Makeover from Day to Night

Going straight from the beach to a night out? This quick makeover will get you gorgeous in no time.

#1. Prep your skin
 

• Clean your skin with gentle wipes, such as Garnier Micellar Extra Gentle Cleansing Wipes or Dove Cosmetic Wipes.


• Spritz on a face mist. We like Vichy Thermal Spa Water, La Roche Posay Thermal Spring Water and Avène Thermal Spring Water.


• You can get away with a double-duty product like BB or CC Cream for both moisture and foundation if you're young, with few blemishes. Our picks are Olay Total Effects BB Cream, LA Girl Pro HD BB Cream and BioNike Defence Hydra5 Radiance BB Cream SPF15.


• Concealer, strategically applied, will take care of blemishes and dark rings. Dot it on the inner corner of your eye by the tear duct, then pat a little lightly under your eyes and nose. It will make you look more awake and mask any redness. LA Girl Pro Conceal HD Concealer has every shade you could need. Find your perfect match.  We also like Essence All I Need Concealer Palette and Revlon Colorstay Concealer.


• If you need a bit more coverage, remember night make-up doesn't mean packing it - you'll just look mask-like. Apply your normal light foundation. Your choice depends on your age and skin condition. For young skins try Yardley Airbrush Foundation SPF 25, Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid, Rimmel Fresher Skin SPF 15 Foundation or Physicians Formula Nude Wear Touch of Glow Foundation.


• If you need more radiance and coverage, choose a foundation with light-reflecting technology, which bounces light away from blemishes and lines and gives skin a soft-focus effect. We love Revlon Youth FX Fill & Blur Foundation, Clarins True Radiance Foundation and Catrice HD Liquid Coverage Foundation.


• A strategic touch of radiance on prominent areas looks beautiful - tops of cheekbones, collar bones, shoulders... blending so there's only a translucent shimmer. Don't overdo it. LA Girl Velvet HiLite Contour Stick is perfect for those subtle highlights.


• Cheek colour livens up the whole face. You're aiming at the flush of romance, or maybe a sunkissed glow. If you're warm toned (with a yellow undertone), go for peachy pink for fair skin and coral for dark skin, while cool-toned skins (with blue undertone) should go for rose for fair skin, and fuchsia for dark skin.


• Apply it on the apple of the cheek (smile widely and brush on to where the cheek bulges most), and sweep out and down a little. LA Girl’s Beauty Brick Blush Collection includes a wide range of shades for you. Or use a cream blush like Rimmel Royal Blush Cream for a natural glow.

 

#2. Add long, sexy lashes

False lashes can make you look like a Vegas showgirl or they can give your look a great, secret boost. Eylure has a great selection of lashes, from individual lashes to give you a natural fill (Eylure Individual Lashes Black Short) to total drama queen (Eylure Naturalites Intense Ultra Full Lashes). 
 
How you do it:
 

• To make it work, make sure your lashes are clean and free of oil, so the falsies attach well.
• Attach the lashes along your natural lash line. Use the proper glue as other glue could irritate your eyes.
• Don’t fiddle once they’re properly attached as this will detach them.
• You can apply mascara for an even more dramatic look.
• Use an oil-based make-up remover to take them off. Never just pull as some skin and your own lashes will come away with them. Clean and reuse them by cleaning them carefully with Bioderma Sensibio H20 and an earbud.

 
If it’s all too much hassle, try Catrice Glam & Glow False Lash Mascara, L’Oréal False Lash Butterfly Mascara, or a makeup passionista fave, Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara.
 
Pro Tip: Open up your eyes by using an eyelash curler before you apply your mascara – two coats on the top lashes and one of the bottom ones.

 

#3. Emphasise with come-hither eyes

The trick here is to not stray too far from colours you normally wear - use deeper, richer tones of these shades: Switch cream for champagne, beige for gold, brown for bronze, lilac for amethyst, grey for dark silver… you get the picture.
 

• The smoky eye can be done in any colour, but it works best with browns, greys, deep violet or black.


• Add a little sparkle – when else are you going to do it? You don’t have to look like a Christmas tree, choose the area you want to accentuate (eyes or mouth) and do it carefully. With your glowing, flawless skin, you’re going to look fabulous.

 
#4. Finish off with lovely lips
 
Here’s the perfect area to step up the glamour. You may want to go the deep scarlet route (if you do, apply your colour very carefully and use a lipliner), or keep it modern and natural – here you should choose a slightly richer version of your day colour.
 
