Christmas Makeup Looks: The Coolest Holiday Looks To Try This Year

Who doesn’t love the holidays? As soon as we get the first sip of pumpkin spice, we’re already fast-forwarding past Halloween and on to peppermint mochas, fireplaces, and big, cozy sweaters. We’re also thinking about fun holiday makeup trends to try for every holiday party. 

Everything, from family gatherings to corporate parties, is an excuse to glam it up, and we’ve got seven Holiday makeup ideas to help prep you for the festive season. 

1. Merry and Bright

A bold, beautiful red lip is as synonymous with the holidays as continual Amazon deliveries at your doorstep (no judgment here). Finding the perfect shade can be challenging if you’ve never worn red. Don’t worry — let your skin undertones be thy guide. 

Your skin tone helps you determine how to get the perfect shade of red lipstick every time. As long as you choose a color that matches your skin’s undertones, it will produce the perfect bold lip. 

• For people with cool undertones, pick a red with cool, blue undertones (think candy cane red). 

• If you have warm undertones, you’ll want a red that has an orange or brick base. RMS Beauty’s Wild With Desire Lipstick in RMS Red is a classic, warm undertone red shade. 

If you’d rather leave the red to Santa, lip colors like deep plum and bright candy pink are also choices that will create a festive look, especially if you’re known for sporting a nude lip, for the remainder of the year. 

Because you’re focusing on your lips, keep the rest of your makeup neutral and light. Adding a luminizer will help give your skin a dewy glow that pairs perfectly with your lip color. 

Pro Tip: Opt for a matte or semi-matte finish when choosing a bold lip color. Glosses can slide off your lips or bleed and can sometimes be a bit too over the top with a richly pigmented shade. 

2. Go for Bronze

Unexpected and warm, you can’t go wrong with creating a luminous look with bronzer. Play up the areas on your skin that the sun would naturally kiss by adding cream-based bronzer to these areas. 

Focus on the tops of your cheeks, the centers of your eyelids, and the bridge of your nose. You can also add a touch of bronzer to the center of your lips or over your lip color. 

Keep your lip and eye makeup soft to draw all the attention to your vibrant, just-came-back-from-Mexico skin. 

Pro Tip: This look works well with contouring, but if you don’t know how to contour, consider treating yourself to having a makeup artist give you some pointers. You can schedule a session with an RMS Beauty professional makeup artist. 

It’s the ultimate makeup tutorial to help you prepare to pull off all your most coveted holiday makeup looks. 

3. Blow Smoke

A classic, smoky eye is standard for party makeup, and you can update the look by focusing on a softer, more subtle smokey eye look with paired down lips and cheeks. 

Opt for less eyeliner than you normally use when creating a smokey eye, and smudge it slightly instead of creating a defined line. For a more festive eyeshadow look, use a blend of cream-based shadows with a slight shimmer. This will keep the look slightly more glam and help draw more attention to your eyes. 

Add a few coats of mascara to highlight your lashes, and finish the look with subtle cheeks and lips. 

Pro Tip: Remember, even though your eyeshadow palette has twelve different shades of gray, you really only need three to create a classic smokey eye look; a color for the largest part of your lid, a highlighter, and a crease color. Keep it simple. 

4. Jewel Tones

If you don’t want to be quite as bold as gold glitter or winged liner, you can opt for jewel tones that will still give your look a Christmas party-ready pop. The key is to find balance. For instance, if you choose a shimmery emerald eyeshadow, pair it with soft lip color and luminous cheeks. 

For jewel tones on the lips, keep the eyes neutral and soft and add a light shade of blush to your cheeks. 

Pro tip: You can add drama to your everyday look by changing the color of your eyeliner. Liquid eyeliner (when applied correctly) in a jewel tone can complement your natural eye color and create a pop of color where it’s least expected. 

5. That Was Tonight?!

It happens to everyone. You’re at your 9-5 when a coworker reminds you that the annual Office Holiday Party is right after work. With no time to head home and limited supplies, you can still create a holiday look in your cubicle. 

The RMS Beauty Signature Lip2Cheek Set is a must-have for the holidays and a great product to stash in your purse or bag. This multitasking palette contains four customizable Lip2Cheek shades and our iconic cream luminizer. 

• Use Lip2Cheek shades to add shimmer to your eyelids and cheeks. Place a dab of shimmer on the inner corner of your eyes and gently blend it outward toward your lid. 

• Use your favorite Lip2Cheek color to add color to your cheeks, blending upward and outward from the apples of your cheeks and cheekbone. 

• Apply luminizer to the middle of your eyelids, your cheekbones, the bridge of your nose, and the center of your lips. 

• Finish the look by adding a Lip2Cheek color to your lips and topping with a little luminizer in the center. 

Pro Tip: Rose-Marie loves to add luminizer to unexpected places like the collarbone, shoulders, and even the knuckles. It gives a quick shimmer when you reach for a cocktail or stand underneath Christmas lights. 

6. Au Natural

Sometimes, less is more, even during the holidays. If your party dress is bold (sequins, bright colors, rainbow shades), keep your makeup neutral and natural to balance the look. Focus on eyeshadow shades that are one shade darker than your natural skin tone and one shade lighter (for highlighter). 

Keep your cheek color soft, and choose a neutral lip color and lip gloss. This will help keep the attention on your attire while giving balance to the entire look. 

Pro Tip: Neutral is never boring. Using a luminizer to awaken the skin keeps the look radiant and helps create a natural glow. 

7. Get Glowy

Glowing, dewy skin is perfect for any holiday look. It starts with the right skincare and making sure your skin is moisturized and nourished. Winter months can dry the skin and make it dull and lackluster. 

RMS Beauty’s Beauty Oil is the perfect solution for prepping your skin before you apply your makeup. Use it as primer or as a moisturizer both day and night. Rich in jojoba oil, a plant-based botanical oil close in chemical structure to your skin’s own sebum, this oil absorbs rapidly, softens skin, balances and protects the skin’s natural microbiome, and helps bring back radiance. 

To get a completely luminous look, start with fully hydrated skin. Apply foundation in areas that need it (like the t-zone or any area that needs extra coverage) and blend outward. Next, apply a single color of shadow to your lids and a sweep of color on your cheeks. 

Using your favorite Luminizer, apply to the cheekbones, bridge of the nose, and center of the eyelids. It’s okay to go bold with eyeliner here because it will help draw contrast to your glowing skin. 

For lips, you can go bold or glossy. A neutral lip will cause you to look washed out, so make sure you have a richly pigmented color, especially if you’re using a gloss. 

Pro Tip: Start with less Luminizer than you think you need. This look is about glowing skin, but it isn’t about looking completely ethereal. You can always add more later. 

What Should I Not Do?

Even during the holidays, a little goes a long way. Find balance by creating a bold eye and a soft lip, or vice versa. That said, wearing what you love is the best way to feel confident and have fun during the holiday season. If you love glittery green eyeshadow, wear it! Just pair it with a neutral lip. 

Your Best Holiday Season Yet

This year, you can create the most dramatic or understated holiday looks you love. RMS Beauty has shades that look fabulous for any skin tone, without any harsh chemical ingredients that could damage your skin or be toxic to your body. 

You can shine this season, and your makeup can look flawless and party-ready. Trust the experts at RMS Beauty to deliver the tips you need, the products you love, and the ingredients that work synergistically with your skin to help create radiance. 

Sources:

Jojoba Oil: An Updated Comprehensive Review on Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Uses, and Toxicity | PMC

The human skin microbiome | Nature Reviews Microbiology

The Toxic Twelve Chemicals and Contaminants in Cosmetics | Environmental Working Group