Get Gorgeous For New Year's

By Suzanne Ellis

Too many presents to buy, too many cookies scarfed down, too many social engagements to attend – sometimes the holidays feel as though they’re all about excess.

One place you don’t want to go overboard is with your holiday makeup. Of course, you want to look your best on New Year’s Eve, and the myriad of holiday parties, but be judicious with the colours and the glitter.

“Don’t treat your face like a Christmas tree,” makeup artist Dino Dilio (pictured at right) tells CityLine.ca. “Don’t decorate it with all the fun stuff out there. There’s loads to select – pick one thing that you can incorporate into your regular look. Whether it be a glitter eyeliner, maybe a little glitter in a lip gloss, a little glitter on the cheek bone. Glitter is a big feature at the holiday time, but wear it on one feature – either the eye, the lip, or the cheek.”

That’s not to say you can’t incorporate some colour into your makeup when you head out for the night – but that doesn’t mean lime green eyeshadow

“As far as colour goes, this is where you want to change your brown into something that has a hit of purple undertones to it,” Dilio says. “So you can actually find colours that are purples and blues that are brown tones, so you can get that comfort level but a little extra punch.”

Not to be confused with glitter-infused items, luminizers are big at this time of year, when the wind and cold weather often leaves our skin looking a bit lifeless.

“Anything luminizing on the skin, whether it be a cream with illumination in it, or a powder that you can put on top of your makeup that will illuminate your skin -- all these things are really good because they’ll instantly brighten your face, especially for the busy woman on-the-go,” the makeup artist remarks.

If you have time to go home to freshen up before heading out on the town, wash your face and reapply your foundation.

“It doesn’t look the same during the day as it does at night,” Dilio says. “At nighttime, the lighting is very forgiving, and it really does make the skin look wonderful and it plays up the rest of your makeup. It’s a great backdrop.”

We don’t always have time to go home first – which is why when we’re going straight from the office to a party, concealer is our best friend.

“At the end of the day, it’s a miracle worker,” Dilio says. “Under the eye, around the nose, around the mouth. Then you can just spread it out almost like a base. Powder it down with some illuminating powder. And then do some [false] lashes or a glitter liner. One or two things, it doesn’t have to be an overhaul. A little bronzer, a little lip gloss, or a bold lipstick. You don’t have to do pencil, gloss and lipstick, pick one or the other. You keep it simple, it makes more of an impact.”

And finally, have fun and switch things up!

“If you normally wear a bold mouth during the day, do something nude at night,” Dilio suggests. “Show your other side. Or if you wear a smoky eye during the daytime, do false eyelashes at night. Do the opposite of what you’d regularly do because that’ll surprise people and they’ll see a new side of you.”

First published on Cityline.ca