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Friday 9 December 2011

Christmas Party Makeup!

Tis the season to go all out with your makeup!

I LOVE Christmas, for so many reasons, and from a makeup point of view it's one of the best times to try new looks, to go for full-on glamour and, best of all, wear glitter!!!
I'm not a fan of the red and green look though, green eyes and red lips - that's ok for the Christmas tree but I personally think that it's a bit old-fashioned and not very complimentary, I most definitely cannot pull it off (and I'm not afraid to try!). However, I do love rich green smokey eyes, and my advice would be to compliment them with soft, peachy cheeks and lips.
J.Lo Does it beautifully!
                                                                                          Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes

The key thing with this look is a good eyeshadow base. Preferably this base would be a very similar colour to the eyeshadow used, as this will add intensity and dimension, but this is not essential. If you don't have a base the same colour, you can just use your usual eye primer or base, as long as it has little or no colour, then gradually build up the colour by patting the eyeshadow on with a flat, synthetic brush if you have it - it also may be a good idea to apply your foundation afterwards in case of fall-down, but by patting the colour on this shouldn't be a huge problem.
I also recommend applying a lighter colour to the inner corners of the eyes to brighten them as this is quite a dark and intense colour. This can be a shimmery white with silver or gold undertones, or even a shimmery gold would be stunning! This look needs lots of eyeliner and mascara to balance it, and if you're comfortable applying and wearing false lashes, go for it! Another point is, you can use these tips to apply any intense colour such as purple, navy or even bronze/gold.

A hugely popular look this season is the cat-eye flicked eyeliner, and I think this look can be built up and worn very intensely on the eyes with the rest of the face being kept subtle, or keep the eyeliner quite minimal and neat and wear it with red lips!
Bobbi Brown, Mac and Clinique are just some of the brands who do brilliant gel or cream eyeliner pots - you can use an angled or a small pointed eyeliner brush to apply it. If you're not too confident applying eyeliner this way, I'd recommend using an angled brush to start out and maybe use a black eyeshadow first to plot out where you're going to apply the gel eyeliner. To get the angle right, look down into a mirror or tilt your head back so your eyelids are lowered (because your eyes are looking down) and starting at the outer corner of the eye, follow the angle of your lower lashline and direct it towards the end of your eyebrow. Practice makes perfect and remember, it's only makeup and it can be fixed!

For the red lips, I advise applying a lip primer or balm first, even a few minutes before you start your makeup to give it a chance to sink into the lips. Lipliner is a must for red lips, use it to line the lips and define their shape - it can be applied slightly outside the natural lipline to make them look fuller as darker colours can make the lips look smaller - and then fill in the lips with the lipline; this acts like a stain so when your lipstick wears off, it won't be nearly as noticeable. Apply your lipstick and follow with a gloss if you like, or for an alternative twist on the look, after applying your red lipliner, apply a darker red/burgundy lipliner in the corners of the lips and all the way around to give a 3D effect, and fill in the centre of the lips with a matte/cream lipstick to give a velvety effect. Keep the cheeks sculpted with a matte bronzer or shader and add very little colour, maybe just a tiny hint of pink on the very apples of the cheeks. Highlight the cheek and brow bones and even down the nose and above the upper lip if you like, but don't go too mad if lots of photos will be taken! If you're feeling really brave, you could even add some glitter to your eyelids for extra sparkle and glamour - Barry M do an amazing white Dazzle Dust with gold undertones and it's such good value!


So, with all that in mind, remember to try new things but be comfortable, if it's way out of your comfort zone then don't wear it, it could ruin your night! Keep it balanced, make sure your skin is flawless and add a little contouring to make sure you look your best (if you're not sure about contouring, check out Pixiwoo's tutorials on youtube, they're so informative and easy to follow). Be happy with how you look and make sure your best features stand out and you can't go wrong!

Enjoy everyone, and thanks for reading!

Suzie












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