Christmas Party Makeup with the Naked Basics Palette

There’s a lot of work I should be doing right now, but I started taking photos for a makeup tutorial post this morning, and literally, since then – I haven’t been able to stop working on it. This is something a little different that I’ve wanted to try doing for a while, it’s just way more time consuming than your regular review post or outfit post, so I knew I’d have to set some good time aside to get it done. This look is nothing to extravagant, it’s perfect for a family party and only requires one palette for eye shadow…

The Naked Basics palette is my most used palette. I don’t tend to wear very extravagant make up unless I’m going clubbing or to an event like a ball or a big dinner – for the most part in and around campus you’ll see me with no mascara and pretty simple eye makeup. This look can be ‘jazzed’ up a bit with a sparkly eye shadow, and actually, if I do decide to go for this look on Christmas, I’ll definitely slap a glittery silver eye shadow on top.

For my base I used the MAC matchmaster foundation in colour 8.0, and the MAC pro longwear concealer in NW40. This matchmaster foundation is simply amazing. A little while ago, a society at my university called Women Leaders of Tomorrow gave their members a chance to have a private shop at MAC; I thought I’d end up getting a lipstick or something, but whilst there I told the makeup artist mall of woes to do with finding my MAC colour (everyone tells me something different), and she told me the matchmaster foundation was made for people like me, that have their undertones and colours utterly confused. It’s not too heavy coverage, and really has an amazing dewy finish, I’m genuinely in love with it. I blend the foundation in with a MAC 187 stippling brush, and the concealer in with a smaller Zoeva 124 stippling brush*,

For my eyebrows I use the Sleek brow kit in Dark 818, another love of mine. I don’t even know what I was doing with my eyebrows before I introduced this beauty into my life, but I bought it on a whim one day in Superdrug, and never looked back. I start off with the shadow, then go on-top of them with the gel. When my eyebrows go really crazy, I brush them down with an eyebrow brush that I’ve sprayed hairspray over, this keeps them in place.

For the eyes, I used the Naked basics colour ‘Naked 2’, the light brown colour, as a base all over my lids. I used a crease brush (actually, the Elf blending brush that is not quite a blending brush), to blend ‘Faint’, the brown colour, into both my outer v and quite a lot into my crease. I used this same brush to place ‘Crave’, the black colour, on my outer v, then I blended it all in with an Ecotools blending brush (Ecotools has the softest brushes you will ever use, honestly), I brought this same colour, with a thinner brush, onto my lower lash line. Finally, I used a flat brush to add ‘Venus’, the silver colour, onto the middle of my eyelids, I also carried this colour into my brow bone and inner corners as a highlight.

Lastly, I used the Collection fast stroke eyeliner to do my liquid liner, I finished my eyes off with the Maybelline sensational lash multiplying mascara. I used an Ecotools kabuki brush to add powder to my face (the MAC studio fix power in NW45), and an Ecotools blush brush to mix the colours in the Sleek Blush by 3 palette onto the apples of my cheeks. I used ‘Guipure’ in this Sleek palette as a cheekbone highlight, and finished everything off with the MAC sheer plum lipstick (which I think has now been discontinued).

Hope you guys enjoyed the tutorial – I will hopefully be doing more of these!