Then you can play with the texture – shimmer, gloss, matte, sheer… have fun!

View Video. Realistic Christmas & Holiday Makeup (Simple & Quick!) | Karima McKimmie

 

#5. Hair in a hurry
 

• Instant flat hair reviver: throw your head forward and spray mousse or hair spray at the roots. Let it dry for two minutes, then raise your head.


• Curls on cue: if your hair has become a fuzzy mess, wet it, towel slightly and apply curl-defining mousse (try L’Oréal Studio Pro Curve It Curl Mousse). Bend forward and shake your head vigorously, then throw your head back and arrange the curls as you want them, being careful not to break the locks. When dry, loosen them slightly.


• If there’s time… For added body, set hair in big rollers, have a bath and let the steam work its magic. Leave the rollers in until you’re ready to go, take them out gently and spray with a good hair spray like L’Oréal Elnett.


• Quick beach waves, sans curling iron... Just spritz your damp hair with sea salt spray (we love Organix Moroccan Sea Salt Spray and Lee Stafford Beach Babe Sea Salt Spray) and wrap two sections of hair into buns. Secure the buns with an elastic hairband or clips and, using your blowdryer, blast your hair with cold air. Once the hair is completely dry, undo the buns and fluff the style with your fingers. Or try French braiding the two sections of hair and drying them with cold air, then fluff out.


• Change your day look into a glamorous evening look by pulling it off your face and anchoring it with pretty clips or hair accessories.

 

#6. Fragrant fun

Smell evokes many feelings, and the latest research has proved what we’ve known instinctively - citrus scents are mood-lifters in a bottle. Give yourself some, er, zest for life and an instant energy burst with these fruity favourites.
 
Try Guerlain’s deliciously grapefruity Aqua Allegoria Pamplelune, Clinique’s infectiously optimistic Happy, or for a citrus aromatic sensation, Adidas Born Original Today For Her. For the more aromatherapeutically inclined, any citrus essential oil or even sniffing a lemon will do the trick.

#7. Handbag must-haves

Even the best looks need a touch up every now and then. You don’t need your whole makeup bag; just a few choice items will do the trick.
 

• Always have some sunscreen in your bag to touch up during the day. We love Clarins Sun Wrinkle Control Cream For Face Very High Protection SPF 50 – a three-in-one, moisture-colour-sun protection.


• A lip liner and lipstick.


• A powder compact for shine touch-ups. For a baggage-free evening, put a small dab of lipstick and concealer on the compact’s inside mirror. Slip it into a pocket and touch up when you feel the need.

 
Read More: 9 Easy Summer Beauty Tips to Help You Survive the Heat

SOS For Partied-Out Skin, Eyes and Legs

Partying night and day can leave you tired, exhausted and looking haggard. We know. We’ve all been there. Here are some beauty quick fixes to banish all your after-party woes.

Beauty Blunder: You’ve totally OD’ed on cocktails (and/or wine) and Mount Etna has erupted on your chin.

More gatherings and parties usually means there’s more wine and alcohol being passed around than you’re used to. Often these drinks are sugary, and have a high glycemic index which puts the skin into oil production overdrive and can lead to breakouts and blemishes.

  Quick fixes
 

• Choose more antioxidant-rich beverages like red wine sangria or something with a pomegranate base to avoid these sugars and be sure to hydrate with a glass of water in between.
• Get rid of that bump with Sebamed Clear Face Anti-Pimple Gel or try an emergency pimple patch which delivers a powerhouse of active ingredients to zap that zit fast.

 

Beauty Blunder: You partied all night and after a 2-hour nap have woken up with the absolute worst case of puffy eyes.

Early wake-up calls to try and get everything done, paired with late nights from friends and family gatherings tend to leave most of us lacking in the sleep department. The result is what we all hate – morning-after puffy eyes. They make you look extra-tired, bloated, and very un-refreshed.
 
Quick fixes
 

• A few early nights, drinking lots of water and reducing stress will help, but in an emergency, try a disappearing trick. The magic makers? Skin Republic Brightening Eye Mask and Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask. Their undereye pads work in minutes to soften lines, decongest puffiness and constrict blood vessels to get rid of dark rings.


• A DIY tip for waking up tired eyes is green tea bags. Run some tea bags under water and then store them in your freezer. On mornings when your eyes are a little puffy and red, pull a couple of them out and place them over your eyes for five minutes. The tannins in the tea help stimulate blood flow and calm inflammation.


