This was a huge year for video games.

It was the first full year the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were on the market, and we also saw Nintendo’s Wii U console mature thanks to some quality first-party titles.

There were plenty of incredible games this year, but these were the cream of the crop.

14. South Park: The Stick of Truth

As the "New Kid" who moves to South Park, you're thrust into an epic role-playing game between all sorts of fantasy creatures to obtain the "Stick of Truth." The game is not only enjoyable to play, but it retains the inherent heart and humor of "South Park"— and it looks just like the TV show.

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Buy it here.

13. Grand Theft Auto V

After its initial release last November, Rockstar remastered and re-released "Grand Theft Auto V" last month for the next-generation consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The main addition was a comprehensive first-person perspective mode that lets you see the game in a whole new way. Thanks to this single change, the "Grand Theft Auto" series will never be the same.

Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Buy it here.

12. Dark Souls II

The sequel to "Dark Souls" is one of the most difficult, punishing games ever made — but it's also one of the most rewarding. As you traverse various open worlds, fighting off hordes of impossibly strong monsters with very few items at your disposal, you'll be killed again and again. But that means your victories will taste all too sweet.

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Buy it here.

Still can't figure out what to get your nieces and nephews for Christmas?

Don't worry, we've got you covered.

We gathered some of the most popular toys that kids want this year using the National Retail Federation's survey, and eBay's list of the most popular toy in every state.

Elsa's dress from Disney's Frozen will make dress-up time more fun.

Kids can't get enough of Disney's Frozen, so what's better than being able to dress up like Elsa and pretend you're in the movie, too?

You can also buy a Frozen microphone that plays the hit song "Let It Go," to go along with the new dress.

Price: $12.23, $19.95

LEGOs will never go out of style.

LEGOs have been around forever and it's always a safe gift to buy the kids in your life.

Get the little guy or gal the "creative bucket" and let their imaginations soar. It comes with LEGOs of every color in a fun LEGO-shaped bucket. Kids can "build animals, buildings, vehicles, and much more!"

Price: $80.89

If you're looking to splurge, they'll love an iPad mini.

Kids of all ages will love an iPad.

iPads have a lot of fun games, but they are also a great educational tool. Parents can download Leapfrog learning apps for their younger children, and older kids can download books to read.

Price: $363.59

Gin is a mixing drink, but that doesn't mean that quality doesn't matter.

The spirit, which derives its flavor (and its name) from juniper berries, is an essential component in a ton of cocktails, so you still want to be sure you're going for the good stuff.

We consulted our friends at FindTheBest, who update their gin rankings regularly based on reviews from Wine Enthusiast Magazine and the Beverage Tasting Experience, as well as awards from the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Here's their latest list – and they all happen to be $40 or less.

10. ARIA Portland Dry Gin ($24)

Dry gins are so-named because virtually no sugar is added. The Aria Portland Dry Gin comes from American Samoa and is best mixed in a martini or jasmine cocktail. It has a silky, fruity body and smells of spices and pine blossoms.

9. Ransom Old Tom Gin ($38)

Ransom Old Tom is a genevere gin, a type of spirit that originated Netherlands or Belgium, although this particular genevere comes from the US. It's best mixed in a gimlet or martini.

8. Sloane's Premium Dry Gin ($40)

This smooth dry gin comes from the Netherlands. It balances strong juniper flavors with a subtle sweet finish. Try it in a Tom Collins.

7. Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Gin ($36)

The Rehorst is practically a whole herb garden in a bottle; it contains aniseed, basil, cardamom, cassia, coriander seed, juniper, and lemon and orange peel. The sweet basil ingredient is especially unique; it adds an extra dash of floral flavoring to the gin.

6. Voyager Small-Batch Dry Gin ($30)

Though Voyager is a London Dry style gin, it's hand-crafted in the US. Made from grain spirits and organic herbs and spices, it's artisan distilled in the 19th century style.

5. Whitney Neill 96 Proof Gin ($39)

The Africa-inspired Whitley Neill features two African botanicals (and a baobab tree on the label). It's made in the UK and has bold, warm flavors.

