Festive Fever

A festive focus to looking fabulous. Cinders, you shall go to the ball!

The holiday season is the perfect time of year to be a bit more daring with makeup as well as taking time out to pamper your skin after all the hedonistic parties,

1. See Red
Anyone can wear a red lipstick, it's just getting the right shade. This season it's back to matte... Sisley Ruby lipliner (£33.50) is a lovely red pencil with an orange undertone that is super soft and especially flattering on paler complexions. Fill in the whole lip with this beauty and you're good to go.
Jungle Red (£19.50) semi matte lipstick by Nars and MACs best selling Russian Red (£15.50) have more of a blue undertone and look stunning on more olive skin tones. If you're taking the plunge with the red then make sure that you invest in a good lip base like Guerlain's KissKiss Liplift (£23.50) or Kiko Lip Primer (£5.90) to help neutralise your natural lip colour and smooth the surface. Apply either of these once you have popped your base on, so by the time you get back to the lips to apply colour, your lip priming product will have created a long lasting canvas to ensure the lippy stands a chance under the Mistletoe!

2. Golden Girl
A touch of pinkygold like Illamasqua's Metallix pot in Courtier (£16.50) on the inner corners of the eye or over the entire lid can add a touch of festive flare to your look. Charlotte Tilbury's WonderGlow (£38.50) is a stunning light diffusing skin enhancer that can used alone to enhance cheekbones or under/over foundation to create a "spotlight effect" and a youthful glow. Especially usefully to help turn your makeup from daytime drab to party time fab.

3. Metal Guru
Urban Decay's Heavy Metal Glitter liner in Midnight Cowboy (£14) can add more than a touch of sparkle. Use alone at the inner corner of the eye or next to your black liquid liner. Or on your Grandma after she's fallen asleep after The Queens speech....hey presto: Glam Ma!


4. Brighten Up
If you're skin is looking a little dull then try Merumaya Luxury Facial Wash (100ml £14.50). This granular free, super efficient gel is perfect for men and women to help balance the skin whilst mild exfoliating ingredients help brighten and refresh the skin. Another tip is to invest in a good blusher like Becca Mineral blush (£26) in Damelsfly (peachy) or Gypsy (pink) and apply on to the 'apples' of the cheeks.

5. Snow White
Winter heralds a fairer skintone for most of us...unless you're in Barbados for Christmas...in which case, where was my invite?
But you can take advantage of the darker and cooler months by addressing any kind of pigmentation issues from the summer months
Crystal Clear (www.crystalclear.co.uk for stockists information) have just developed COMCIT (Cryo Oxygen Microchannelling Collagen Induction Therapy) which simultaneously blasts your skin with Cryo Oxygen whilst their unique Microchannelling Roller drives vitamin C, Hyaluronic acid and Argan Stem Cell extract into the skin. The results are a reduction of pigmentation and wrinkles plus added tone and density by boosting the production of collagen. I suffer with pigmentation on my cheeks and to me this sounded too good to be true. As the alternatives like Fraxel have always scared the hell out of me. So I booked in at the beautifully tranquil Ki Day Spa (01619284488) in Altrincham, as they have created their own unique combination of a relaxing cleanse followed by the COMCIT then ending with a soothing mask and facial. My verdict? There is a marked improvement in the translucency of my skin and the pigmentation. Depending on what the individual's skin is like will depend on how many treatments they suggest to rejuvenate your skin. I've already booked in for my next one in 2 weeks.
Mirror, mirror on the wall......