The holiday party season is in full swing, with one weekend of soirees until Christmas and only 2 weeks until New Years Eve. With so many events to look gorgeous for, what’s a girl to do? Using these holiday beauty tricks, you’ll be able to adapt your party look (and look alive at work) with ease.
Get the Look
This holiday beauty look is easily adapted to any outfit and occasion. It starts with glowing skin and gets a boost from mink lashes and a punch of colour on the lips. Using mostly cream formulas, it’s natural and easy to dupe. Here’s how:
- Prep skin: wash and gently exfoliate. Apply face cream (like Benefit’s Total Moisture Facial Cream) and eye cream (I love Fresh Lotus Eye Gel). Let it sink in.
- Prime: If your skin tends to get oily or your makeup slides off, apply a primer like cult-classic Smashbox Photo Finish Primer all over. To keep your eye makeup going strong all night long, prime your eyes with Stila Prime Pot, a natural base.
- Define your eyes: Keep it simple by doing a wash from lashline to brow bone of a shimmery neutral, like Smashbox Photo Op Eye Shadow in Champagne and making an inverted V shape along your crease and lashline with a darker shade of your choice. (I used Smashbox Photo Op Eye Shadow in Emerald to match my green dress.)
- Line your upper lash line: Use a waterproof liquid liner, like Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner to carefully line your eyes with a light upward cat-eye tick.
- Even & conceal: Using an airbrush effect makeup brush, like Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush, apply a layer of sheer, buildable foundation (I used Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup) and blend. Build coverage where needed. Under your eyes and on any blemishes, apply a brightening concealer – my go-to is Benefit’s Erase Paste.
- Glow: give yourself a natural glow that will photograph beautifully using Benefit Girl Meets Pearl, a pearlescent liquid luminizer. Apply along the apples of your cheeks and orbital bones and sweep up to where your eyebrows end, making sure to blend well. Cover the apples of your cheeks for extra glow – I did!
- Blush: Rub a cream blush, like NARS The Multiple in Maui, on the apples of your cheek and blend upwards towards your temples using the Urban Decay Good Karma brush. You’ll have a natural but glowing, luminous look thanks to the cream blush + luminizer combo.
- Bat your eyes: Squeeze a line of lash glue (like DUO) onto your hand and let it get a bit tacky. Grasp your lashes – I love Velour Mink Lashes in Strike a Pose – with a pair of tweezers and drag them through the glue. Allow the glue to rest on the lashes for 10 seconds then look downwards into a hand mirror and apply the lashes right along your natural lashline. Apply a thickening, black mascara like Benefit BadGal Lash to your lower lashes only.
- Pucker up: Using a lipstick of your choice – I wore NARS Satin Lipstick in Niagara, a natural pink – apply a layer with a lip brush and blot with a tissue. Apply up to two more layers in this sequence for maximum staying power.
That’s it! You’re done! This whole look should take you less than 15 minutes to complete, getting you out the door and to the party in record time. For me, that meant a very, very happy boyfriend.
