THE ART OF GIFTING

 

 

I’m basically thinking about gifts all year round. I’ll see something beautiful in a shop, read about an interesting maker, or notice that a friend keeps mentioning the same thing and mentally file it away for later. By the time the holiday season comes around, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want to get everyone. I hate panic-buying and I really hate buying things just for the sake of having something to hand over. I want a gift to feel like you’ve actually been paying attention — to someone’s taste, their habits, the things they love and, ideally, the things they secretly want but would never quite justify buying for themselves. So quite often I buy a gift for someone, months in advance, because I saw it and knew it would be perfect.

The best gift I’ve ever received was a pair of Saint Laurent heels from my friend Brigitta Spinocchia Freund. I remember being genuinely shocked because it had never occurred to me that another woman could buy me a pair of shoes that were so perfectly me. The fit, the height, the attitude — she just completely understood. And I think that’s what stayed with me. There’s something incredibly lovely about somebody knowing your taste well enough to choose something for you with that much confidence. It makes you feel seen.

So when I’m buying gifts, I’m much more interested in feeling than function. I like a bit of whimsy, a bit of luxury, something sensory, something you might not necessarily buy for yourself. It doesn’t have to be wildly expensive either. It just needs to make the person open it and think, Oh Goodness! This is so me. That’s the magic bit.

I wrap everything in the Financial Times and tie it with velvet ribbon from my ribbon drawer.

The salmon-pink paper with jewel-coloured velvet looks incredibly chic, but more importantly, I reuse the ribbons every year. Very sustainable. 

I think wrapping should have the same principle as the gift itself: tactile, slightly excessive and pleasurable before you’ve even discovered what is inside.

 

Because that tiny moment before someone opens a present — when they’re holding it, looking at it, wondering what you’ve chosen for them — is part of the gift too.

 

So we will also supply all our December orders with tissue and complementary gift bags if you select them at checkout. 

And that, for me, is really the whole pleasure of the holiday season: thinking about the people you love and finding small ways to delight them. So here is my 39BC guide to what I’d give absolutely everyone…

 

FOR YOUR MOST SENSUAL FRIEND

 

SILK VEIL

 

SILK VEIL is probably our most overtly sexy scent: soft, enveloping and designed to turn something as ordinary as washing your body into an act of pleasure. It’s the kind of beauty product you leave deliberately on display.

 

Give it to the woman who notices the lighting in restaurants, knows exactly which white shirt is the right white shirt and has never once described her interiors as “a pop of colour.”

 

FOR THE ONE WHO HAS EVERYTHING

 

THE ALEXANDRIA GIFT SET

When somebody genuinely has everything, another thing isn’t particularly interesting. You have to give them a world.

 

The full ALEXANDRIA collection contains SILK VEIL, DENARII, FIG MILK and SAGE WATER — four different scents inspired by the bathing culture of the ancient Mediterranean and the imagined world of Alexandria in 39 BC.

 

There is history, fragrance, ritual and discovery inside the box. More importantly, there is probably something in there they haven’t experienced before.

 

FOR THE PERSON YOU KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT

 

THE 39BC DISCOVERY SET

 

This is where the Discovery Set is extremely useful. New boyfriend’s mother? Host you’ve met twice? Brother’s new girlfriend? Someone you’ve somehow agreed to buy a gift for despite knowing almost nothing about them?

 

Everyone has to wash.

 

The Discovery Set gives them all four of our ALEXANDRIA scents — SILK VEIL, DENARII, FIG MILK and SAGE WATER — so you don’t have to perform the dangerous holiday-season ritual of trying to diagnose a near-stranger’s fragrance personality. They can try all four, decide who they are for themselves, and you still look incredibly thoughtful.

 

And if conversation dries up, there’s a whole world of ancient history behind every scent.

 

You’re welcome.

 

FOR THE AESTHETE

 

FIG MILK

 

FIG MILK is for the person who understands that everyday objects should still be beautiful.

 

There is something wonderfully intimate about giving someone something for their bathroom. The bathroom is one of the few rooms where we are genuinely alone. A beautiful cleansing oil sitting beside the bath or shower changes a very ordinary part of the day.

