Once again the holidays are upon us! The air has an inherent spice to it and every street is lined with brightly colored festive lights in preparation for the floods of families coming to visit and people rushing to buy presents.
Luckily for us, tis also the season for trying out new beauty trends before we buy gifts for ourselves and our friends! Whether it’s using a new skin care routine to get that dewy, holiday glow, trying out a new makeup trend to glam it up for holiday parties, or putting in a little extra effort to make a homemade gift, these chilly months are the perfect time to step out of your beauty comfort zone.
That being said, this year HerCampus put together a foolproof Holiday Survival Kit with all of the accessible products that will help you endure the pressures of looking and feeling fabulous through each family dinner and Secret Santa party! Featuring products from Buxom, Krazy Glue, ALBA BOTANICAⓇ , DivaCup, VELCRO® , and XOXO, the Holiday Survival Kit has all of the perfect beauty and craft tools you’ll need.
Buxom Cosmetics is a makeup and beauty company that is currently launching a line of lipsticks called the Va-Va-Plump™ Shiny Liquid Lipstick. With rich, glossy colors and long-lasting pigment, the Va-Va-Plump™ Liquid Lipstick is designed to keep your lips comfortable while maintaining that glossy, “bombshell pout”. It features an innovative curved applicator that delivers a precise, saturated application of product. It’s glossiness never fades, and it stays on without making your lips feel heavy or chapped: perfect for a long holiday party or gift-shopping spree with friends!
Another essential product from the Kit is from XOXO’s Luv For Women perfume. It’s a sensual, romantic fragrance that will make any radiant woman shine through and through. Top fragrance notes include grapefruit, golden delicious apple, purple passion fruit, and italian lemon, with drier undertones of musk, virginia cedar wood, white amber, and vanilla. For any feminine and effortlessly beautiful XOXO woman, this perfume is the perfect addition to any beauty routine and cozy sweater.
DivaCup also makes an appearance in the HerCampus Kit! Made from 100% healthcare grade silicone, the DivaCup® is a reusable bell-shaped menstrual cup that offers up to 12 hours of leak free protection, is easy to use, and saves money. Unlike tampons and pads, the DivaCup collects rather than absorbs menstrual flow, and also comes in two model sizes to fit any woman’s cycle and needs. No more worrying about hiding tampons and remembering to bring them place or stressing about leaks throughout the day or night! Instead, women can safely and healthily keep their menstruation at bay without having to be embarrassed or stressed.
The holidays can also be a time of stress, and stress can exhaust our skin and give it it’s own anxiety! Luckily, is part of the ALBA BOTANICAⓇ HerCampus Survival Kit and will save you from those pesky blackheads. The Acnedote™ pimple patch is a non-drying treatment that individually targets problem spots to draw fluids and oils out and away from the skin to help reduce inflammation, while also maintaining the skin’s natural moisture to encourage faster healing and prevent scarring. Not only are these patches effective and affordable, but they’re also 100% vegetarian with no animal testing, no harsh sulfates, no synthetic ingredients, and no parabens or phthalates. They’re the perfect supplement to a relaxed, clean skin care routine!
If you want to be a little craftier this year, have extra time to make homemade gifts for shelters or the elderly, or just need to find a way to make cheaper gifts for your friends and family, Krazy Glue and VELCRO® are great resources from this year’s Kit! Krazy Glue All Purpose Singles have just enough in them to fix up picture frames and other homemade crafts gifts, and are strong enough to bond to wood, metal, plastics, glass, vinyl and ceramics. The VELCRO® Brand HANGables® Removable Wall Fasteners are also perfect for crafts and homemade projects, as they can be used to hang your favorite items, create wall collages, and enhance any room with ease without the hassle of hammer and nails. They also come in a variety of options such as removable or permanent, varying sizes, and multiple colors to fit all of your specific decorative needs. They’re easy to use, remove, and style. I myself am not the most creative, but Krazy Glue or VELCRO® could hopefully make it a little easier for me to give it another shot!
Speaking from personal experience, my favorite item from the HerCampus Holiday Survival Kit is the Buxom Va-Va-Plump™ Shiny Liquid Lipstick. I love experimenting with brightly hued makeup and new brands, and found that this lipstick matched with so many different eyeshadow combinations and even clothing styles! I also was able to snack away at all of my family gatherings and parties without one swipe of shine gone. I would definitely recommend this lipstick for anyone who wants to glam it up all night without the heavy gooiness of many other glosses.