting bath soaks. If anyone you’re buying for (or you) could use a major reset, this is the set to try.
Lumineux
Whitening Starter Set
These are my all-time favorite sensitivity-free whitening strips. It’s hard to find more enamel-safe organic options that actual work. I use these with the toothpaste, and at first, I wasn’t sure if they made a difference, but after a few weeks of using the strips and toothpaste, I noticed a huge difference in how white my teeth were. I’m buying these as stocking stuffers for my whole family.
