Gilded glamour in the 21st century is where the glittering beauty looks of the ‘90s get a chic, Hollywood Golden Age makeover. To bring those looks off your screens and onto your holiday party circuit, we put together three striking — yet surprisingly easy to replicate — looks. The glistening thread between them is that each is all about sparkle, shine, and shimmer. Choose one to play up your lips, eyes, or skin, or go all out by pulling the trio together for what’s bound to be your most iconic festive season yet. Whatever occasion is on your cal, Ulta Beauty has the dazzling essentials to keep you twinkling long before and after the tree’s up.
Shimmering Lips
When you search “best holiday makeup looks” for beauty inspo, you’ll likely be flooded with images of matte red lips. While we love a classic, dare to distinguish yourself with a juicy, shimmery lip. Start with a base for glowing skin with Peach & Lily’s Glass Skin Radiance Kit — the ultimate way to achieve glass skin (no lasers required). The perfect primer to this look, it’s only the amuse-bouche to the main course: your popping lips, courtesy of MAC’s lipstick in “All Fired Up”. Once you swipe that on, you’ve already achieved bombshell status, but topped with Anastasia Beverly Hills’ glittery gloss in “Peachy”, consider this look iconic.
Match your eyes to the glittering vibes by dusting lids with gold shades from The Warrior Eyeshadow Palette a la Juvia’s Place, then keep the focus on the face with a simple, sleek hair look. We love Olaplex’s Smooth Your Style Hair Kit, though the lightweight hair oil in it gets an honorable mention for giving hair a salon-esque shine. Get pin-straight strands with BaBylissPRO’s Straightening Iron, and you’re set. One last tip? Be sure to put that white turtleneck on before sliding on that powerhouse pink lip.
Get The Look
Mismatched Graphic Eyeliner
The beauty gods finally blessed us non-perfectionists with a seriously trendy, easy makeup look, because the best part about this is that you’d have to try really hard to mess it up. Start the glowing eye-focused look by prepping the undereye area with Tula’s Cooling & Brightening Eye Balm. From there, pack a heaping dose of Too Faced’s “side of fruit” shade onto lids from their Maple Syrup Pancakes Palette, and feel free to play outside your lid lines with it. You can pick any liquid liner colors that speak to you, but we went in with NYX’s Vivid Brights Longwear Liquid Liner in “blue thang” on one eye, and “ghosted green” on the other.
Keep the focus on those show-stopping eyes by using the brow pencil, wax, and gel in Benefit’s Brow Kit, then add some voluptuous shine to lips by blending a neutral peach and sparkling pink gloss from Ulta Beauty Collection’s Lip Library. Complete the fun, flirty look by putting hair in a high pony, then curling strands with Dyson’s Airwrap for some playful volume.
Get The Look
All-Over Holographic Makeup
Inspired by prismatic tinsel, there’s no doubt you’ll have people hypnotized by this holographic look. Though there’s a serious emphasis on the cheekbones for this one, it’s really about an all-over glow. Paired perfectly with that off-shoulder dress in your closet, Truly’s aptly-named Glazed Donut Skin Set serves as the perfect base. Featuring a hyaluronic acid-infused cream along with a vitamin E-blended oil, it’ll make your shoulders, decollete, and collarbones glisten (and smell like a French patisserie, too).
For the sparkling snatch this look is all about, we topped cheekbones with a generous blend of the coral haze, sun beam, and mystic flush blushes from Hourglass’ Ambient Lighting Palette in snake. Match your eyes to the holographic cheekbones by patting lids with a deep plum shade (“bow tied”) from Morphe’s Tease The Season Artistry Palette, topping that with a blend of shimmery pink shades “berry mysterious” and “pink ribbon”.
Fenty’s Lip Luminizer in Hot Chocolit Fantasy is the juicy cherry on top to bring this ultra eye-catching look together, but we went the extra glittery mile by topping the high points of cheekbones with a second helping of the “pink ribbon” eyeshadow shade from Morphe’s palette. Amp up the lit-from-within look by then putting L’Oreal’s True Match Lumi Glotion all over the collarbones and arms.
Get The Look
Photographer: Fiona Y Eduardo; Art Director: Angela Poccia/BDG; Styling: Natalie Scicolone; Hair: Anike Rabiu; Makeup: Ashleigh Ciucci; Models: Dom Robinson, Monica Tomas, Meghan Bouvier; Production Manager: Hertie Gutierrez/BDG; Designer: Alexis Apollonio/BDG; Branded Beauty Director: Irma Elezovic/BDG; Associate Branded Beauty Director: Shyema Azam/BDG
