Beyond Black and White

The holidays are quickly upon us, and chances are, you’ll be invited to at least one gala this season. What will you do when you’re expected to dump those sweats and slap on some makeup? Better take inventory, fast.

Set Your Palette

Before you put one brush of makeup to your face, make sure you’ve got your skin primed and ready. Start the night before with a good exfoliator to slough off spent skin to achieve a holiday glow. There’s a variety of choices available to rid yourself of dead skin, but I tend to go for the less-gritty and less-messy fruit acid-based exfoliators. I’m using a Revitalizing Facial Peel. It’s got glycolic acid and retinyl which does wonders for skin of a… certain age. Use it twice a week before bedtime and you’ll wake up with softer, smoother, plumper skin, with that “glow.”

The Eyes Have It

Here’s an often-overlooked step women miss when it comes to dressing up their eyes–get the red out. A couple of drops of redness relieving eye drops will contract ugly blood vessels in the eyes and make them appear whiter and brighter. Whiter, brighter eyes make you look more youthful and amplify your makeup.

Beef Up Your Lashes

The quickest and most efficient way to get your eyes to “pop” is with falsies. Unfortunately for me, I just can’t make these things work for me. The glue sticks to my fingers and both sides of the fake eye lashes, then by the end of the night the sides start to lift, which is super embarrassing. I’ve tried the eye conditioners that claim to grow your own lashes, and some of them work, but most are just “meh” for me. That leaves good old mascara. COVERGIRLÆ Clump Crusher Mascara is an affordable option. Don’t let the skinny brush on the wand fool you–your eyelashes will pop after a few flicks of your wrist. The tiny, tight spacing of the wand is the selling point because the shape keeps clumps at bay. As a result, COVERGIRL Clump Crusher Mascara gives you 200% more volume than previous COVERGIRL LashBlast Mascaras and leaves zero clumps, even after 30 strokes.

Don’t Forget Your Hands!

Besides your eyes, another top feature not to forget is your hands. Put on a statement ring on any finger except your thumb or ring finger (why cause confusion if you’re single and looking?) Don’t forget to throw a little paint on those nails after you file them. If you have short stubby nails like me, opt for a lighter color. Got nails long and strong? Go bold. I’m a sucker for purple, but the popular darker shades just accentuate how dang short my nails are. That’s why I got really excited about CoverGirlÆ Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss, because 1) you can skip a bunch of steps– no need for base coat or top coat because the formula provides all you need in a polish and gives you glossy nail color for up to a week without the need for a top coat!, and 2) they have a lovely light lavender color that makes my nubbin fingernails look decent enough to show in public.

Visit COVERGIRL on YouTube for more great ideas on how to get red carpet ready!

What makes YOU feel ‘red carpet ready’ and what are YOUR go-to tricks?

Enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card sponsored by COVERGIRL!

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post.
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: #SweepstakesEntry and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post.
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 12/4 – 12/31.
Be sure to visit the COVERGIRL brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggersí reviews and find more chances to win!