4. Monopolowa Vienna Dry Gin ($16)

The Monopolowa is a London Dry but it comes from Vienna, Austria, and it's triple distilled and especially smooth.

3. New Amsterdam Gin ($14)

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get quality gin: the New Amsterdam is one of the more affordable bottles on this list, but it's a three-time Gold/Double Gold winner at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It's a modern gin that comes from the U.S. and it has subtle citric flavors and a silky finish.

2. Martin Miller's Gin ($33)

Miller's calls this "one of the most aromatic and least junipery gins." It smells, instead, of cucumber, white, pepper, and lemon zest, and even contains a bit of nutmeg and liquorice. Try it in a Martinez cocktail.

1. Tanqueray No. 10 Gin ($30)

Tanquery 10 is a classic. It's the only gin out there made from handpicked fresh fruit, including grapefruits, oranges, and limes. It's won fully six Double Golds from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and it's not going to break the bank either. You cannot go wrong.

SEE ALSO: 11 Bottles Of Liquor That Make Amazing Gifts

Join the conversation about this story »

Billionaires and CEOs have something in common with the rest of us: They didn't know everything in their 20s.

The people who start and run awesome companies, write best-sellers, and become household names haven't always known what was best for their money. How do we know? We asked them.

From investor Mark Cuban, who laments his misuse of credit cards, to TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, who cautions against chasing money, keep reading to find out how investors, CEOs, authors, and other highly successful people answered the question: What do you wish you'd known about money in your 20s?

Learn to manage your credit cards.

Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur, investor:

"That credit cards are the worst investment that you can make. That the money I save on interest by not having debt is better than any return I could possibly get by investing that money in the stock market. I thought I would be a stock market genius. Until I wasn't.

"I should have paid off my cards every 30 days."

Skills are worth more than a job.

Tim Ferriss, angel investor, best-selling author of "The 4-Hour Workweek":

"In your 20s, optimize for learning, not earning. Work directly under or with master dealmakers, and acquire skills. This is particularly true for negotiating and hard skills like coding.

"What would you rather have: $20,000 more per year in your 20s, leading to making $100,000 to $200,000 a year in your 30s, or a lower-paying job from 20 to 25 — but one like a real-world MBA you're paid for — leading to making millions in your 30s?  

"It often comes down to prioritizing skill acquisition over immediate postcollege earning. McKinsey or Goldman can be seductive, but it's easy to get trapped in a 20-plus-year path of paying for a bloated lifestyle that is always a bit more expensive than the year before. Serfs can become self-made kings, but consultants tend to remain consultants. The only true job security is a superior skill set."

You need a plan for your money.

Alexa von Tobel, founder/CEO of LearnVest.com, author of "Financially Fearless":

"Not having a financial plan is a plan — just a really bad one! Given what I see as a general lack of personal-finance education, it can be all too easy to wing it with your money.

"I was lucky enough to learn this lesson while still in my 20s, so I had time to put a financial plan into place for myself (and start LearnVest to help people nationwide do the same!)."

This 288-foot superyacht — with an infinity pool, art gallery, and hair salon on board — was purchased earlier this year and is headed to the Middle East.

The broker, Moran Ship & Yacht, would not disclose the sale price, but the yacht was previously available for charter for $1.29 million per week.

The Quattroelle, built last year by Lurssen, has five spacious decks and a number of outdoor social areas perfect for soaking up the sun. 

The streamlined exterior and lavish interior were both designed by Nuvolari Lenard and can accommodate up to 12 guests in six spacious suites, with space for a crew of 29.

Additional reporting by Liz O'Connor.

[An earlier version of this post was written by Alex Davies.]

Designers at Nuvolari Lenard didn't want the Quattroelle to look like a small cruise ship — instead they wanted it to look "sporty" and designed the exterior as such.

The owner's deck, seen here, has ample space for entertaining. It's the largest and most luxurious of the five decks with three cabins, four full bathrooms, a day head (small bathroom), an office, a pantry, and two outdoor terraces.

