A soiree-packed diary full of revelry demands merry party make-up to match – think touches of sparkle, pops of colour and bold lipstick. But pulling off this trio triumphantly is no easy feat.
Which is precisely why I turned to make-up maestro Charlotte Tilbury, founder of the eponymous beauty empire and architect of the now iconic, soft focus, pretty Pillow Talk aesthetic, to discover her secrets for mastering a chic, but never tacky, festive face to take us elegantly into the new year.
Grown-up glitter
No festive make-up look is complete without a touch of sparkle – but how do you ensure this is done in an elegant and sophisticated way? Tilbury explains that it’s all in the formula. “So many people say to me, I can’t wear sparkle, and I say it’s because you’re using the wrong formula.” She says to avoid big particles, which tend to “drop or pick up any kind of patches or creepiness”. Instead, look for delicate light-diffusing palettes that have a blurring, smoothing effect that “open up the eyes and dances with the light,” even, and especially, for those with mature skin.
Skincare-infused ingredients and neutral colours should be your go-to. “You can create that kind of soft, nudey, taupe – still smokiness, but with a little bit of shimmer. We also do the inner corner of the eye and the centre of the eyelid because it opens up the eye, bounces the light and creates that glitter glaze,” she reveals. As for loose pigments, “Unless you are at a couture fashion show, don’t try that at home,” Tilbury stresses.
Modern red lipstick
“Red lipstick is iconic,” Tilbury tells me. “It will be forever, but the way people wear red lipstick now is with unreal, super fresh and glowing skin, in line with the ‘skinification’ of make-up”. It is this juxtaposition that she favours, “I’m not so into a glossy red lip right now. I’m more into matte lipstick with glossy skin.” According to the expert you want a dewy complexion to look like you have “just come back from a spa or a facial” and pair this with “a bit of mascara and a slight bit of shimmer on your eyes – pared back but with statement matte lip.” Think Red Carpet Red.
But if it is glossiness that you are lusting for, Tilbury recalls the viral “mark left by a kiss” trend, which, she explains, starts by selecting “a red that is more like a stain of a red lip rather than old school matte, which you can put on with a chocolate strawberry lip glaze.”
Shine under twinkly lights
Festive lighting is not known for being the most flattering, which is where you can get creative with your make-up placement. She recalls a trick favoured by Amal Clooney: “I would take my Beauty Light Wands and apply in the inner corner of her eye for a Bambi-eye look and at the top of the cheekbones to lift.” Yet when it comes to Celine Dion, “I always take bronzer and contour her forehead, cheekbones and sculpt in the socket of her eye. I then paint on with a smoky effect, then create a shimmer glaze in the centre to bring the eyes forward and create that mesmerising effect.”
The secret to completing the look? Under-eye brightener, and specifically Tilbury’s Magic Vanish. ”It’s Spanx for the undereye,” quips Tilbury. “It stretches, it’s very emollient, so you can put it on top of make-up and retouch, and it just bounces out the light and really smooths out the area”. This is a product welcomed beyond the party season. “We are living in generation exhaustion, and everyone is tired. So, Magic Vanish is everyone’s best friend. No matter how old you are. It has a peachy undertone, and the texture is really quite formidable. There really isn’t anything like this in the industry where you can just put on top of what you’re already wearing, like mirrorless make-up.”
Another product from her collection that she recommends is the brightening Airbrush Brightening Flawless Finish powder that has a pinkish hue. “If you put that underneath your eyes, it just smooths and blurs and really bounces out Christmas lighting.”
Double the skin hydration
For Tilbury, acing any make-up application, be it ahead of festive fun or all year round, is about ensuring that you are selecting products boosted with hydrating emollients, “so you don’t get that crackly look, which in harsh light, would not be a good look.” She leans on a trick that Celine Dion swears by. “Whenever she is doing her make-up, she takes my Magic Serum Crystal Elixir, which gives you an amazing skin glaze, layers it on twice, and uses it with Magic Cream for an immediate skin glow that is going to keep that hydration locked in, and make-up won’t sit in any lines. When you’ve got great quality make-up that is skincare infused, and that skin make-up is on top of great skincare, you keep that “clean girl’ glow all day and all night.”
Stay-all-night setting sandwich
When creating her setting spray, Tilbury explains, “I wanted something that will give you a glow but hydrate your skin”, and the result was the Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray that the founder stresses “you can go swimming in.” This is the first step in the setting sandwich, a trick Tilbury says is beloved by Jennifer Lopez. “Another artistry trick that JLo does is where you spray your face with setting spray, then as it’s setting, you blur with Airbrush Flawless Finish powder, and then you spray again. It just melts into the make-up, and it’s literally like you have no pores. You come out with an Instagram filter. People who bake are obsessed with this, because it brings back the glow and gets rid of the powdery effect.”
Jewel tones for the colourphobic
“Always a rule of thumb for me is if you’re gonna go strong on the eyes, go less on the lips,” says Tilbury. “We’re really in a moment of glowing fresh skin. Bella Hadid will use a soft denim shade and then very fresh skin, with just a gloss oil on the lip. It’s a fresh, cool, modern and young way to wear colour.” If you’re going neutral on the lips, the make-up artist encourages you to add jewel tones to a smoky eye: “You could do a smoky eye with a bit of blue,” and to bring that vibrant element, you can incorporate as liner.
“My new kajal eyeliners, which I love, come in fig, midnight blue and a beautiful teal green that makes eyes really pop, but don’t look too bright because there’s an inkiness to them. But you can do even a natural, soft smoky eye, then use eyeshadow in midnight blue or an aubergine in the centre of the eye, I think it’s really beautiful and really flattering.”