Holiday Makeup Look | Gold Eyes and Red Lips

What says Christmas more than gold on your eyelids and red on your lips? Sure, you could also swap in silver, but not all of us are blessed with the skin tone that looks good with silver eyeshadow. I'm all about gold, glitter, and a bold red lip around this time of year. To be frank, I'm here for it all year round, but it feels extra appropriate for the holiday season.

This makeup look is so easy that I could do it. Truly, I'm not a makeup guru. I just have a lot of it and my winged eyeliner always tends to make my makeup look better than it actually is. That's just the straight up truth. So, if you're not too comfortable with makeup or just want to try something new, I have not only this nice handy-dandy blog post about my favorite holiday makeup look, but there's also an extra video on my channel this week. Three cheers for extra content and visuals instead of me trying to explain myself poorly with my words!!!

*This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.*

Pictured above: Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box Palette (discontinued, but I used Half Baked, YDK, Twice Baked, and Midnight Cowboy Rides Again), MAC Painterly Paintpot, NYX Epic Ink Liner, Brushes from Sonia Kashuk, Elf, and Urban Decay.

Step One: Eyes

Technically, step one would be to prep your face by either cleansing/toning/exfoliating/moisturizing, literally whatever you normally do to wash your face before putting on your makeup. Now, normally I do my face makeup before my eyeshadow, but this look involves glitter and trying to get glitter fallout off of your cream foundations is a nightmare and I do not recommend it.

After you prime your lids with your primer of choice, you use a flat shader brush to pat a nice rich gold shade on your lids. I typically go over the same lid two or three times to make sure that the color is really packed on and there's a nice base for the rest of my shadows to blend into. Next, I'll use a medium bronze shade to add subtle definition to the outer corner of my eye so it forms a v-shape. Then, with a deep brown, I go lightly into the crease with windshield wiper motions to really define the crease and add some drama to the look. It's important to make sure that you're tapping off the excess eyeshadow before you go in to apply it to your eye. Also, make sure that you're using a light hand because it's much easier to build up an eye look gradually than to try to take away a color that got too dark.

Last, but not least, it's time for the glitter! I use my ring finger to dip into the light gold glitter shade and pat it onto my eyelid with the tip of my finger. I find that it makes the glitter shadows stick much nicer to my lid than trying to apply them with a brush.

It's totally optional, but I always add a winged eyeliner to my looks. You could wing it out, wear just regular liner on your lids, or just go without. Truly, this step is totally your preference. The look will work with or without it.

Pictured above: Covergirl 3-in-1 Foundation, Tarte Shape Tape, Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, Becca Opal highlighter, Benefit Rockateur blush, Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer

Step Two: Face

This whole process is way less important than eyes. Honestly, this can just be your normal makeup routine. Personally, for this look, I used a full coverage foundation all over my face, making sure to blend down to my neck. I concealed under my eyes and on my acne and all those nice little red spots that like to pop up to make my life miserable. This is all followed by the usual contour, blush, and highlight, applied to the tops of my cheekbones, down the center of my nose, and on my cupid's bow.

All of this is dependent on your level of comfort with makeup. If you don't need super full coverage looks, you can totally opt to use a tinted moisturizer or something else of your choice. You also totally do not have to use the products that I'm listing above. These are just what I used, not the only products that would possibly work for this look. There are tons of options out in the world, far too many for me to definitively tell you that you need this certain product to achieve this look.

Pictured above: Too Faced Lady Balls Melted Matte Liquid Lipstick 

Step Three: Lips

My favorite part! This is fairly explanatory. Pick your lipstick of choice and apply it as carefully and precisely as possible. A bold red lip is, unfortunately, not very forgiving if you mess it up. Take your time and try to keep a steady hand, whether you're using liquid lipstick or a traditional lipstick tube. 

Pictured above: Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, L'Oreal Lash Paradise mascara, Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel, Too Faced Lady Balls

Step Four: The Other Stuff

For me, this includes doing my eyebrows and applying my mascara. All boring stuff. Just kidding! I'm sorry eyebrows, I didn't mean it! 

And seriously, that's it. If all of this was super confusing, as I'm sure it was, fear not, because right underneath this mini paragraph is my short little video on this whole look. It might be even less informative than this post, but it features a song called "Hip Hop Christmas" so honestly, it's worth checking out just for that.

Okay, I couldn't help myself. This next photo is what most of the shots for this post looked like. It truly is hard to be this pretty and photogenic...juuuuusssst kidding.

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