Beauty Tips For The Festive Party Season

The weeks leading up to the Festive Season are some of the busiest in the social calendar for many of us - and its fabulous, we see friends that we haven't seen all year, socialise with our work colleagues and party with family and best friends. I tdoes lots for our heart and soul - but it can also ravage our looks and particularly our skin. With excesses of food and alcohol and lack of sleep and rest, our bodies can suffer and so can our faces. Here are some of the causes of lackluster looks and some great tips to ensure you sparkle and glow throughout the party season.

Dull And Flaky Skin Caused By Poor Cleansing

Yes, its easy to preach that you must cleanse, tone and moisturise twice a day - but when you totter in during the early hours of the morning with the dreaded work-day alarm looming not too many hours away - who can really be bothered to do this. But waking up the next day with skin still smothered in blotchy foundation and mascara is not pleasant and more importantly this will cause dry patches and clogged pores. The simple solution to this is to keep some facial cleansing wipes handy - even by your bedside or next to your toothbrush. Even the most tired or tipsy of us can manage a facial wipe - you can give your face an extra cleanse or even use a gentle facial scrub in the morning to remove any bits you have missed.

Shadows And Bags Under Your Eyes

Excess alcohol can cause eye bags and shadows - as can lack of sleep. Once you are up and about in the morning fluids will begin to move around your body which can help to reduce bags, as can massaging and tapping in gently a soothing eye cream. Its also useful to have one of the caffeine enriched moisturising roll-ons for around the eye to sooth and refresh the area.

Spots And Blemishes Appearing On Normally FlawlessSkin

I particularly notice that I will get spots or blemishes in my t-zone area at times of excessive partying. A combination of rich foods, alcohol, lack of "good" sleep and burning the candle at both ends results in an immune system that doesn't work as well as normally. Try taking a Vitamin C supplement or eating foods rich in Vitamin C such as papaya, mango, peppers, strawberries, oranges and chillies as this vitamin is top-notch for your skin's health.

Pale and Dull Skin On Arms And Shoulders

At this time of year, unless you've been lucky enough to take a winter-sun break, its probably quite a few months since you saw some sunshine. If you feel a little pale and dull and you are wearing a strappy or strapless party dress, don't panic and definitely don't head for a sunbed. Try exfoliating your skin with a good body scrub and then applying an instant bronzer - try one such as Lancome Flash Bronzer Shimmering Instant Body Tan which I can recommend. There are also some amazing sparkling body powders which have a great shimmering golden effect.

Dry and Cracked Lips

Dry and cracked lips can be caused by dehydration (again too much alcohol!), but also some long-lasting lipsticks can be extremely drying and the combination of the two can lead to dry, crinkly and sore lips - not very attractive under the mistletoe. Look for long-lasting lipsticks which also contain moisturisers or a built in finishing gloss. A good tip is to keep a small tin of Vaseline with your cleansing wipes and before you dive under the duvet apply a good amount to your lips last thing at night. This will soak in and moisturise during the night and your lips will be plumped and smooth by morning.

How To Make Your Eyes Sparkle With Makeup Tips for Shimmering Eye Makeup

Tis the season to be jolly and also to think about how we are going to spruce up our makeup and make it sparkling and festive for those Christmas and New Year parties which are nearly upon us. Glamour is very on trend this season, so lets glam-up our eyes to match our gorgeous sparkling and shimmering party dresses. Jennifer Lopez looks super glamorous here with silver sparkling eye-shadow and black mascara and eyeliner, and here are some easy to follow steps showing how this look is easily achieved.

• Step 1: Apply either an eyeshadow base or your normal foundation, if you are using one, ensuring a light covering all over your eyelid area. This will cover any imperfections and give a perfect blank canvas for your eye-colour.
• Step 2: Apply a silver sparkling eyeshadow over your whole eye lid working from the middle to the inner corner and then out to the outer corner of your eye. Then work the colour up towards your brow bone, but applying more lightly as you work away from your eye. Using a small eyeshadow brush also lightly apply this colour along your lower lash line.
• Step 3: To give some definition to your eye socket, using a shade darker shadow - in this case a smoky-silver-grey sparkling eyeshadow and apply this to the outer corner of your eyelid up to the crease line and to the middle of your eyelid and blend this in with your base shadow. It is important not to apply too much shadow at once, gradually build it up.
• Step 4: Using a liquid black eyeliner apply this along your upper lash line only from the inner corner of your eye to the outer corner. Look at this earlier blog entry for some tips on applying eyeliner.
• Step 5: Jennifer Lopez is blessed with long and curly eyelashes, but if yours need some help, use a lash curler, and then apply two coats of black lash lengthening mascara to give a glamorous finishing touch.
• Step 6: Although these are tips for applying sparking eye makeup, its worth thinking about your lip colour. With dramatic eye makeup such as this your lip colour should be toned down, and ideal colours to wear are corals or natural shades of pink, rather than bright reds and pinks.