Thirteen different types of stones were used when designing the interior of the ship. A sparkling white double vanity can be seen here in one of the yacht's many bathrooms.

Companies spend trillions of dollars on technology every year. The best investors can see which new companies are serving the needs of big enterprises, and invest accordingly.

To uncover the hottest new trends in business tech next year, we spoke to some of the most successful enterprise-focused venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

1. “Big data” will continue to mature into a huge market

Last year was a big year for "big data," a buzzy term that refers to new tools that let companies analyze massive amounts of data from new sources like tiny sensors or website visits. Companies like Cloudera, DataStax, and DataGravity went through massive rounds of funding, while Hadoop provider Hortonworks and the data analytics firm New Relic went public. 

Steve Herrod of General Catalyst says this represents even more opportunities for next year. "2015 will be a fun year as these companies all focus on revenue."

Greylock's Jerry Chen sees Hadoop maturing beyond a data hub, becoming a broader application platform, and he said, "The next generation of business-critical apps will be built on Hadoop, just like ERP apps were built on relational databases like Oracle."

But big data won't be tied only to Silicon Valley or tech companies. Emergence Capital's Kevin Spain says, "New sensors and drones will revolutionize data collection in industries such as agriculture and land surveying." Bessemer's Brian Feinstein and Kent Bennett say this will lead to more software development for data collection across all industries, including traditionally old sectors like oil & gas. 

"The hottest job in corporate America will be the chief data officer," Norwest Venture Partners' Matt Howard says.

2. Challengers to AWS

Most startups use Amazon Web Services for hosting their services, which explains why AWS is the fastest-growing business within Amazon. But many VCs expect its growth to slow next year.

General Catalyst's Steve Herrod says AWS will continue to be a big player but will face increased competition from Google and Microsoft. NEA's Jon Sakoda agrees that AWS is dominant in the space but says Google will challenge it in the developer ecosystem, while Microsoft will redouble its efforts on Azure. Bessemer's Ethan Kurzweil says AWS' dominance will weaken "as alternatives that are specially tailored to a specific use case or company emerge."

But this may also present more opportunities for AWS, Herrod says, as it will push it "further into the medium and larger companies that dominate IT spending."

3. Enterprise mobile apps

Emergence Capital's Kevin Spain argues that 80% of the global workforce is underserved by technology on the job, with 2.5 billion non-desk workers in areas like construction, manufacturing, and healthcare who need apps specifically tailored to meet their needs. 

"At $40 per worker per year, it could be the next $100 billion opportunity for enterprise technology," he says. "I predict we will start seeing more enterprise mobile use cases in 2015 that generate real revenue."

In fact, Spain's point relates to what Andreessen Horowitz's Steven Sinofsky wrote on Re/code: "Work will happen first on mobile platforms, for both team agility and organizational security." He says businesspeople everywhere are already using iPads all the time, with "enterprise apps, email and browsing (and now Office), doing enterprise work."

The creator of Minecraft, Sweden's Markus Persson, just bought an amazing house in Beverly Hills.

The eight-bedroom mansion sold for $70 million. Persson outbid Jay-Z for it.

He sold his company to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in September.

The front of the house is ultra-modern but unassuming.

There's an infinity pool out back with a view to kill for.

Here's the master bedroom.

The global housing market is a diverse one. Some are red-hot and others are ice-cold.

According to the Global Property Guide for Q3: "While house prices have continued to rise in the United States, as in several Asian countries, Brazil, and New Zealand, momentum in almost all of these countries has weakened, and China's housing markets have entered a downturn, as has Singapore's."

We've put together a list of the bottom seven markets based on year-over-year, inflation-adjusted price performance as of the third quarter. The chart accompanying each slide shows the year-over-year percentage change in house price.

Slovak Republic

Home prices in the Slovak Republic fell 0.41% year-over-year, which was a slowdown from 2013's decrease of 1.61%.

Prices fell 0.33% during Q3 2014.

