The holidays can be stressful especially when you have a ton of parties to go to. You start running out of things to wear and ways to style your hair, and the rum and eggnog starts to catch up with your waistline.
While I can’t help you with your copious rum intake, I can help you with your holiday look.
Celebrity makeup artist Derrick Rutledge knows how to make a woman look good. In the video below he shows you two holiday looks: the clean eye and bold lips look, and the dark eye and nude lips look.
Looks easy enough to do, right? Here’s what you’ll need.
Luscious lips
For the dark lip look you’ll need a strong foundation and concealer. I recently purchased Maybelline’s Super Stay 24 hour concealer and I really like it. I put on a thick layer then blend it in, but it doesn’t look caked on. The best part is it costs less than $10. For my skin I always use compact foundation. If you haven’t tried it, you should. You’ll never go back to liquid foundation again! Try Clinique’s City Base compact foundation with SPF 15.
After you apply your foundation and concealer, put on some mascara. The Body Shop’s Big & Curvy mascara gives lots of volume without the clump.
Next, carefully fill in your eyebrows. I suggest Rimmel London’s eye brow pencils because they aren’t too creamy and create a more natural look.
Next, top off your look with dark lipstick. Rutledge used a brown red but you can use any dark colours like purple, brown or dark pink. I suggest Make Up For Ever lipstick in red brick. You can find it at Sephora.
Epic eyes
For this look you will need a nice eye shadow palette in order to create a multi-dimensional smoky eye. Sephora carries Tarte’s Call of the Wild Amazonian Clay palette that is perfect for the holidays. The blues, mauves and browns will create a really festive look.
Next you need nude lips. For years I have been using Mac’s lipstick in Myth. It’s a great shade – not too pink and not too pale. I also use a nude Mac Pro long wear lip pencil. When applying the pencil be very careful and trace your natural lip line. And I know Rutledge said to use a lip liner that is the same colour as your lipstick but I use nude lip liner for everything. I find it looks better and prevents dark lip stick from bleeding. Just don’t tell Rutledge about my makeup faux pas.
My beauty staples
In addition to the basics, I always make sure I have these staples in my makeup bag.
Smashbox’s contour kit is perfect for us non-pros. It comes with a brush and a guide on what to highlight and shade. I don’t contour every day, but it’s nice having the option of vamping up my look for special occasions.
I also use Mac’s Mineralize Skinfinish powder. It’s light but gives full matte coverage. I always have it in my purse.
And as I mentioned before, I use compact foundation. I apply it with an Ecotools bamboo foundation brush that I got at Walmart for less than $10. Again, you’ll never go back to liquid foundation.
Happy holiday partying!
