LisaFischerSaid's Gift Guide

It's time for the inaugural edition of "LisaFischerSaid's Gift Guide: Must haves for under $75." This is how I justify my mad shopping skills by telling people how to spend their hard-earned money.

Let's start with the candle I am burning. Friend Shane Carter gave me a gift for retiring from radio (that's the kind of friends I have. THE. BEST.) and it was a candle I had never smelled before. And it solved a marital dilemma in the Fischer home. I like spicy; he likes sweet. So this candle has a bit of both. It's the signature three-wick candle from HOWSE in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center in Little Rock, AR. It's $40. And you need one. It burns a really long time.

Next on my list is around the corner from HOWSE; it's at Powder & Smoke. I have known Mindy Stewart, the owner, since the mid-1980s when she had a little shop on N. FIllmore in the Heights. She and her mother shop the globe for things that smell good and look good but also have offer unique gifts. How cute are these cocktail napkins? They are $31 for a set of six.

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Confession time: I hate pumpkin spice. Everything pumpkin spice gives me throw up in my mouth. I'm not a coffee drinker combined with not liking the sweet fragrances, it's just not my thang. So imagine my delight a year or two ago when the folks from Nest candles started selling this fall-inspired fragrance named "pumpkin chai." It has cinammon in it, so it's got just the right spice and it still smells like autumn. These sell so quickly at Belle & Blush that you'll need to call them today if you want Merry or Brandon or anyone there to put some back for you. The big candles are already sold out at this writing (and it's not even October) but the medium-sized candles, votives ($42 and $16) and reed diffusers ($48) are still there. Hop like a bunny if you want some of these.

I am crazy about these lashes. I wear strip-lashes all the time. These are amazing. They are expensive because they last 25 wears, and they really look like eyelash extensions. I think I got the ones that are even fluffier than these but wow! I heart them. They are Lilly Lashes. And they run about $20-$30.

And my final item is the GIFT OF THE YEAR once you see it and the price. It's a cashmere pashmina that Betsy Parkinson Manning sells at Unveiled Bridal Collection in Little Rock,AR. It's $50 but then you have to have the fancy monogram that Ashley Philbrick of AP Monograms provides ($15). Here's the one I had done for my friend (if you're the friend who I gave it to, now you know my "dealer.")