At this time of year, many beauty retailers are focused on enticing consumers with festive gift sets: sumptuous samplers with a selection of bottles, jars and tubes, packed in cases that are often glittery, golden or shiny.   This holiday season, however, stores and brands have an additional and growing concern: the vast environmental footprint that these indulgent kits inevitably occupy.   Some companies have improved their packaging’s ecological stamp by, for example, opting for ink made from soy instead of petroleum.   But creating appeal that also is environmentally responsible can be a challenge, and there is little room for error in this vital season, which last year generated almost $6 billion in sales of prestige beauty products in the United States alone, according to the NPD Group, a market research organization. The fourth quarter is especially crucial for prestige fragrances, constituting almost 45 percent of annual sales. “The biggest tension is the tension between what drives sales in this industry and what is good for the environment,” said Tom Szaky, chief executive of TerraCycle, a recycling company that says it works with hundreds of brands in 21 countries. “Many times, those are not copacetic.”         Some brands have designed Holiday 2019 packaging that is comparatively earth-friendly but that still looks and feels indulgent.   L’Occitane en Provence, for example, quietly made most of its seasonal sets with corrugated cardboard, a move that saved 22 tons of paper in comparison with the more solid version sold last year, according to Corinne Fugier-Garrel, the brand’s director of packaging conception development.   The external size of some sets is smaller than last year’s versions, although they still hold a similar selection of similarly sized products — which saved nine more tons of paper, she said. And gold detailing, which can make recycling impossible, was laminated with a thin layer of aluminum to allow recycling.   Like many brands, L’Occitane has had success over the last few years with its beauty Advent calendar, the traditional German countdown to Christmas adapted to hide small products behind dated doors.   The complex structure of most beauty brands’ calendars and the packaging of their contents typically are not very environmentally sound. This year L’Occitane made the interior compartments of one of its two Advents ($64) from recycled PET — or polyethylene terephthalate; the sections of the more lavish version ($99) are made of recycled paper. Both materials are recyclable.   ASOS, the British online retailer, has changed the environmental footprint of its men’s and women’s Advent calendars, which are stocked with items from multiple beauty brands. This year the products come in compostable paper boxes, printed with soy ink in spunky patterns like animal prints and polka dots, and arranged in a sturdy, sustainably sourced cork box. That box is recyclable, but it has a nonholiday feel well suited for storing things year-round.       Kiehl’s, the American heritage line now owned by L’Oréal, also produced an Advent calendar exclusively for Selfridges that seems destined for reuse: a heavy, long piece of organic cotton with 12 pocket-like compartments that might in the future hold socks rather than minis of the company’s Ultra Facial Cream and Amino Acid Shampoo. (The large bag it comes in, however, is intended for disposal: It is made of a mix of recycled paper and wild flower seeds that can be planted in soil.) Priced at 125 pounds ($161), the store’s initial stock briskly sold out. The brand is also offering a conventional Advent ($90) with wider distribution; its paper can be recycled.   Liberty London’s multibrand Advent calendar looks more traditional, printed with a version of the brand’s William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern.   This year’s iteration of the popular item — 15 percent of the stock, each one priced at £215, was sold in the first five minutes it became available — is fully recyclable, with internal drawers made of recycled cardboard, except for a magnet closure that can be snipped off.   Still, exterior packaging is only one element of gift sets. In multibrand samplers, only some of the lotions, creams and makeup items use environmentally minded ingredients.   And then there are the sample-size bottles and tubes that are a mainstay of holiday beauty sets. Although many brands claim that even their smallest containers are recyclable — and, strictly speaking, some are — Mr. Szaky says containers smaller than the average stick of deodorant are typically passed over by recyclers as less profitable to process.       “Many times, companies are communicating technical recyclability versus practical recyclability,” Mr. Szaky said.   “I don’t think it’s mal intent,” he added. “People aren’t trying to lie to you — they just don’t know the facts, and that could create false statements without the malice.”   Additionally, commonplace components in beauty packaging — like black plastic and colored glass — generally cannot be recycled, Mr. Szaky said.   Even well-intentioned retailers can find it a challenge to compile environmentally responsible brands for holiday beauty kits.   “Where we can, we always will try to be as sustainable as possible,” said Emily Bell, who oversees beauty buying at Liberty London. “However, some of the brands that are in there aren’t quite there yet in terms of being able to say that they’re 100 percent recyclable.”   Some of this season’s sets have a less flashy look than might be expected for the holidays. Three multibrand gift sets from Credo Beauty, which calls itself “the largest clean beauty store on the planet,” are packaged in a muted pastel box that is more restrained than jolly. And Floral Street, a London-based fragrance line, is offering 10-milliliter bottles of its scents in a gem-shaped paper package that resembles a tree ornament; it is colorful, but without the shine and brightness of conventional coated paper and petroleum-based ink.     “People will get used to that,” said Michelle Feeney, Floral Street’s founder. “The new generation now, for them trendy is thrift shopping and mixing it with something else. I’m feeling like there’s a whole generation that doesn’t want the shininess. I think brands will be forced to change by the consumer if they don’t try to lead the way themselves.”   Shoppers’ tendencies, are, of course, in part driving these shifts. “There’s definitely interest in the ingredients, in the products themselves being green, and along with that comes the concept of sustainability,” said Lauren Goodsitt, global beauty analyst at Mintel, a London-based marketing research company.   Ms. Goodsitt predicted that, although sustainable goods can cost more to make, more brands will offer them over the next five to 10 years.   “It’s a real commitment,” she said. “When you’re going to make that move for recyclable materials, if you’re switching out the types of plastics that you’re using, it’s definitely an investment for the brands. As consumers start to demand that this change is made, I think that we’ll see more and more brands making that shift.”