Avoiding Holiday Makeup Disasters

Avoiding Holiday Makeup DisastersShe's purchased the dresses, the shoes, the jewels and the clutches for all of her holiday festivites, but has she mapped out her makeup looks? The holidays afford women the opportunity to spice up their makeup routines and step out of their beauty comfort zones, yet sometimes what they think is "glam" turns out to be downright bad.

FACE atelier pro makeup artist Amy Zdunowski-Roeder, who's worked as part of America's Next Top Models' makeup team, shares the top five holiday makeup mistakes women make, and how you can help her put her best party face forward.

1. Don't Be a Flake
Winter weather tends to sap skin of moisture, leading to unslghtly flakes. Slapping makeup on top of flaky skin only draws more attention to the problem. "Make sure she exfoliates and hydrates her skin and uses a nonalcohol-based foundation or mineral makeup to create balance," says Zdunowski-Roeder.

2. Be Afraid of the Dark
"Some ladies will purchase foundation that is a few shades darker than their natural skin tone because they believe this will give them that festive 'bronzed' look," laments Zdunowski-Roeder. "What happens instead is that the skin looks jarringly unnatural. Remind clients to test foundation in natural light on their wrist, chin or the best place, their neck."

3. No Clowning Around
"Makeup should be fun, creative and exciting. However, it's very easy to overdo it during the party season. I recommend picking one area to emphasize: the cheeks, lips or eyes."

4. Don't Pencil Push
Does she think a overly penciled-in brow is the best way to top her holiday look? Gently take the eyebrow pencil away from her—now! "Many, many women unknowingly make this mistake, which can be one of the hardest makeup wrongs to break," says Zdunowski-Roeder. "For best results, give her an shadow that matches her hair color and have her apply it with a small angled brush using light brush strokes."

5. Do Blend In
Remind her that blending is the key to a flawless makeup look. Zdunowski-Roeder suggests reviewing blending techniques with her for the jaw line, cheeks, eyelids, and lips (no hard lip liner edges!). 

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