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.

How To Create The Movie Star Look Of Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson is blessed with a perfect complexion and movie star looks of the old fashioned kind - she has sworn that she will never be pressurised into losing her curves and for someone who is only 24 she carries her sophisticated style very naturally. Her makeup is relatively simple but very effective and is just a perfect look for glamorous parties or nights out. So if you have a cocktail dress or two lying around and you would like your makeup to have the sophistication to match - Scarlett's look is the one to create, especially if you team it with an up-do of softly waving hair and some sparkling hair pins. Just follow these easy steps:

• Cleanse and Moisturise: A perfect face needs a perfect canvas - cleanse away with a gentle facial scrub to create a complexion as soft as a baby's and then apply your favourite moisturiser and allow to soak in.
• Foundation: If your skin is perfect then apply only a concealer where needed around the eyes, or if you are not confident without your foundation, apply a light foundation with your fingers or a sponge, ensuring a perfect finish before you proceed to the next step.
• Eyeshadow: Scarlett often uses coloured eyeshadows, but subtly. Using an eyeshadow brush and a silver-grey shadow, sweep this over the whole of your upper eyelid and blend out towards your eyebrows.
• Eyeliner: Using a liquid eyeliner in black or dark brown sweep the liner from the inner third of your upper eye-lid to the outer corners of your eye making the line wider as you go. A steady hand is needed and you might want to practice this beforehand if you are not used to applying this kind of eyeliner. No eyeliner is applied to the bottom lid.
• Mascara: Using a shade which matches your eyeliner, apply two generous coats to your top eyelashes, and finish your lower lashes with one coat of mascara - the emphasis is on the upper lashes to create a glamorous look.
• Blusher: Using a large round blusher brush, apply a rose pink powder blusher along your cheekbones finishing on the apples of your cheeks.
• Powder: With a translucent powder and a large powder brush set your makeup and also create a "finished" look - you are nearly there now.
• Lipcolour: Using a plummy pink lipstick carefully fill in your lips with a long-lasting lipstick and then finish this off with a clear gloss.

Gorgeous...

How To Create The Cheryl Cole Smoky Eyes Look

Cheryl Cole has been voted the "Sexiest Woman in the World 2009" and has also been labelled "the nation's new sweetheart" and the reason for this is no surprise when you see pictures of her looking amazingly well groomed and perfectly presented. One of her greatest trademark features is her smoky eyes which can be seen here. She wears the look perfectly, not over the top but just cool and sultry enough. If you want to try and create the Cheryl Cole look yourself it is pretty straightforward and you will need the following products:

• Loose face powder
• Eye primer
• Good quality medium grey and charcoal eyeshadows
• A high-lighter
• Eyebrow pencil
• Black length building mascara

How To Create The Cheryl Cole Smoky Eye

• After applying a light foundation or eye primer apply your grey eyeshadow to your upper lid working from the centre of your eye to the outer corner and winging the colour out from your eye.
• Next, using the darker charcoal eyeshadow line this along your upper and lower lids, blending with an eyeshadow brush along your lash line, leaving no harsh lines.
• Using your highlighter apply this along your outer brow bone and then using your eyebrow pencil carefully darken your eyebrows along their natural line. Darker brows are required for definition when creating a smoky eye look.
• Using a lash lengthening mascara, apply two coats in black, allowing the first to dry before applying the second.
• Match this up with a nude, but glossy lip colour, and there you have it - the perfect Cheryl smoky eye look with glossy lips.

Earlier on today, I listened to an interview with Lauren Luke, the amazing lady who has become a celebrity in her own right making YouTube clips with great tips on how to create celebrity make up looks. Have a look at her Cheryl Cole video for more in depth detail on creating the Cheryl Cole make up look.

If you want to see more of Lauren Luke's great tips for celebrity make up they can be found in her great book on Amazon.co.uk with free delivery.

 

New Season Colour - Be Proud To Wear Purple

No one would suggest that wearing purple from head to toe is a great fashion idea, but accessorising or wearing one signature item in the classy shade can bring the romantic and mysterious side out in you. All shades of purple and particularly the punchy bright shades are the most on-trend fashion statement for this autumn. Rachel Stevens shows here just how beautiful a plum purple dress can be - she looks classily gorgeous in this sweetheart neckline gown.

Choosing One Signature Item Of Clothing In Purple

For the daytime, perhaps in the office, look for pretty feminine vest tops in purples, magentas or lilacs. Wear one under a crisp white shirt to bring out your naughty but nice side. A great idea is a classic black trouser suit with a white blouse or shirt, but make the difference by wearing some purple high heels - quirky is great.

Purple Accessories and Jewellery

Purple jewellery is an all time favourite - particularly Amethyst jewellery (which is the birthstone for February). Amethyst jewellery can be found in its more natural state shaped into boho pendants, or can be polished to a fine finish and inset into gold and silver jewellery. Purple accessories look best when teamed up with black, neutral or white outfits. I recently saw a photo of Alex Curran wearing some cool purple sandals with a summer tunic dress, which looked fantastic.

How To Use Purple Make Up

Purple make up should be used with care during the day - look for plum shades of eye shadow or lipstick or lip glosses with a plummy purple tint. Deeper shades of purple eye shadow and eyeliner can be used by sweeping purple colour over the eyelids and lining the eyes both top and bottom with purple liner to create a dramatic evening look.

How to Wear A Purple Dress

Dresses, particularly for the evening, look fantastic in all shades of lilac, plum, magenta, mauve and deep purple - there is something very mysterious about darker shades of purple. Accessorise with either black or silver shoes and bag.

How To Apply Some Sparkle For The Christmas and New Year Parties

There has been so much emphasis on smokey eye make up recently that it's a perfect opportunity over the holiday season to go to the opposite end of the colour spectrum and apply shimmering, silvery shades which will suit all complexions from light to dark.

Ideally you should start off by applying a flawless foundation which suits your natural shade - look for some of the new mineral foundations which are available that blend perfectly. Then follow these tips for a sparkling glow.

• Using a rose pink blusher, smooth this from the apples of your cheeks upwards and outwards along your cheekbones.
• Next, using an eyeshadow brush, apply a shimmery wash of silver shadow powder over your eyelids, working it in up to your browbone, blending in well. Take the colour into the inner corner of your eye, and then along your lower lid.
• Using a black mascara, give your lashes two thorough coats, allowing the first coat to dry before applying the second.
• If you want your look to be more dramatic, apply black kohl eyeliner along your lower lashes before applying mascara.
• For your lips, apply a baby pink lipstick or lipgloss which will allow your eyes to be the centre of attention. Unless you have a darker complexion where you can wear plums or reds with this look, darker shades of lipstick will look slightly dated.

This look is fantastic with a hair up-do and a party frock, and once you have practised blending in your eyeshadow, it's pretty easy to do as well.