Source: Global Property Guide

Finland

Home prices in Finland fell 1.06% year-over-year, which was a slowdown from 2013's increase of 1.07%.

Prices fell 0.71% during Q3 2014.

Source: Global Property Guide

China - Beijing

Home prices in Beijing fell 2.40% year-over-year, which was a slowdown from 2013's increase of 17.74%.

Prices fell 3.06% during Q3 2014.

Source: Global Property Guide

The New Year is just around the corner, which means it's resolution season. 

To help you make the most of the change in calendar, we asked industry leaders and world-changing entrepreneurs, including Arianna Huffington and Mark Cuban, what they're resolved to do in 2015. 

'Shark Tank' investor Daymond John wants to hit the slopes more often.

"New Year's Day is when I like to reset my 10 goals. Let me think of a fun one..." he says. "I'd like to start to snowboard more. I'd like to try to start to do the half pipe."

Drybar founder Alli Webb hopes to spend more time with her children.

"The very first thing that popped into my head was to spend more time with my boys," says Webb. "My older son Grant is almost 10, my youngest, Kit, is 7 — the last few years have been so crazy busy for me, and I don't want to miss this magical time in my kids' lives when they still actually want to hang out with their mom!"

Cofounder and CEO of The Global Poverty Project Hugh Evans is committed to ending extreme poverty.

He says 2015 "is a pivotal year for the movement to end extreme poverty by 2030."

"My resolution is to use Global Citizen's unique mix of disruptive events, grassroots organizing, and digital campaigning to hold our world leaders accountable to create a world where clean water and toilets are taken for granted, where no one goes to bed hungry, children have access to immunizations, and no child is denied an education. I am committed to realizing this world without extreme poverty."

With the year winding down, it's time to look ahead. 

Ben Schachter from Macquarie Securities highlighted the top 10 internet things we should expect to see explode in 2015. 

Internet Of Things

Soon, nearly everything will connect to the internet. 

Schachter says we'll see a burst of connectedness in "virtually all areas of the economy," including home automation, transportation, and healthcare.

Big Data

Big data — a buzzy term that alludes to new tools that help companies analyze massive amounts of information — will continue to mature into a huge market.

Companies will continue increasing the use of data, Schachter writes. 

Wearables

Prepare to see even more fitness gadgets, health monitors, and smart glasses. 

Schachter says "we're just getting started." 

This was a tumultuous year. From revolution and war in Ukraine, Syria, and Israel to social unrest across the US and the Ebola outbreak in Africa, 2014 was anything but quiet. 

And, as the old adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

We compiled the most unforgettable images from the past 12 months, captured by photographers from around the world.

Beginning in November 2013, Ukrainians protested the government's decision to distance itself economically from Europe in a movement that became known as EuroMaidan. The protests exploded into violence and burning tires in January after anti-protest laws went into effect. Here, protesters took cover from water sprayed by a fire engine on Jan. 23.

The anti-protest laws banned "face concealments." Protesters, like this one, deliberately disobeyed the law by wearing gas masks.

The Tower of David in Caracas, Venezuela, is the tallest slum in the world. In February, Reuters photographer Jorge Silva went there to capture what life was actually like for those living there. Here, men rested after salvaging metal on the 30th floor.

This year has seen a ton of watershed moments, from Scotland's historic vote for independence to the moment humans landed a probe on a comet for the first time ever. 

In 2014, we also celebrated the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize recipient, poured buckets of ice water over our heads, watched Kim Kardashian try to break the internet, and saw Alex from Target became an online sensation.

Some of the news from 2014 was incredibly sobering. Ebola wreaked havoc in West Africa, Ferguson, Missouri became an epicenter for racial tension, Sony Pictures got hacked in what's been described as an act of cyber warfare by North Korea. 

See how many of 2014's biggest events you can spot in the infographic below. For a complete list, check out Beutler Ink's blog. 

Here are a few of our favorites:

A Polar Vortex blasted the nation with arctic air.

Thousands protested the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who were both black, unarmed, and killed by police officers. (Brown was shot, and Garner died after being put in a chokehold.)