 

This is luxury at its best for me: not saving beautiful things for special occasions, but putting pleasure into the things you were going to do anyway.

 

FOR THE PERSON WHO NEEDS TO SLOW DOWN

 

SAGE WATER

 

Some people do not need another diary, productivity tool or well-intentioned book about boundaries.

 

They need a bath.

 

Give them SAGE WATER, tell them to lock the door, run the water and disappear for an hour.

 

A gift can sometimes be permission.

 

FOR THOSE WHO WORK HARD, PLAY HARD.

 

DENARII

 

For the person who likes their fragrance a little darker.

 

I love the intimacy of fragrance worn close to the body, particularly scent that begins in the bath rather than being sprayed on afterwards. DENARII makes the act of washing feel decadent, which is exactly the sort of unnecessary pleasure I approve of.

 

FOR THE BEAUTY OBSESSIVE

 

THE 39BC BLUE LOTUS FACE MASK

 

Beauty obsessives are notoriously difficult to buy for because they’ve tried everything, know every ingredient and probably already have twelve serums open in their bathroom. So I’d give them something a little more unexpected: our Blue Lotus Face Mask.

 

I love the idea of giving a mask because you’re not just giving someone skincare, you’re giving them an excuse to disappear for twenty minutes. Smooth it on, run a bath, put your phone somewhere you can’t reach it and leave the rest of the world outside the bathroom door.

 

And obviously, being 39BC, there’s an ancient bathing story behind it too.

 

 

FOR THE PERSON WHO DESERVES TO BE SPOILT

 

39BC PERFUMED DRY BODY OIL

 

There are some people I want to give something to that feels purely pleasurable. No improving their life. No productivity. No practicality whatsoever. Just something gorgeous for their body.

 

This is exactly who I would give our Perfumed Dry Body Oil to. It’s probably our most indulgent product yet — a beautifully scented body oil that leaves your skin extraordinarily soft and silky, without that greasy, sticky feeling that puts so many people off using body oils in the first place.

 

I especially love giving body products because there is something quite intimate about them. You’re essentially saying: go home, have a bath, take your time, anoint your entire body and smell incredible.

 

And because it comes in SILK VEIL, DENARII, FIG MILK and SAGE WATER, you can choose the scent that feels most like them.

 

A very good gift for someone you love. An excellent gift for yourself.

 

FOR THE TRAVELLER

 

THE 39BC WASHBAG

 

I travel constantly, so I’ve become extremely particular about what comes with me. I want things that are beautiful, practical and make living out of a suitcase feel slightly less chaotic. Our 39BC Washbag was designed with exactly that in mind.

 

It’s for the person who has a flight booked before they’ve unpacked from the last one, who has their liquids bag permanently half-packed, and who believes that just because you’re travelling doesn’t mean your bathroom rituals have to disappear.

 

Fill it with a few 39BC favourites if you’re feeling particularly generous, and you’ve basically given them a bathroom they can take anywhere.

 

FOR THE HOST

 

ANY 39BC CLEANSING OIL - BUT IN A GIFT BAG

 

I never like arriving at someone’s house empty-handed, and I designed the packaging to look like a gift without trying, but I DO recommend you add a gift bag to your order.

 

Wine disappears. Flowers die. A beautiful bottle of cleansing oil stays beside the bath long after everyone has gone home.

 

Choose the fragrance according to the host. SILK VEIL for the sensualist. FIG MILK for the aesthete. SAGE WATER for the calm one. DENARII for the person with excellent taste and slightly questionable intentions.

 

Much more interesting than another bottle of Prosecco.

 

FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE VERY MUCH

 

39BC VOL 1 BATHING HAMPER

 

This is where you go all in.

 

Give them the entire ritual and, crucially, give them the time to use it.

 

Because ultimately I think the most luxurious thing you can give someone is permission to disappear from the world for a while.

 

Run the bath. Put something beautiful in the water. Lock the door. Leave the phone outside.

 

See you in an hour.

 

AND WHAT DO I WANT?

 

Honestly?

 

A bath that somebody else has run for me.

 

Preferably very hot. Preferably in a beautiful hotel. Preferably with nowhere I need to be afterwards.

 

Although I wouldn’t object to some Chanel heels either.