Shimmer & Shine for Christmas - Part 2
One of the best things about Christmas? Getting to completely overdo it on the makeup. Think glitter, shimmer and shine, and you’re nearly there. I love all of the lovely shimmery, sparkly, shiny products out there at this time of year. You can ramp it up, or keep it subtle – up to you. I’ve been rounding up some of the best products for shimmer and shine for every part of your beauty routine.
Yesterday we focused on the Face and the Body – today it’s lips, eyes and nails…
EYES
You have free rein at Christmas to add as much glitter, shine, shimmer and sparkle to your eyes as you want! Glitter powder eyeshadows, metallic mousses, glittery mascaras, and the rest add as much or as little glitz to your festive makeup look as you want. BeneFit’s Powder Eyeshadows (£15.50, benefitcosmetics.co.uk) come in loads of different colours – Blingo and Kiss Me I’m Tipsy are great silver and bronze shades. Autograph’s Pure Colour Mousse Eyeshadow (£7.50, marksandspencer.com) is buildable, and adds a gorgeous shine to your lids. Estee Lauder’s Matallics Pure Color Intense Eyeshadow Trios (£27, esteelauder.co.uk) come in various shades – we love Arctic Zinc, gorgoeus cool, wintery ice-queen blues.
Tom Ford Eyeshadow Quads (£65, harveynichols.com) are a premium price, but they are just beautiful – we love Seductive Rose, a palette of pinks, shimmery and matte, perfect for an alternative, sparkling, smoky eye. TopShop’s Eye Gleam in Winterfrost (£9, topshop.com), a gorgeous silver cream shadow is a great base for a winter smoky eye, or just as a wash of colour. Stila’s Magnificent Metals Foil Finish Eyeshadows (£33.50, stila.co.uk) are brilliant! You mix the foil shadow with the primer in the little tray, and then you begin to apply – a little, or a lot, depending on how much shine you want. If you want impact, this is the shadow to do it – amazing!! They come in nine shades -we’ve fallen in love with the Comex Gold. Chanel’s Christmas collection has a Bronze mascara topcoat (£24, houseoffraser.co.uk) to add a subtle bronze tint to your lashes, or try Limited Collection Glitter Mascara (£5, marksandspencer.com) to add a silvery sparkle to finish.
NAILS
The easiest place to add a bit of festive sparkle is to your nails. Glitter, shimmer, shine, nail art, you can go to town on your nails this Christmas! Glitter polish is so advanced now. Check out the amazing Nails Inc Bling it On Glitterball set (£18, nailsinc.com) – blue polish, glittery sparkles, a brush and a mixing tray and off you go! TopShop have fantastic nail polishes – Circus is a gold glitter that looks like tinsel! And Aurora is like a green/blue toned gold – and they are just £6 each.
Louise Redknapp’s Wild About Beauty range has a few festive nail colours – Talya (£9, wildaboutbeauty.com), a shimmering silver is lovely over a deep undercolour, and Lauren is the same, in gold. Limited Collection Glitter Polish in pink is a fun colour, and is just £4 at Marks and Spencer. Cheeky – the little sister of Cowshed – have a great silver called Take Me Chrome (£7, urcheeky.com) – check out the website for this brand, they’re a lot of fun!
LIPS
The lips is one place where glitter and sparkle aren’t really the best. Keep it simple with shine. Slick on some uber-gloss for the shiniest lips, or keep it simple with a slick of a shine lipstick. The CK One Shine Lipsticks (£13, debenhams.com) are brilliant – nourishing, the right hint of pigment, and super-shine. Choose from loads of shades – these are Frenzy, Rave and Rockin’
Estee Lauder’s Pure Color High Intensity Lip Lacquer (£21, esteelauder.co.uk) are brilliantly shiny and heavily pigmented lacquers in the boldest of colours – plums, pinks, reds, they have the full spectrum. Lancome’s Juicy Tubes (£16, lancome.co.uk)are the shiniest lip glosses you could get. If you just want a slick of shine, as opposed to a lot of colour, these are for you! And best-selling Pamplemousse is a nude with a sparkly shimmer if you must! Lancome’s Absolu Rouge Swarowski (£25) is a brilliant, bold, beautiful red – but how glittery and fabulous is the case?!
That’s our simple guide to shimmer and shine – with a bit of sparkle, for the festive season. What are your favourite festive beauty products?