Hackers backed by North Korea launched a cyberattack against Sony Pictures in retaliation for "The Interview," which portrayed the assassination of that country's dictator.

Gay marriage bans were struck down in a number of states, including South Carolina and Kansas. 

Scotland voted against becoming an independent nation. 

Malala Yousafzai became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner, Emma Watson gave a sensational UN speech on feminism. 

Ellen DeGeneres took the most popular selfie of all time.

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto denied being the creator of Bitcoin. 

And South Park character Randy Marsh revealed he is actually singer-songwriter Lorde.

SEE ALSO: 55 Amazing Moments From 2014

Join the conversation about this story »

Bill White, the chairman and CEO of consulting firm Constellations Group, has sold his renovated townhouse in Chelsea for an even $16.25 million, according to Curbed.

He originally bought the townhouse with his husband Bryan Eure, senior vice president for business development at brokerage firm Willis and Global, for $4.6 million back in 2012.

Barring renovation costs, that means they made roughly $11.65 million in just three years.

According to an Instagram post from estate agent Fredrik Eklund (who shared the listing with colleague John Gomes), the townhouse was visited by Barack Obama, Jennifer Lopez, and Mark Wahlberg.

An anonymous LLC known as DRGB Y Asociados bought the home, according to property records.

The townhouse has six floors and four bedrooms, and comes with 6,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Douglas Elliman had the listing.

Originally built in 1840, this townhouse in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood went under a multi-million dollar construction.

The house sold for $16 million after the owners bought it for $4.6 million back in 2012.

The townhouse has six floors in total, as well as 5,000 square feet of space.

Swedish video game programmer Markus Persson, best known as the creator of Minecraft, is the proud new owner of an incredible home in Beverly Hills.

According to Curbed LA, Persson purchased the 23,000-square-foot mansion for a jaw-dropping $70 million. That price may seem steep, but it's a full $15 million less than the original $85 million asking price.

Beyonce and Jay Z had previously been interested in buying the home, and the couple had reportedly visited the property six times.

Persson's $70 million purchase was a record for Beverly Hills.

"Marcus fell in love with the house, its sleek contemporary design and its spectacular panoramic views that sweep from downtown LA to the Pacific Ocean," Katia De Los Reyes, who represented Persson, told Curbed. "The fact that the house also was completely furnished in such great style was another major selling point for him."

The over-the-top house was listed by Ben Bacal Realty as well as Branden Williams and Rayni Romito Williams of Williams & Williams.

With a 16-car garage, home gym, and giant infinity pool, this home must be seen to be believed.

Welcome to 1181 North Hillcrest. The home was listed in September for $85 million.

It's located in the elite Beverly Hills neighborhood of Trousdale Estates.

The home received a complete overhaul after being purchased back in 2012. The new design is stunning.

When people ask Elon Musk how he learned to build rockets, he has a simple answer.

"I read books,"he reportedly likes to say. 

Musk — who was smart enough to get into a physics Ph.D. program at Stanford University and then drop out because it didn't seem that relevant to him — has always been hungry for the written word.

In its profile of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, the New Yorker observed that he was picked on a lot during his South African childhood, and he would retreat into fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien) and science fiction (Isaac Asimov) to cope. 

As we'll see in the following slides, books have always been important to Musk: inspiring him as a child, giving him heroes as a young adult, and helping him to learn rocket science while launching SpaceX. 

"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Musk had a nickname when he was a shrimpy, smart-mouthed kid growing up in South Africa: Muskrat.

The New Yorker reports that "in his loneliness, he read a lot of fantasy and science fiction." 

Those books — notably "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien — shaped his vision for his future self. 

"The heroes of the books I read always felt a duty to save the world,"he told The New Yorker. 

Buy it here >>

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

Musk says he had an "existential crisis" when he was between the ages of 12 and 15, burrowing into Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, and other moody philosophers to find the meaning of life. 

It didn't help.

Then he came upon "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a comic interstellar romp by Douglas Adams. In the book a supercomputer finds the "answer" to a meaningful life is the number 42 — but the question was never figured out. 

