Anyone else in a state of total terror that there are less than two weeks until Christmas? I haven’t bought a present for anyone (unless you count the Topshop party ensemble I treated myself to the other week) and with no free days or nights in the iCal until then I’m panicking a bit. But this panic is not enough to distract from channeling some serious energy into honing my party makeup, hell no! Getting a little more experimental with my beauty looks of late has reminded me of something I realised as a teenager, with results glittery and gaudy enough to make Cher reach for the face wipes. Namely that makeup is FUN! This look for instance, worked perfectly to add an edge to my Maje day to night look and instantly transformed me, at least in my mind, from eye-bagged, post flight knackered to party ready vamp and put me in a thoroughly joyous mood. Whether you’re a makeup master (in which case you probably want to click away before my ineptitude makes you scream at the screen) or more of a “slap it on and hope for the best” type, the whole thing can be thoroughly enjoyable. With party season in full swing and set to power through to 2015 I thought that now would be the perfect moment to have a go at a smouldering soiree look. And what could be better for this than YSL Beauty’s Wildly Gold Christmas palette!?
YSL Beauty Wildly Gold Christmas Makeup Palette, £62, click here to buy
YSL Touche Eclat Collector Wild Edition, £25.83, click here to buy
As you can see, it comes in an awesome box complete with rich leopard print and a snazzy tassle. I know this doesn’t actually affect the quality or colour of the makeup inside but who doesn’t love things in pretty packages? Inside said pretty package are eye shadows in dazzling black, iridescent bronze, shimmering gold and cool silver alongside a delicate pink blush and lip colour duo which I didn’t use because I didn’t really know how to apply them. So let’s do…
Step 1. Blush
I won’t patronize you guys by saying too much about step 1. Basically get a nice clean base going on, use the touche eclat to hide any dark circles and blemishes and then wack on some blush. I usually smile at myself in the mirror like a fool while doing this and apply to the apples of my cheeks.
Step 2. Silver
I don’t actually own any proper brushes for eyeshadow (rubbish, right?) so always just use the applicator that comes with it but provided you clean it in between shades this doesn’t seem to be a huge issue. Starting with the palest shade, silver, I pretty much just apply this all over the eyelid and up towards the eyebrow, particularly concentrating on the inside corner of the eye and forehead bone (not the technical term but you know what I mean).
Step 3. Gold
Not so different to step 1 except this time I avoided the inner corner of the eye and anything above the eyelid crease, no want wants to end up looking like a drag queen.
Step 4. Bronze
This is where things get a little trickier. Or at least, where I started to find things a little trickier. The bronze is really quite a bold bronze with the potential to make you look like you’ve been punched if applied too appallingly. I basically put a restrained amount on the spongey brush thing (technical term, obvs) and swept it carefully from the center of the eyelid outwards and then into the eyelid crease, building up so it reached towards the bone. Then blend. Blend, blend, blend. The good thing about this is that you can be slightly messy and then rub it all together for that smoky finish.
Step 5. Black
Hands down, hardest bit of the look. Take a very minimal amount of the black shadow and start by making a small triangle in the outer corner of your eye, then build this into a cat eye flick. You can make the flick as big as you want but I’d recommend doing this in small stages as if you have to make any dramatic fixes it will probably entail starting the whole thing again from scratch. I try to make it so the end of the flick reaches where the bronze shadow stops, so that almost sweeps up from the black flick. If that makes any sense?
Step 6. Finishing touches
Dior Pandore Nail Laquer, £18.50, click here to buy & Dior Victoire Nail Lacquer, £18.50, click here to buy
MAC Russian Red Lipstick, £10.08, click here to buy
And now for the finishing touches! I added black liquid eyeliner along the upper lid, my current fave is Chanel and eye pencil along the lower (also Chanel at the moment & available here) and then tons and tons of MAC false lash waterproof mascara. Then MAC Russian Red lipstick and Dior Pandore nail laquer.
Party ready! See the full look, with clothes n’ all here. Will you be trying it yourself?
Love Ella. X
Images by Holly McGlynn
