The Best Mother’s Day Gift Sets (Featuring Things We’ve Written About Before)

Glossier reigns in the no-makeup-makeup department, and this limited-edition kit includes miniature versions of the products that made the company so popular in the first place. The edit comes with Lash Slick, Balm Dotcom, and Boy Brow, as well as the Alexa Chung–approved Milky Cleanser and the Priming Moisturizer that SNL alum Sasheer Zamata says doubles as a primer.

Former Cut beauty director Kathleen Hou calls Augustinus Bader’s cream “the secret to rich-person skin.” It’s also been featured in our moisturizers for dry skin guide, where Kim Zimmerman of Rescue Spa describes it as perfect for “the laziest nights when you don’t have time to slather on a million serums but you still want all the anti-aging benefits.” This duo includes the original formula and the even thicker version aptly called the Rich Cream. Since the two start at $89 for 15 milliliters each, you’re getting a pretty sweet deal on top, too.

Smith’s Rosebud Salve is an essential for activist Janet Mock, model Winnie Harlow, and the one and only Beyoncé, who even uses it as a mascara primer to make her lashes look shinier. It’s a favorite of Nicky Hilton’s, too — she’s been using it for over two decades and stashes backups in drawers and diaper bags. The set includes the classic rosebud, along with strawberry and minted rose scents.

Kate McLeod’s Body Stones converted former Strategist writer Chloe Anello, her mother, and her grandmother from their lotion-loathing ways. This sampler set of three costs even less than a full-size Body Stone and comes with three lotion bars: the Daily Stone (rose scented), Sleep Stone (infused with lavender), and Naked Stone (with notes of cacao and vanilla). Anello’s grandmother actually prefers the mini-sizes as they’re easier to hold.

Baggu has appeared all over our archives, counting Coming Soon co-founder Fabiana Faria and Lisa Bühler, founder of Lisa Says Gah!, as devotees. We’re particularly partial to this set that comes in three different fruit patterns, folded up in a drawstring pouch that can be reused over and over again as well.

The Byredo Discovery Set consists of six two-milliliter vials of its popular perfumes, including Bibliothèque, Bal d’Afrique, and Gypsy Water. The last is “like a vintage leather jacket that goes with everything and molds to your body — super-elegant but not uptight,” explains Sable Yong, co-host of the Smell Ya Later podcast. Once you order the set, you’ll be sent a voucher code to spend towards a full-size bottle of Mom’s favorite.

Bala bangles will give her workouts a bit of resistance. The wrist weights became a breakout star of many quarantine exercise routines, especially as they’re “a far cry from their bulky Jazzercise-era counterparts,” writes former Strategist senior writer Karen Iorio Adelson. The kit also comes with the brand’s bars, which are designed to be more ergonomic than classic dumbbells.

It’s almost impossible to make a reservation at Rao’s, the ten-table Italian icon. Fortunately, the restaurant makes its own line of jarred tomato sauces that epicures we talked to approve of. “Rao’s is so much better than everything else,” says Maile Carpenter, editor-in-chief of Food Network Magazine. This basket includes jars of its much-raved-about marinara, arrabbiata, and vodka sauces, along with dried pastas like linguine and penne.

If she believes that fish is a dish best served tinned, then you can’t go wrong with this series from Fishwife. The pack includes full-size cans of smoked rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, and albacore tuna that are each boxed up in colorful packs. The tuna is a favorite of Strategist beauty columnist Rio Viera-Newton, who describes it as “so fresh tasting I would never have known that it came canned.”