Holiday Gift Guide: the best of holiday makeup palettes

Are you having a little panic about last minute holiday gifts or stocking stuffers?  Don't let the your common sense fail you, because every woman in your life would love a holiday makeup palette.  'Tis the season for affordable colors as far as the eye can see!  This is the best time of year to score a palette that will last an entire year, for a price that you could never imagine paying if you were to buy all these makeup colors separately.  Some will fit in stockings.  Some are so pretty you won't even want to put them in wrapping paper.  Some palettes are great introductions to brands that you might not know well (so you'll probably want to buy one for you AND one for your loved one).  They make great gifts for "the woman who has everything", a sister, a mother, a boss... you name it!  If I got nothing but holiday palettes for Christmas, I would be thrilled.  Oh, and if you get a gift card for Christmas this year, you totally need to pick one of these bad boys up.  Here are some of the 2013 palettes that are on my wish list:

Urban Decay Vice 2
There's a reason there's a volume 2 my friends.  The first one was good, but, unlike the movies, Urban Decay did an even better job the 2nd time around.  There's colors in here for everybody.  Nudes, brights, shimmers, mattes, whatever you can think of.  There's a double-ended cruelty-free brush that comes in the kit that's all you need for a perfect application with one end being for shadow and one end being a tapered blending brush.  It's 20 shades of pigment-rich exclusive colors, in a bedazzled case, with a brush, for $59.  You actually might want to keep this one for yourself rather than giving it away.

Smashbox Fade To Black Photo Op eye shadow palette 
Got a smoky eye lover in your life?  I know I do.  This is so perfect for Miss smoky eyes, for a little treat for yourself for NYE, or for a stocking stuffer.  As the name suggests, it starts with neutrals and then fades to black.  It has 7 rich colors and a great shadow brush (seriously why would any company make a kit with one of those weird sponge brushes these days?).  This versatile palette will run you $42.  

Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette
Who does not have a chocolate lover in their life?  While this palette is clearly not edible, the chocolate inspired packaging is as adorable as the colors inside are wearable.  When you open the palette you'll notice the faint smell of chocolate because the colors are actually infused with cocoa powder, which has fantastic anti-oxidant benefits.  There are 16 adorably named colors (matte and shimmer shades like Salted Caramel, Créme Brulee, or Cherry Cordial) that are good for any complexion for $49.