• Or try a cold compress, the back of a cold teaspoon or chilled cucumber slices on your closed lids. The cold shrinks the veins slightly to reduce puffiness.

Read More: How to Still Look Gorgeous Even When You Are Really Tired

 

Beauty blunder: You ate and drank too much at your annual office party/New Year’s bash/Christmas lunch (or all of the above), and now your face looks bloated and ruddy.

When you overeat salty foods (think nuts and crisps), your body retains fluids, and consuming too much alcohol also can dilate the blood vessels in the skin, giving it a reddish hue.

Quick fixes
 

• To help relieve bloating, drink plenty of water (more than the 8 glasses of hydrating fluids that you need daily) to help flush out your system.


• In addition, massage a pea-size dab of Preparation-H (yes, the haemorrhoid cream – it’s been the secret weapon of Hollywood starlets for years) on swollen areas (making sure not to get it in your eyes, where it can cause irritation), and wash it off after 15 minutes, suggests American dermatologist Dr Deborah Sarnoff. Because the cream is an anti-inflammatory, it can help shrink swollen tissues temporarily.


• If you had one too many and need to calm your tired, puffy skin the next morning, try an ice roller for your face and eyes. Store the metal roller in your refrigerator, then pull it out and roll it over your entire face to instantly reduce inflammation for a healthy-looking glow.


• Powdered bronzer, applied lightly all over the face, can also help camouflage overindulgences. Try Physicians Formula Argan Wear Glow Renewing Argan Bronzer or Palladio Baked Bronzer in Illuminating Tan. If your skin is particularly ruddy, apply a corrector with green pigment (like LA Girl Pro Concealer in Green) to help counteract the redness. Use your standard foundation over it once dry.

Read More: Why You Are Feeling So Bloated (And How to Beat It)

 

Beauty blunder: You stayed up late binge watching your latest series fix and now your skin is lacklustre and your eyes sport dark shadows.

When you’re fatigued, your whole body, including your circulatory system, goes into slow motion. The result: You have less blood flowing through your skin, which gives you a pasty look. And while lack of shut-eye doesn’t cause dark circles (they’re hereditary), not getting the recommended eight to nine hours of sleep a night makes dark circles appear darker simply because your skin is paler.

Quick fixes
 

• If the face in the mirror is showing signs of post-binge fatigue, don’t despair. There are emergency treatments to give it a serious energy boost. For an instant radiance revival, slather on a mask or balm that contains skin-stimulating botanicals. Our favourite go-to product is Clarins Beauty Flash Balm with witch hazel and camomile.


• For an instant injection of energy and radiance that wipes out signs of fatigue, you can also try Dr Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Hydrating Radiance Elixir.


• Or cheat a bit. Moisturisers like Garnier Moisture + Radiance Daily Energising Gel Moisturiser and Payot My Payot Daily Radiance Care Jelly have ingredients that brighten the skin in a tick.


• Camouflage under-eye shadows by firstly colour correcting the darkness with either a peach concealer for dark skins or yellow for lighter skins. Then, using a skin tone concealer, dot at the outer corners of the lower lids, tapping gently toward the inner corner of the eye. Try Yves Saint Laurent Radiant Touch or Physicians Formula Nude Wear Touch of Glow.

Read More: How Too Little Sleep Can Mess with Your Skin, Body - And Day

 

Beauty Blunder: You totally embraced the holiday spirit by dancing the night away and now your legs/feet are aching and swollen.

Extreme exercise (and hot weather) can leave you with swollen, aching legs and feet by the end of the day, so standing for hours in your gorgeous heels may become an ordeal.

Quick fixes
 

• The simple solution is to use a ‘heavy legs’ reliever like Venavine Intensive Cream which has red vine leaf extract to improve blood circulation and offers a cooling effect for tired, painful and swollen legs. Apply it directly on your legs in an upwards, circular direction and feel its ingredients cool and refresh your legs and stimulate circulation. Then you can still dance the night away.


• For aching, tired feet, try Green Cross Revitalising Gel For Feet or Freeman Barefoot Heel and Callus Balm with Peppermint & Plum which includes tea tree oil to soothe those sore tootsies.


• Cushion the balls of your feet with pads like Scholl Party Feet Ultra Slim Invisible Gel Cushions and stop the soreness before it even starts.