Party make-up

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Published on Friday, 07 December 2012 09:00

Last Updated on 05 December 2012

Rosha Nutt

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This is the season, so how do you do classy party make-up without going ott & looking like a drag queen? Well Lisa Eldridge, make-up artist to the stars, has produced a lovely video-tutorial to show you everything you need to do.

The only thing to add, and something you’ll probably be asking yourself after watching the video, is how do I get such amazingly immaculate skin in the first place? Here are a few tips to help you get as good a base as possible:

Spots

Let’s assume that you have extra hormones wafting round your system – either you’re pregnant, just had a baby or very tired from general child rearing. As your body eliminates the extra toxins, they can cause havoc with your skin: outbreaks, invisible under-the-skin spots that are incredibly painful, blackheads…

You need to encourage these toxins out of your skin, dry-up visible spots and calm and moisturise the rest. The best way to do this is with a range of face packs. These will allow you to target specific areas in one sitting. Something like a Deep Sea Clay mud mask is fantastic at drawing out toxins and drying skin, but this can be too strong for your whole face, so a gentle moisturising pack on you cheeks and forehead is best. If you have blackheads then a peel off mask is good, e.g. over your nose. You’ll end up looking like a crazy Dalmatian for 15 minutes but, pardon the pun, it’ll be worth it.
Tea tree oil is great for targeting spots but make sure you buy a product specially for this, neat tea tree oil will rip your skin off – as one of my friends recently found out.

Eyebrows

If you don’t pluck your own eyebrows, you should. It’s really not hard and if you are unsure you can get a good shape, then go to the beauticians and follow their lead – plucking as the new hairs grow through, you’ll soon learn the shape. Best to have a quality pair of tweezers with straight, sharps ends (not rounded). And only ever pluck under the brow, erring on the side of caution – you can always leave it a day and see how they settle. Keep on top of the new hair growth every couple of days and it’ll only take you a minute here and there. Tidy brows are a sign of good keeping (and the fact that you haven’t shaved your legs in months will be your own little secret).

Moisturising – face & eyes

Find a moisturiser that suits your skin type. I tend to use a thicker one at night and sometimes just baby lotion in the morning as it’s thin, light formula sinks in easily and won’t leave me greasy or shiny later in the day. I also steer clear of the big beauty brands with all the scientific claims, from my experience they have immediate effects and can make your skin feel great, but this is usually down to the amount of silicon/other strange chemical in them, and I find that when I stop using them my skin is worse than before. Opt for natural products that you know what the ingredients are, Orange Oil is great at night, as is BioOil. Your skin is living off the vitamins & minerals you feed it through you body and degrading from the external elements – sunlight, wind, smoking, drugs (I can’t think of any ageing rockers with great skin can you?).

I am also not a fan of eye creams. The skin around your eyes is so delicate, don’t touch it unless you have to, and creams that are artificially tightening your skin, just leave it looking worse in the long run. You would be better off protecting your eyes and wearing your sunglasses all year round.

If you add some of these simple preparations to your party make-up this season, you’ll be looking and feeling a million dollars. Let the compliments begin…

PS. Lisa has a host of other make-up tutorials on her website www.lisaeldridge.com