BEAUTY: Holiday Party Makeup Essentials

Breakout the red lipstick and glitter, it’s holiday party season! Meet my 2015 lineup of legendary holiday party makeup essentials, safe for sipping on champagne and stealing a kiss or two beneath the mistletoe!

Hi there you gorgeous dreamer, I hope you’re feeling in a festive mood! If you follow me on SnapChat (dreaminlace), you may have noticed that I’ve gone absolutely wild with the Christmas spirit this year. I’ve gone and turned into a walking, talking Christmas freak. From that very first cup of coffee every morning in my happy Santa mug, to belting out Christmas carols at full volume on my way to work – I am definitely feeling the spirit this year and am joyously trying to spread Christmas cheer to everyone I can. And yes, I did start decorating first thing on November 1. #NoShame

Of course, with the holidays come holiday parties and today I wanted to share with your my go-to holiday makeup essentials that have been decorating my lips and fingertips with red and sparkle. After all, you can truly never have enough red or sparkle at this time of year! The main focus of my holiday makeup look this year is “glow”. Ditching blush, I have been focusing on highlighter and a radiant foundation. It’s a makeup look that’s gorgeous for a holiday party, but also has cheered me up on a day-to-day basis. Yes, my makeup has the Christmas spirit too!

To kick of this list of holiday makeup essentials, I want to introduce you to this gorgeous Borghese eyeshadow palette that blew my socks off when I received it in the mail.

Isn’t it GORGEOUS? One night, I arrived home from work and found that Borghese had delivered Christmas on my doorstep. I literally squealed with excitement and have been glued to this palette ever since. I do have a full review coming up, but I would be remiss if I didn’t include it in my holiday makeup essentials this year, because it is absolutely my palette of the season!

The Borghese Eclissare ‘Shadow and Light’ palette is an actual dream to work with, especially for the holidays. I’ve been really enjoying working with the golden neutrals all over my lid, and smudging a darker shadow in my outer corners or along the lash line. Borghese eye shadow are supremely pigmented and blend with ease, making it pretty darn hard for any of my other palettes to compete at the moment.

On my lashes, I’ve been really loving that fluttery doll-like look and Too Faced‘s Better Than Sex masacara is the ultimate at achieving that look. One coat easily does the job, but if you’re feeling extra adventurous – go back for two!

To finish off my eyes, I’ve been loving Marc Jacobs Black Highliner pen on my lower waterline. It’s honestly the only eyeliner that will last on my waterline more than just a half and hour. It’s a gel, and once set it really holds. I know I’ve ragged on about these eyeliner pencils quite a bit before, but trust me – they’re still the best. The BEST!

Quite honestly, when it comes to red lips – MAC’s Russian Red lipstick on its own is my usual route. It’s such an amazing lipstick, that I find it’s not an absolute necessity that I line my lips when wearing it and it has such a great lasting finish, that you can sip sip away on Champagne at a party or coffee at your desk at ease.

To up the ante though, I have been using the NYX Cosmetics lip liner in ‘Hot Cherry’. It’s a pretty close match to the color and is quite the bargain. In fact, in 2016 one of my beauty goals is to explore the brand NYX more, because based off everything I’ve tried – I love them. If you have any favorites you think I should try, definitely let me know.

For a true holiday party makeup look, you can top Russian Red with this sparkling Eclissare lip gloss from Borghese. As if the gorgeous eyeshadow palette above wasn’t a kind enough gift, they also shared with me a couple of their divine sparkling lip glosses!

Major apologies for including a limited edition set of nail polishes, but these two are just too good and I didn’t want to fib and name something else as my favorite right now.

Truly, the Sephora by OPI nail polishes are phenomenal and if there’s a petition going round for them to release more, please let me sign it! The formula is so smooth, and I honestly prefer it to both OPI polishes and Sephora polishes. It’s the best of all worlds! If you’re quick, I did find the red ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ polish on eBay and the glittery ‘Pot of Gold’ shade on Amazon. Guarantee, you’ll love!

My current foundation obsession is absolutely Dior‘s Star Studio Foundation! Back in July, I raved on about this in a full review (here) – and yes, the love is even stronger today. When I sit down at my vanity each morning, I intend to reach for something else. But, somehow my hand always finds its way to the Star foundation. The way it effortlessly blends and gives my skin such a radiant, healthy glow is simply addictive. Also encouraging are all the compliments I still get when wearing this foundation. For holiday season, I honestly can’t think of a more perfect foundation than one that gives that warm, lit from within glow.

Another little friend I know I’ve mentioned before is Estee Lauder‘s BB Double Wear Highlighting pen. Leave it to Estee Lauder to hook me on this golden wonder, which is every bit as good as the YSL counterpart – if not better. With a couple clicks, I build this up on my under eye area and run it down the center of my nose. I’m definitely not a ‘contour’ extraordinaire, but somehow Estee Lauder gives me the skills.

And like I said – in loo of blush I’ve been turning just to bronzer and highlight. My favorite bronzer of all time (clearly, just look at it) is Laura Mercier‘s Dune Bronze. I would say it’s definitely more a ‘bronzer’ than a contour shade, but it warms up your complexion beautifully – without looking artificial. Atop my cheek bones, MAC‘s iconic Soft and Gentle skinfinish has been a rediscovered dream come true this season.

If you’re looking for that perfect, festive holiday glow I don’t think you could outdo the dream team of Dior’s foundation, Estee Lauder’s BB pen and MAC’s Soft & Gentle. They’re like the dream team to end all dream teams. You know when you’re struck by your own complexion and can’t stop staring at your makeup? Well, these three will definitely deliver those kind of results!

And that’s it. Those in a very happy nutshell are my holiday makeup essentials this year. If I had to dub ‘holy grail’ products, I’d strongly say everything featured here fits the bill!

Please let me know what items you are loving this holiday season – and if you want to have some fun, send me pictures of your favorite holiday makeup looks! I’m on Twitter and Instagram and would love to see what you come up with!

My Holiday Makeup Essentials
Borghese Eclissare ‘Shadow and Light’ Palette (here)
Too Faced Better than Sex Mascara (here)
Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Eyeliner in Blacquer (here)
MAC Cosmetics ‘Russian Red’ Lipstick
NYX Cosmetics Slim Lip Liner in ‘Hot Cherry’ (here)
Borghese Eclissare Lip Gloss in ‘Simmer’
Sephora by OPI in ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ (here)
Sephora by OPI ‘Pot of Gold’ (here)
Dior Studio Star Foundation (here)
Estee Lauder Double Wear ‘Brush on Glow’ BB Pen (here)
Laura Mercier Bronzer in ‘Dune Bronze’
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish ‘Soft & Gentle’ (here)

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