Glitter and Holidays: Complete Guide to Looking Fancy

Glitter fairies unite! There’s nothing like the holidays to bring out the girlie-glitter-glamor-gal in all of us. This goes for holiday decorating as well as makeup, and in my house, it looks like a glitter fairy dropped acid and tossed multi-colored sparkles all over the place, or a drunk gnome barfed red and green on the stuffed reindeer dancing on the mantlepiece and called it festive.

Whatever way you look at glitter, though, it has a safe and easily available mood-altering effect on nearly everyone.

With that in mind, glitter on mature skin can be an epic failure or a massive success to make you the coolest lady in the room, and it all depends on a few strategic factors that we are going over in this article and video. Let’s spread some glitter!

How to Wear Glittery Eyeshadow Without Scaring the Grandchildren

The biggest hindrance to wearing glittery eyeshadow is, without a doubt, dry, crepey lids. Because of this, how can you hydrate your eyelids to avoid the scary dry-eyelid/misplaced glitter look?

How to Hydrate Your Lids

Hydrating your eyelids is not about moisturizer or even eye cream. (Skin care companies just let out a collective groan.) It’s first and foremost about infusing your body with the right types of oils.

I recommend taking Omega 3-6-9 oils in high doses if your stomach will allow it. For example, after you go through menopause, you need more oils taken internally than before menopause. I take 2 tablespoons (1500mg x 2) morning and night, and one at lunch if I remember. I also suggest you take vitamin E, A, C, D, and zinc as well, as these all contribute to not only your general health, but also to deeply hydrating your skin. Lastly, drink 8-10 glasses of spring water daily.

Topical Products

Topical skincare can help, so instead of an eye cream, try applying a C-serum to your face, neck, and all around your eye area, including your lids, every day. As a caveat, be sure you are using an oil soluble vitamin C like tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THDA) instead of a water-soluble product like L-ascorbic acid. It will go deeper into your skin and hydrate much better.

Use an Eye-Base

If your lids are dry, sometimes adding an eyeshadow base can help to prevent the shadow from settling in the dry skin. If you have oily lids, use it to keep the shadow from bunching up and looking creased.

Where should you place glitter on your eyelid?

I recommend using matte eyeshadows as a base and crease color if you tend toward dry, crepey lids, and then add a bit of glitter in the middle of your eye socket. Another trick is to use all matte shades, and then wash a glittery color like gold or silver over your eye area using a very soft bristled brush for a sheer finish. The thicker and stiffer the bristles, the more product you will apply.

How to Wear Glittery Lipstick Without Migrating into Fine Lines

One time on a flight I applied a glittery orange colored lipstick without using a mirror (I was overly confidant it would look good. I mean, I AM a pro after all). As I disembarked the plane, people kept looking at me with a worrisome sidelong gaze, so popped into a bathroom to see why.

To my horror, the bright orange lipstick had very quickly migrated into my lip lines and extended beyond my natural lip line! I had even smiled at a cute guy on the off ramp. Yikes.

To avoid this tragic moment, here are my thoughts on glittery lipstick.

Hydrate (Again)

Dry lips are no place for glitter, so I recommend using an exfoliating product on your lips to remove the parched, dead skin. You do this by drying out your lips as much as possible, then using a stiff bristled toothbrush with some exfoliating product and brushing them until they are smooth. (Don’t forget you can use C-Serum on your lips as well to deeply hydrate.)

Remove Moisture/Add Moisture

Apply foundation and powder on dry lips to give the lipstick something to adhere to.

Lip Liner

Apply lipliner slightly outside your natural lip line and darken the corners more to make them appear plumper. (See video demonstration.)

Lipstick and Glitter

Add your lipstick of choice and blend with the liner without having it go over the liner into the lip lines. You can add glitter on top or mix a powder glitter with a lip gloss for maximum effect. Smooch!

How to Add Glitter to Cheeks and Be Cool at the Same Time

To use the words, glitter and cool in the same sentence, it takes a little savvy. Mind you, my teenage daughter informed me I would never be cool, but let’s ignore that snarky comment for now. If you spend any time on social media, you will see women of all ages adding glitter to their cheeks, but there is a downside to this trend.

If you have dry skin, the glitter will search out your well-earned laugh lines and snuggle down not to be dislodged without makeup remover. Lovely.

How can you add cheek glitter and look cool?

Hydrate (Yawn)

If you are taking your internal oils, drinking spring water, and using external hydrating products like C serum, hyaluronic acid, and moisturizer, then your skin will handle glitter much better than if it’s dry and dehydrated.

Cream or Powder?

In my opinion, it’s a matter of preference if you use cream or powder cheek glitter. I use both, but then I’m (supposedly) a pro. In any case, apply it to the top of your cheekbone, and avoid your facial lines as much as possible. I like to tap it on the high points of the face so that it’s most apparent when the light hits it and not as an impulsive streak.

What Order?

Should you apply glitter, blush, contour, or contour, blush, glitter? It doesn’t matter. Be creative, go for it, have fun.

The glitter fairies are ready to spring to action to dapple shiny things all over your house and face, and by gosh we need it. If you’re like me, you will toss the idea of being cool (since according to my daughter it’s relatively impossible) grab the glitter and have a party. The holidays are the perfect time to tap into the feel-good moments of family fever and sprinkle love and joy everywhere. Enjoy.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

When was the last time you used glitter in your makeup? Do you think glitter works well for the holidays? What glittery makeup products have you tried?