‘Tis the season for getting glammed up and doing a lot of picture-taking at all the holiday parties! If you’re like me and love a good makeup moment to ensure Insta-worthy photos, you’ll wanna step it up a little and put your fiercest face on. Need some inspo? From clean and simple to full-on party mode, here are eight looks for you to try!

When you’re basic and you know it, try a Gold Spotlight

Looking for something simple and easy to do? A pop of gold in line with the iris can make a big impact, especially during one-on-one conversations involving eye contact. Simply take any gold eyeshadow that will contrast with your skin tone, spritz with water or setting spray, and deposit the pigment vertically from above the crease. Janna Tew pairs the gold with a highlighted inner corner and orange blush draped on the cheekbones to change up the placements a bit, but if you’re scared of experimentation, a spotlight eye is a nice thing to try.

You can pretty much use any gold shadow in your collection but if you want a more yellow-toned gold, you can look at Paprika Cosmetics’ Matte & Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette, singles from Inglot, H&M, Suesh, and many more.

Stevie Huynh and Raiza Contawi on Instagram

Show some Skin and Blush

If you’re a minimalist (or a guy!), it’s still nice to up the ante for holiday photos. Just focus on the skin (I love Marc Jacobs Shameless Foundation paired with a tough concealer like Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage for undetectable coverage) with colorless highlighting (MAC Strobe Cream works like magic) and some liquid or crème blush. blk Cosmetics and Inglot have some great cream blushes if you have a medium skin tone while b By Banila Co. and Etude House will have some great options if you have fair skin. NARS has a line that’s great for people with deep skin tones too.

You can also add a little bit of a smudgy wing to the ends of your eyes like Raiza Contawi, and gloss to add to the juiciness of the look.

Charlotte Tilbury and Anthea Bueno on Instagram

Not a wallflower in Monochrome Brown

We all love a classic look anyway but why not use a nice trendy twist by donning a monochrome brown look? Bricks are all the rage these days. Charlotte Tilbury will always do a classic, gold + brown eyeshadow with lots of lashes. Anthea Bueno does the same concept but with hues nearer to the model’s skin tone, and ramps it up with bigger smudgy wings (if that floats your boat). Best part: you probably already have all the browns you need in your arsenal!

Eugene Lee Yang by Beautybarkatt and Charlotte Tilbury on Instagram

Have an eye-opener in Shimmery Monolid

Who says people with monolids can’t have fun with eye makeup? Texture looks great in the eye area and just emphasizing the monolid-ness of it all makes it even better! Take a shimmery cranberry or cherry eyeshadow (or blush!) like that of the Urban Decay Naked Cherry or Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance! There are also some affordable red-y singles from Etude House, The Face Shop, and The Saem, if you don’t want to buy a whole palette.

Eugene says his look is inspired by Black Swan, with a shimmery gold transitioning into a black and strong brows. I do prefer more feathery brows but this was specifically done for television hosting, hence the density of strokes. Either way you can achieve a faultless brow through PV x Ellana’s Life Proof Brow Gel in Dark Brown.

We’re transitioning into more colorful looks for the next set, but don’t let that stop you from pickup up pieces of inspiration from more “daring” shapes, placements, and color combinations!

Start Living in Coral early

Celebrate the New Year with Pantone’s Color of the Year, Living Coral! I know the actual swatch is more saturated than the examples above, but expect the color and its shades to pop up everywhere. 3CE adds glitter to the eye and undereye by adding their Sparkling Liquid Pigment in #STARING or their Eye Switch glitter pigment in the same areas, while Tatianaroseart dons a more matte eye with Kat Von D’s Pastel Goth eye shadow palette in Clementine, a peachy highlighter from Fenty Beauty in Girl Next Door, and Marc Jacobs Beauty Enamoured Lipgloss Stick in P(r)each, which looks like it was pat down for a more muted finish.

Tree Ornament but Fashion

Take your highlighting to the next level by also adding in to the apple of the cheeks and chin. Tier one (Vincci Descalzo’s look) is going very nude with groomed brows and balmy lips, and tier two is layering a bronze-y highlighter beneath your regular highlighter (Colourette Cosmetics’ Face Gloss powder works great for show-stopping highlights), adding lashes, and creating a poutier lip by rounding the cupid’s bow and tracing the lip lines with a slightly darker lip pencil. You have to kinda love your skin and have the confidence to shine for this one, but practice at home with some flash photography and give it a go!

Veronica Stromar and Eve Frsr on Instagram

Be a Rudolph, my dear

We already did drunk blush this year so why not exaggerate it even further? Go the extra mile and put a bit of matte blush on the tip of your nose as well as all the way up to your undereye area. If you don’t have a lot of nose texture, add a powder highlight to the tip of your nose to guide Santa (and your Christmas gifts) through the foggiest of nights. This may also be a weird trope among girls with colored hair, but add a sharp wing (Careline or Maybelline will get you through the night) and a similarly-toned lip to really bring out your blush’s hue.

The spirit of Christmas Now

Love Christmas? A heart-shaped blush like that of Pony’s will communicate just how much you LOVE the holidays. If you’re scared of the shape, simply make it less noticeable but pair it with a very blurry red lip. The haziness of both the blush and lip go well together. Then again you, can go as Father Christmas and follow Terry Barber’s interpretation with a very saturated blush on the apples and diffused to nothingness on the perimeter (H&M’s Imperial Red will come in handy) and a smudged lip line. If you’re nice, go for Pony, but if you’re naughty, go with Terry Barber. You’re welcome.

What holiday look (or looks!) will you be wearing to this season’s parties? Share your tips for the best products to try, too!

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