This was instructive to a young Musk.

"If you can properly phrase the question, then the answer is the easy part,"Musk said in an interview. "So, to the degree that we can better understand the universe, then we can better know what questions to ask." 

Buy it here >>

"Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" by Walter Isaacson

Musk has said that Ben Franklin is one of his heroes.

In Franklin's biography, "you can see how [Franklin] was an entrepreneur,"Musk says in an interview with Foundation. "He was an entrepreneur. He started from nothing. He was just a runaway kid."

Something about that is similar to Musk's story — growing up in Pretoria, South Africa, going to school in Canada, transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, then using a Stanford University Ph.D. to land in Silicon Valley. 

Musk's review: "Franklin's pretty awesome," he says. 

Buy it here >>

For some tech companies, treating your employees to a splashy holiday party is well worth the expense. 

And this year, companies like Facebook, Dropbox, and BuzzFeed really went all out, throwing lavish shindigs with circus performers, champagne dresses, and live concerts from famous musicians. 

We can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Yahoo celebrated with a "Wizard of Oz"-themed bash at Pier 48 in San Francisco.

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CEO Marissa Mayer was there to take pictures with everyone.

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Singer Janelle Monae put on an energetic performance that had everyone dancing.

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Apple products have always been known for their quality design and attention to detail.

Many of these details go unnoticed by the average Apple user, or are only useful to a relative handful of people using the product.

Some features are handy while others are purely cosmetic, but Apple included them anyway.

Here are the best of these little design flourishes.

A smart fan that listens:

When engaging the voice dictation feature on new Mac laptops, Apple automatically slows the internal fan speed to better hear your voice.

Source: (Reddit, Johnbonbobon)

A "breathing" sleep light:

Apple has a patent dating back to 2002 for a "Breathing Status LED Indicator." The patent describes a "blinking effect of the sleep-mode indicator [that] mimics the rhythm of breathing which is psychologically appealing."

Source: (FloodMagazine, Via: Nua-667)

Smart caps:

On every MacBook Air (and all newer MacBook Pros), if you hit the "Caps Lock" key, nothing will happen. In order to prevent accidental keystrokes, Apple only turns on Caps Lock if you hold the key for a bit longer.

Source: (Reddit, dakboy)

We've shown you how to get perfect skin, but a big part of that is shaving properly.

And unless your father was a barber, you probably don't know the proper way to shave — or worse, you use an electric shaver.

Here's the right way to do it, which ensures perfect skin every time:

First, make sure you wash your face before you start shaving. This will stop any bacteria lying dormant on your face from getting into any of your skin's pores that will open during the shaving process, which would cause irritation or acne.

Then, splash you face with warm water. This will open up your pores, make your beard hairs softer, and makes it easier for your razor to make contact with your skin. 

Apply your normal shaving cream. Then, shave only with the grain of your beard (the direction your hair is growing). Use short strokes and don't go over any areas more than once.

Apply only a little pressure as you shave, letting the sharpness of the razor do most of the work for you. This will minimize your chances of ingrown hairs and reduce irritation.

Rinse your razor often. After you're done, make sure you rinse your face with cold water to close your pores.

When it comes to razors, skip those multi-bladed razor offerings. Any razor with more than one or two blades will only end up irritating your face.

After you're done shaving, apply a soothing aftershave balm, like Dove Men's Hydrate Post Shave Balm. It's important to note, however, that many things called "aftershave" are frequently alcohol-based, which will dry out skin. You want something that will moisturize and protect, or that contains aloe vera if you commonly get razor burn. 

It's that simple. 

SEE ALSO: 15 Things Every Modern Gentleman Should Have In His Bathroom

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Every man needs a time piece, but it's not always the right time to drop a few thousand dollars for one. 

With that in mind, Business Insider put together a list of some of the best watches on the market at every price point. That means there's one in here for your kid brother graduating from high school, your cousin who just had a baby, and the man who has everything but could use a little something more.

