Christmas is a family holiday, a time to warm up your soul, so better leave the shiny glittery look for New Year’s Eve. You don’t want to look gaudy and ostentatious, do you? So aim for something grown-up and classy the 1940’s and 1950’s Hollywood style is the right way to go when choosing your Christmas makeup.

Whether you are ready or not, the holiday season is just around the corner. Even if you already have your Thanksgiving dinner planned and your Christmas shopping done, there are still a few things to think about. For instance, you will most likely be attending numerous social gatherings this holiday season. If you would like to work on spicing up your look this Christmas, rest assured that there are many ways to do so. Following is a guide to holiday makeup techniques.

Best Christmas Makeup Tips:

Nails:

Why follow hot trends and choose dark-colored nail polishes? Brown and dark-blue colors are in this season, but they may accentuate imperfections on your hands wrinkles, pigment spots and protruding veins.

Try pink, translucent or beige colors. Don’t forget dry cuticles make your hands look older. Rub your hands with special oils and drink more green tea. It’s healthy for your body and for your hands.

Lips:

There are no alternatives to lipstick this season. What you need is to choose the right color. Don’t try to pick the lipstick exactly matching the color of your Christmas dress. It’s boring and out of fashion.

Try different colors on your lips. It’s important that your lipstick matches the color of your skin, hair and eyelids makeup. Right lipstick should make you look younger and fresher. Shades of red and violet tones are at the top of this winter’s trend.

Complexion:

It is a mistake to think that oily shine would add more beauty to your image. Don’t use your powder very often trying to make your skin look matte. You’ll get a lifeless mask instead.

Use oil absorbing tissues instead. Doing your makeup, apply T-zone cosmetics and then use a long-lasting foundation cream with matte effect. The foundation will prevent oily shine in the midst of the party. By the way, for better effect you can mix the foundation with matte fluid in 2:1 proportion.

Eyelid Makeup:

Don’t get disappointed if you can’t use liquid eye liners. This winter, liquid eye liner precision is replaced by careless eye pencil lines.

It would be smart to follow Aaron de Mey’s, creative director at Lancome, advice who recommends the following eye makeup. Draw the line along the eye lashes with a pencil liner and smudge for creating smoky eyes effect. Then, use a brush or your finger to draw the line further to your temples. Apply golden eye shadows around inner and outer corners of the eyes.

Sparkles:

It’s crucial to know where enough is enough. Don’t overuse sparkles. Accentuate protruding parts of face and body. Make sure you add “gilt” to your shoulders and collarbones. If you have matte skin tone, golden sparkles will look great on your eyelids, cheekbones, back of the nose and the tip of the chin.

Peter Philips, creative director at Chanel, came up with this trick to present Alexander McQueen collections. It looked brilliant!

Using Cosmetic during the Party:

Are you going out? Decide what you are going to carry in your cosmetics bag. Don’t stuff your bag with everything you’ve got. That’s comic. Take samples of creams, a pack of oil-absorbing tissues and a small eye shadows palette.