Makeup for the Occasion: NYE Edition
People’s jaws are going to drop like the ball at midnight.
by QUINN GAWRONSKI ★ DEC. 30, 2017
Whether you are party hopping until the sun rises, going on a date or hitting the bars, there is a lot of hype surrounding New Year’s Eve. Whatever your plans may be, start 2018 with a killer makeup look that is suited for you and your night. Make people’s jaws drop just like the ball at midnight with one of these three looks.
1. Flirt
If you are afraid of an eyeshadow color darker than taupe, this look is for you. It’s all about super flawless skin and a serious glow. Start off by creating a smooth canvas for your foundation by patting on some Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser on a clean face. For a perfectly even skin tone, use Maybelline Fit Me foundation, and blend a small amount evenly across your face using a sponge beauty blender. Bring back some structure to your face by highlighting your chin, forehead, nose, and under your eyes with L.A Girl H.D Pro concealer and contouring with a cool-toned cream like NYX Wonder Stick across your cheekbones, temples and nose.
To set this product, lightly dust a translucent powder, like the NYX HD Studio Finishing Powder, over the face. Top your glowy skin off with a sweep of Becca Mineral Blush in “Songbird” over the cheeks. Make sure to use a fan brush to highlight your cheekbones, temples, bridge of the nose, chin and inner corners of your eyes. The Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal makes highlighting effortless and gives a glow you can see from a mile away.
Keep the eyes simple to emphasize the skin. For bold brows that won’t budge, use Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade and blend out any harsh lines with a clean spooly brush. Press some shimmery eyeshadow all over the lids, and apply some mascara or false lashes for a subtle eye look. A glossy, matte or cream lip will all suit this look, but for soft lips that will last until the New Year, use Urban Decay Vice Liquid Lipstick in Amulet.
2. Classic
If you regularly rock winged eyeliner with a little drama in your makeup, serve this look when the clock strikes midnight. If you want a full coverage face plus some extra oomph on your eyes and lips, you can follow the glowy skin suggestions above, or knock off a couple steps and stick to a more simplistic foundation, concealer and powder combination.
Prep the eyelid with concealer and carve out the brow with a flat synthetic brush. To set the concealer, pat a large fluffy brush with flesh toned eyeshadow, like “Jasper” in the Kylie Cosmetics Bronze Palette, over the eye. To draw focus to the eyes, first blend some cool toned taupe eyeshadow, like “Topaz,” into the crease with a soft fluffy brush. Blend upward toward the brow to prevent any harsh lines, and then add a darker brown, like “Hematite,” with a slightly smaller brush. To prevent the look from becoming too dark, concentrate the brush strokes in the outer V of your eyelid. Then pat some shimmery shadow, like “Quartz,” over the lid with a flat brush. Blend shimmery and matte shades gently together with a clean blending brush to create a seamless transition between the shimmery shade and matte brown shades.
Create a soft and smudgy wing with a thin eyeliner brush and a matte black eyeshadow, like the Bronze Palette’s “Obisidian”. Trace the upper lash line and create a small wing. After creating your wing, extend the bottom slightly onto the lower lashline in the outer corner of your eye. Adding a smudge of dark shadow on the lower lash line creates balance between the upper and lower lid. Add some mascara or falsies to make your eyes pop!
Finish the classic look with a dark lips, like Kylie Cosmetics Matte Liquid Lipstick in “Head Over Heels”. For a brighter, more festive look, opt for a bright red like “Mary Jo K”. Either way you are going to look like you stumbled off the red carpet and into the best New Year yet!
3. Diva
This last look is for the divas out there who prefer a super-glam look for an occasion like NYE. If you watch makeup tutorials like it’s your religion and can apply winged eyeliner like its open heart surgery, this one’s for you. The level of coverage of your foundation is totally up to you, but you may want to opt for a high-intensity contour and highlight to balance out the daring eye.
This skin look is a duplicate of the “Flirt,” but amped up a notch … or two. Add a touch of Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Bronzer along the temples, forehead and cheekbones for some added dimension and shape. For a blinding glow, spray the face with a setting spray, like the Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1 Replenishing Setting Spray, and allow it to dry for 15 seconds. When the skin is still slightly damp, dust a NYX Illuminator in shade “Ritualistic” over the Becca highlight on the highest places of the face. To blend the two highlighters together, pat a damp beauty sponge over the highlighted areas.
Now for the cut-crease. Go into this one with courage because it can sense your fear. First, create a blank canvas on your eyelid using concealer and a skin-tone eyeshadow like described in the “Classic.” Add “Hemanite” from the Kylie Cosmetics Bronze Palette onto the lid, and deepen the outer V of the eye even more with a shade like “Bronzite.” The darker shades should be focused in the crease. As you move from the outer crease to the middle of the eyelid, make sure the edges are blended into lighter shades.
Then take a flat, synthetic brush and apply a small amount of concealer to the tip of the brush. Begin creating the cut-crease by creating an arc that follows your natural crease, starting from the inner corner of the eye. After you continue the arc shape until half way across the lid, add concealer under the arc to mask any eyeshadow that fell onto the first half of the lid. Then take a super glittery eyeshadow, like the L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow Metallics, and concentrate it onto the concealer. Try to keep the shimmery eyeshadow contained to only the area with concealer. Take the brush you used for “Hemanite” and blend the shimmery and matte eyeshadow together. To complete these bold eyes add a winged eyeliner or some fluttery falsies. Or do both!
This eye can be paired with almost any lip, but adding Ulta’s Shiny Sheer Lip Gloss over any color makes the look appear softer and more feminine. Using a color that is only a shade darker than your natural lip color, like Urban Decay Vice Liquid Lipstick in “Backtalk,” subtly accentuates the lips.
A fresh makeup look will make you feel like 2017 was a lot better than it actually was. Whether you are a subtle “Flirt,” a “Classic” gal or a daring “Diva,” step into the New Year looking like the queen you are!
Model: Ashley Ziolkowski