There's even an option for those who don't want to buy. Our friends over at Eleven James — a kind of Rent-the-Runway for your wrist — helped us out with this story. Their model, and the very the idea that you don't have to commit to a piece for the rest of your life, is catching on even among the most passionate watch collectors.

"Gift giving is always fraught with uncertainty, and buying something as personal as watch for your special someone is even more fraught, thanks to all the different brands, styles and price points on the market today," said Adam Craniotes, a lifelong watch collector and contributing writer for numerous publications. "This is where a company like Eleven James shines, since it allows the client to 'test drive' a variety of watches, with the only criteria being that they're happy with what's on their wrist. Even for seasoned collectors, the gift of an Eleven James membership would be a welcome sight under the tree come Christmas morning."

So consider that. They carry serious brands like A. Lange & Sohne, Panerai, Patek Philippe and more.

You can also consider going vintage. It's more work, but it will make you look like a true aficionado. That said, you'll need to be careful. Make sure whatever you buy has as many of its original parts in tact as possible — the face and the dial especially.

"The dream watch for a vintage watch collector is a watch that has never been serviced or messed with at all," Benjamin Clymer, founder of watch publication Hodinkee, told us this spring.

Under $300 — We especially like Seiko. Also check out Daniel Wellington and ESQ.

Seiko Men's "Solar Drive"

Price: $175

Under $500 — Bulova has some elegant options in this price range that look high end.

Bulova Men's 96B175 "Precisionist" Stainless Steel Watch

Price:$470.60

You can start going vintage at the under $500 price point. Consider picking up an Omega on eBay, but remember to ask about its parts.

Vintage Omega Seamaster

Price:$385

Last June, freelance journalist Esther Honig asked artists from 19 countries around the world to Photoshop her face to make her “beautiful.”

Shortly afterwards, her close college friend Priscilla Yuki Wilson released her own experiment on biracial beauty.

Inspired by the efforts of these two women, Marie Southard Ospina decided to do a similar test — but with a "plus-sized twist."

Ospina, an associate fashion and beauty editor for Bustle, wanted to replicate the experiment with a focus on the relationship between weight and beauty. 

"I was fascinated by the way that editors altered her [Esther Honig's] actual bone structure and frame, especially considering she is quite a slender woman," Ospina told Business Insider.  "I was curious to see how editors around the world would 'fix' a photo of me, what with my having characteristics so often deemed as 'flaws' — like a double chin and a chubby face."

Growing up in the Western world has made her very aware of how her size is seen as a negative. "Stereotypes include, but are not limited to: laziness, selfishness, stupidity, naiveté and even a lower socioeconomic class,"she explained in Bustle.

Ospina set out to challenge the notion that "thin is the only beautiful," and sent her picture to 21 Photoshop experts around the world. While the results of Ospina’s experiment are drastically different from Honig and Wilson’s, the images are just as fascinating. 

Scroll down to see how Photoshop experts from different countries perceive beauty. 

Here is Ospina's original image:

India

Latvia

Italy

Mexico

Macedonia

Ukraine

United States

Pakistan

The results of the experiment shocked her. When Ospina received the images from the different countries, she noticed that only three had made her look visibly thinner (Ukraine, Mexico, and Latvia).

Ospina says that she was extremely positive about the results, since many editors were “in favor of preserving natural beauty.” She even reached out to three different Photoshop experts in Iceland, and all of them refused  to Photoshop her — citing reasons such as, “I don’t believe in re-touching a person’s natural beauty." 

"The project was more a mission in body confidence — to try to shed light on the fact that beauty is such a hard word to define, and that perhaps we shouldn't try to," Ospina told Business Insider.

"The fact that people have responded so positively to it makes me feel like we're ready for a variety of imagery in our media. Like we're ready to see size diversity celebrated in the day-to-day." 

The editors were of varying skills and were each paid $5-$30 for the Photoshop work. To read more about Ospina’s Photoshop experiment, click here. 

SEE ALSO: A Biracial Woman Asked Designers Around The World To Make Her 'Beautiful' Using Photoshop

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